“when the blue eyed boy meets the brown eyed girl”
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.
“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….
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…….
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.