27.Feb.08
Big NEWS!!!
First Scan of our Little One
13 weeks
20.Oct.07
back to café + pão de queijo
After 8 months living in Germany and doing a bit of travelling around europe, we’re back
in Brasil!!! and yes … we missed the coffee!! and few other things … hehehe. We’ll miss our friends in Aachen and also the city, simple pleasures such as exploring the shops and Cafés near Markt, walking up to the Belvedere rotating Café, having a Doner at Sultans of Kebap!!! running to catch buses and trains (cause they do leave on time, sometimes earlier!!!), getting really stressed after the end of each German class 
(then heading out to Sultans!!!), enjoying the various music events during summer, taking every visitor for a bit of shopping at the Lindt factory store!!! (we should have asked Lindt for commission), travelling around (Germany is such a beautiful country) … we had such a busy life and loved it, we look forward for a future visit to Aachen. Enjoy pictures at our photo gallery.
25.Sep.07
C’est Magnifique!
We managed to squeeze in a very quick trip to Paris over the weekend and visit the obligatory tourist sites including the Arc de Triomphe, a stroll down the Champs-Élysées, a Boat Trip on the Seine, the Eiffel Tower, Sacré-Coeur, Notre Dame, lunch at La Défense, a nice meal in a French
restaurant at St. Germain including the best profiteroles we had ever tasted…. We also made our feet and brains ache at The Louvre (I must say that the Mona Lisa is a bit small - couldn’t Da-Vinci have painted her a bit bigger to make it easier for the tourists to see from behind the security railing, or maybe painted several addtional copies?) and finally a Coffee & Baguette in a French Café with mandatory crazy/eccentric French Café owner.
05.Sep.07
Bella Roma
The best and the most expensive ice cream we’ve ever had!!! That’s Rome !!! and much more of course. We went there on a short trip and absolutely loved it!!!! It was my first visit, Stefan has been there when he was child and some years ago on business, but even for him this was his favorite time. I was looking forward to have a good cup of espresso and it was good … but… still, the brazilian one is the best!!! We tried to 
get the most out of our stay in Rome, visited the Colosseum (AMAZING), Saint Peter’s Basilica, Fontana di Trevi, Piazza Navona, Via Veneto, Bocca della Verita, The Pantheon, and walked around this beautiful city. We didn’t manage to visit the Vatican Museum, one more reason to go back!!! hopefully soon ….
13.Jul.07
Meet the Parents
My parents came over to stay with us for what turned out to be a rainy week in Germany.
Undaunted by the wintery weather, they set off on a mission to Aachen’s cherished Lindt Chocolate factory…Unfortunately there are no tours of the factory itself, only a heavenly Chocolate-Supermarket where coach loads Chocoholics from seemingly everywhere fight over chocolate bargains! Of course, if there was a tour of the factory then people like me would simply dive into the chocolate vats… Anyway, apart from topping up on choco-supplies they enjoyed trips to Cologne, Maastricht as well as Aachen. They were also here during my birthday which we enjoyed in Monschau - a very quaint little town and a favourite place of mine, since it appears to have what may well be Germany’s very finest Apfelstrudel 
Bags bulging, they have returned to Blighty and will probably return when the choco supplies start running low once more…
30.Jun.07
Pastel’s visit :-) & Sommerfest
Munirih came to visit us for a week, we did a tour in Aachen and around, on the weekend went to the Bahá’í Temple near Frankfurt, where every year is held the Sommerfest, a big event with about 3.000 people from all over europe. We also went on a day trip to Luxembourg (a very pleasant and charming city) and Trier (a roman city in Germany). Of course she paid a visit to the Lindt factory shop and left loaded with yummy chocolate.
16.Jun.07
Greeeeece !!!
“Give me a word, any word, and I show you that the root of that word is Greek.” remember this line ???
On our way back from Israel we stopped in Athens for 3 days !!! and loved it!!! the place, the food … ahhhh the olive oil !!! and the coffee … so far the best I’ve found in Europe (in my hunt of finding an espresso like the Brazilian one). We spent 2 days exploring
Athens, the Acropolis (a must see), the National Archaeological Museum, the old olympic stadium (Panathinaiko stadium), the Lykavitos hill with a superb panoramic view of the city, it all definitely felt like walking through a history book and it also kept Stefan happy, busy with his camera !!!
We wouldn’t miss the chance of visiting one of the greek islands !!! Aegina, in the Saronic gulf, about an 1hr from Piraeus by ferry, a beautiful island surrounded by pistachio trees !!! another place to return one day and explore more….
14.Jun.07
Israel: The Highest Quality Falafels & The Lowest Burger Restaurant on Earth…
This was my first time in Israel. The first destination was Haifa, which despite the media’s portrayal of Israel, seemed like a pretty regular place with few obvious reminders of the ongoing turmoil that surrounds it. Haifa is well known for its diverse and harmonious population and, most importantly (for me that is), its fine falafels…So, we ate plenty
of those. Then we went on briefly to Tel Aviv - a vibrant city with impressive corporate towers and a sweeping coastline.
Then finally on to the Dead Sea. Leonora and I decided that she should drive and I would navigate, since she has driven a lot in Israel before, and reading a map can’t be that difficult, can it? Well…, my not so good map reading almost directed us towards the West Bank, rather than the Dead Sea…….
13.Jun.07
Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Israel
To go on pilgrimage has a significance for every culture and religion, while on pilgrimage we hope to understand more about our religion and ourselves. It is a journey of the soul, we leave behind our everyday lives and try to focus on our spiritual being. Our Pilgrimage to the Bahá’í Holy Places took place from May 27 to June 06. Our primary objective was to pray and meditate in the Shrines of the Báb and Bahá’u'lláh in the Holy Land (a sacred land to many 
religions), we also visited other Holy Places related to the lives of the central figures of the Bahá’í Faith. We stayed in the city of Haifa (north of Israel) where the Bahá’í World Centre is located, our pilgrimage group had about 250 Bahá’ís from various parts of the world, we all had guided visits to the Holy Places. It was an awe-inspiring experience for both of us, a true privilege. You can find more details of our pilgrimage, daily program, the sites we visited and more at this page.We are gradually uploading our pictures, we hope you enjoy them.
23.May.07
Budapest
Stefan was sent to work in Budapest for a little over a week and I joined him for a few days. During the weekend we did a lot of sightseeing: The Castle District, the River Danube embankments, Andrássy avenue (all UNESCO World Heritage Sites), we also attended a presentation of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble (at the Budai Vigado) that includes dancers and a folk gypsy orchestra. We also had a chance to go to the Baha’i Centre and meet friends.
It was great seeing old friends that live in Budapest: Edit (from Haifa); Katy (from Brazil), her husband Babak and beautiful daughters Nur and Lua.
Enjoy our pictures