Because of God, our journey was filled with inspiring, interpersonal encounters.

The people being very kind.

There was peace bursting out of every little corner of this city.

The second inspiring interpersonal encounter I will tell you about was in Jaffa. The city Jaffa is known for its harbour because its known as the oldest harbour there is in the world and from this harbour the Bible says, Jona started his journey to Tarsis.

Back to the encounter: This one is a very good example for a situation God just initiated and guided.
We were going through the Old City of Jaffa (There several little fashion shops can be found, where you could see how the clothes were made in a separate room. I really liked that, it was pretty cool.) on our way to the toilet near by the tourist information.
While waiting for my mom, I met a woman and we talked. She told me about a guesthouse called "Beit Immanuel" next to a church in the center of the Old City of Jaffa. She told me that it is an amazing possibility to stay while being in Jaffa, not very expensive with nice and friendly people and beautiful services. Besides that she told me about the possibility to volunteer at that guesthouse.

Because the guesthouse was very near by the tourist information and my mom and I already planned coming back for a second time, and also because the AirBnB we were living in that time, wasn't as near to the Old City as we thought, we decided to go and visit the church as well as the guesthouse.
On our way to the church, we met the woman again, we talked a bit longer, she told us more and where exactly we could find the church and the guesthouse.

So we went there and looked at the church, which was very beautiful. After that, my mom asked me if we still want to go to the guesthouse or not and I said that we could but that I don't have to. And then my mom said, okay let's just go there
- thank God I listened to her.

Because we happened to have a very beautiful encounter with two women from Brasil and the USA, volunteering there. We had such a wonderful conversation that it ended with a house tour and praying for each other in the end. I think, I haven't had a conversation that had such an empowering and encouraging impact on my life for a long time.

This day simply was like a "Hey, I love you and I'd like to do something good for you" from God without me even asking for it.

God just simply enjoys doing something good for us even if it happens crabwise and through little things.

He really loves us und you don't just see that in tremendous miracles happening but especially in the little, beautiful things which are often presenting the loving and comforting nature of God much better to us.

No city has such a historical, cultural and culinary heritage as Rome does.
Because I've never had the chance to visit and discover this city before, I thought I will share my first impressions of this metropole with you.
Lean back and immerge into a world full of historical monuments, fascinating art and the best taste experiences of the European south.

The first day in Rome unfortunately was only half a day due to our flight being a few hours late. But for all that we arrived in marvellous weather a perfect mix of kindly mild and nippy.
After our bus brought us from the airport to the city centre (with ten minutes delay because our bus driver needed his smoke break), we took a nice walk through the heart of Rome to our accommodation.

The rest of the day was filled by walking past the Pantheon in the direction of the roman-jewish quarter, admiring Romes popular Piazzas (those are park-alike squares, distributed all over the city).
After watching the sunset over the Pantheon it became dark very quickly but the following days should keep enough moments ready to look at the Piazzas in daylight.

Looking back I can say that it felt like as if I took a bath in bread with olive oil and that I was so full, I slept like a baby.

The first actual day in Rome started with a nice walk to the Angel's Bridge towards the Vatican.
But first of all the most important thing: Our breakfast. In one of the numerous alleys we found a little café which was meant to be our regular place for breakfast,.After a Latte Macchiato, a panini with tomatoes and mozzarella, some steps further we arrived at the Angel's Bridge.

Our first stop after breakfast and crossing the Tiber should be the St. Peter Cathedral. We actually started our day very early and managed to get in within just five minutes. It totally payed off because after we got out, the cue winded up around the whole square in front of the Cathedral.
The Cathedral itself was even more breathtaking from the in- than on the outside.
Besides the coloured glass window with a pigeon at the back and the golden elements, the mosaic-collages on the walls of the upper dome fascinated me the most. But probably everyone who has a predilection for detailed art would've felt the same.

Of course the viewing platform had to be visited afterwards. By foot. A lot of stairs.
A. lot. The higher we got the narrower it was and you were forced to walk more ducked with every step you took because the ceiling came lower and lower. In the end it was still worth it. I had a similar feeling to the one I had after making it to the viewing platform of the Eiffel Tower by foot and the amount of fear I had of dropping my phone while taking pictures was about the same too. But it did not happen in both cases. Praise the Lord.

We had Lasagne for lunch and by far the BEST Tiramisu I've ever tasted.
The restaurant's name was 'La Pancia Felice', in case you want to make a detour to this one while visiting Rome.

In the afternoon we had planned to visit the Vatican Museums. Even though the massive number of art pieces merely swamped us, all in all it was actually very enriching and admirable.
My personal highlights were the several tapestries, which among other things displayed different biblical stories, the (for real breathtaking) 'map room' (you'll see it in the pictures) and certain modern, religious paintings.

After a little break at the hotel we finished our day off with some tasty antipasti and pizza in a little restaurant, called 433.

This honorable day was meant to start very early for us because we wanted to look at the Trevi-Fountain at sunrise. A great decision because besides the beautiful view, we were able to take really good pictures because almost nobody else was there.

After that we went on to the Spanish Steps. Framed by historical houses and palm trees, a masterpiece of outside staircases extends into the infinity of the sky which is just changing colours from a pale orange to a clear blue while being covered by a swarm of birds.
Yes, the view felt exactly as cheesy and overblown as I described it.
It was very beautiful, for real.

In front of the Spanish Steps there is the Spanish Square. There is a fountain located in its centre, framed by the most exclusive fashion stores.
We started to explore all of them after some breakfast at 'Sali&Tabacchi' comprised of a Latte Macchiato, a croissant filled with vanilla cream an covered with some type of icing (a very decent calorie bomb, oops) and panacotta combined with caramel (I almost died while eating, it was SO GOOD).
We hinged down everything. Starting with Prada finishing off with Valentino and in-between visiting Gucci, Armani, Louis Vuitton and Burberry. Because my second name is broke, I knew I won't buy a thing. But it was my mission to see what's behind the brand anyway, therefore it was not that of a sad thing. I wanted to know for what kind of inspiration, story and philosophy they stand for. I've rarely learned that much interesting things in one day. Ahhhhh maybe I'll give up on becoming a dancer and actress and create a fashion imperium instead, you never know.

A successful day like this had to traditionally get the end it deserved at one of the best pizzeria. At the pizzeria 'Baffetto' one planned course easily became two courses, hehe. 

The first agenda item under the caption 'Discovering the historical Rome' was the Colosseum.
We did a guided tour and that turned out to be more than worth the money and was factually very interesting. I never knew where the idea of the gladiator fight came from and how many other spectacles took place in the Colosseum.

After a break with a brunch we went on to visit the Forum Romanum, the city centre of the ancient Rome, as well as the Paladin, a hill where the emperor's palasts where located. The reason for that was the beautiful panorama view there over the whole city centre of Rome.
If you're in Rome you definitely have to visit the historical city centre. It feels like as if you're in a movie. A movie of the past. You somehow feel like as if you're a part of the whole thing that stood there 2000 years ago and where now is nothing to look at but left overs and remains. And still, as difficult as it may seem to believe, there is so much history behind all these remains.

The second half of our last day in Rome started in a little cinema: 'Nuovo Sacher'.
Which movie did we watch? It was The Green Book. A wonderful film that touches the heart of an artist as much as every other heart. The combination of the topic racism and the art of playing the piano with a very big pinch of humour is just unbeatable.

We spend the last evening with an Aperol Spritz and some fancy little snacks for example fennel salad with orange and bread chips with finely spiced hummus at the 'Cantina Ripagrande'.
I rolled the way back home.

The last thing I can say referring to this short trip is that I can only agree with my grandma's description of Rome: 'You'll like it there. Nice fashion, tasty food and good-looking men.'
Not much has changed in 50 years.

♥︎   Roncalli Grand Café

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Thousands of little sparkling spots on a wide, black canvas.

Big. Wide. Neverending.

This infinity used to be something creating a queasy feeling within me - and sometimes - still is.

Every time when I watched movies or looked at pictures showing the outer space, I felt like there is just nothing to hold on to in this infinite expanse. It seemed to me as if I would be totally unable to control my existence in this boundless room and that frightened me.

But lately that changed.
Looking at a clear starry sky causes the feeling of calm, peace and God being very close.

The countless starry Skies in Portugal, their beauty and this new feeling I felt caused me to write about them.

I think the reason for me not being afraid of the space and its expanse anymore is that I remembered Abraham's story.
Back then God used a starry sky to tell Abraham what kind of big, wide things God has for him.
It stood for God planning to make the impossible possible.
God told Abraham these things in a conversation while Abraham was looking at the stars.
That was a moment of immense intimacy.

I think God has something great and breathtaking in store for each and everyone of us.
To be confronted with his greatness, his power, his perspectives and possibilities can be very impressive. But he wants to share his glory, this glory so badly with us.
He has a planned something for everyone of us in a different way.
He only has the best for us. The only thing we have to do is to allow him to give us what he has for us  and trust that he will give it to us.

God puts dreams into our hearts.

If we reach for the stars, he will meet us halfway and hands them down to us, if we trust him.