A 47 Day Love Affair -Part 2.

The distance from Vienna to Villach is about 200 miles.It has some of the most beautiful sights that the world can offer .Lovely streams ,rolling hills ,beautiful cottages standing in isolation ,grazing cows ,perfectly blue skies ,and innumerable lakes .And lovely highways with hardly any traffic on them .The bus was filled with Austrians who were by and large silent .Once in a while a child would yell at something on the road –but since I do not understand German ,I could not capture  his excitement .The bus meandered its way through small but extremely well kept towns,Perchtoldsdorf,Voslau,Ternitz,Glesdorf,Graz-which is a big town by Austrian standards ,it has a small airport as well-and Klagenfurt .All of a sudden a signboard appeared which announced that we were just 38 km short of Villach.There was a sharp bend to the right (the left took one to Slovenia).When my eyes saw  the signboard, my heart and mind , all of a sudden got activated .The town started encroaching on the flanks –and and from a slight elevation, it looked like a riot of colours .Every house seemed to have a garden ,and every house seemed to be having a long driveway to its entrance .The flowers were arranged in bunches of different colors –so one could see a bunch of yellow flowers for about 10 feet ,then a bunch of red flowers for another 10 feet,and so on .Some of them were mixed up bunches .The landscaping was like a painting by Monet or Van Gogh(for the intensity of its colors). The entire countryside was like that .The bus stopped at the main square where I had  booked myself in in a small family run hotel .I checked in and asked for Hauptplatz.The kind lady told me that it was just about 2kms from where I was staying –in Warmbader Allee-,and that I must walk
“Is there a bakery called “Kaufmann Bakery’’,I enquired.
 “Of course ,there is –but very expensive.”
I wanted to ask her about the owner-Annelieses’ Dad( presuming he was still alive ),but refrained .I would take a trip down to the bakery and then if I got the right answers –to Annelieses’ house .That would be the next day .It had been a tiring day .And I was interested in having the famous wine, bacon and ham for dinner .I was hungry .

Next morning I was up early .The land lady asked me whether I wanted a early breakfast or not – I told her that I would like to eat something at Kaufmann Bakery .She appeared quite surprised as to why I was so interested in Kaufmann Bakery .I had enquired about it the previous night and I was spurning the offer to have a meal  at her hotel home .I told her that since a friend of mine had recommended it to me ,I felt the need to have a look in.After all I would be leaving the next  morning and I did not like leaving things till the end.
“Its just the way I am”,I added
I slipped in a question
“Who runs it ?”
“The Schimdts” she replied
“But did not Mr Kaufman run it once upon a time.”I enquired.
“He did ,but after his death about 30 yrs back ,his daughter took over .She is married to a Schimdt He was a nice man Mr Kaufmann  ,though not very lucky.”
By this time my mind was swirling with thoughts .Did Anneliese get married to Mr Schidmt?Or was her elder sister married to him? .She had told me she had a elder sister and though they were separated in age by 2 years ,the people in the town sometimes mistook them  for twins.Before I could ask any more questions,the landlady had  left the room ,and after about a hour, I took to the streets of Villach.

Small towns in Europe are really small ,and everyone knows everyone .!!You find groups of people huddled together exchanging notes and pleasantries .The shops are small-and very pretty.And usually brightly coloured –sometimes in dark yellow or red .The roofs are ineveitably choclate coloured and when you descend on to Praha for example ,you feel as if u are going over slabs  and slabs of peeled Cadbury chocolates .The walls of the  coffee bars are inevitably made of dark wood and seldom will you find anyone sitting alone inside .They usually will be  in pairs .The women are very pretty and have wonderfully maintained frames .The men are tall and handsome – mostly narrow at the waist and broad at the chest .One feels one has come to some other planet .

I swung the doors of Kaufmann café open and entered.I had finally arrived to confront Anneliese and ask her about things which were important to me ,and should have been important for her as well .30 years or a lifetime does not diminish the value of some relationships .I looked around ......