Sicily Day 11 Arrivederci! but not without some fascinating people.

It wouldn’t be a normal day of mini miracles if we didn’t cross providential paths with others, which is the usual. Our day began with a nice breakfast of freshly prepared traditional cakes from the Alma hotel, our place we spent the night. From here we checked out and roamed Palermo for a couple of hours. I finally scored a nice pair of shoes to go with my Vietnamese suits I had made when I was there. After a couple visits to local shops we went down to the port to look at the sailboats and scenery of the area. In the mix we saw the man on this blog cover who was making sardines, anchovies and jar’d tuna fresh on the spot. We were fascinated and almost over looked buying something from him due to worries of packing it, that was until I heard “New Jersey” from someone at the booth. I stopped in my tracks and asked if someone was from there. The man replied he was, and I mentioned I was from the shoreline currently, and he then told me he was on the shore as well. From here the conversation bloomed as we smiled at the small world we live in.At the same moment the old man handed Monica and I an anchovy which neither of us could say no to such a unique experience. From here we bought a bunch to bring back home since it would be so fresh and reasonable. We got 4 jars for $10 total.

If this was the only experience had for the day, it would’ve been perfect, but it’s never the case when you are dealing with God, he always has a treat in store for you. Upon arriving at the airport, we planned to repack our bags since one of them was 30lbs overweight. due to our gifts. We just happened to be standing in front of the Catholic chapel in the airport. As we were getting ready to rearrange I saw a man with a collar on and asked if he was a priest. He shares with me he was a street evangelizing priest from Rome and Medjugorje. This was very special as it echoed many things for me. He shared he does magic tricks as part of his ministry and performed for us right in front of the chapel. He had not clue though as well that he was in front of the chapel. It was a gentle reminder how God arranged such a fun meeting for us all, and he was right there in front of us the whole time, unknowingly.. We exchanged gifts of our works. I gave him some of my cards, including St. Patrick whose feast day it was, and he gave us a show and a medallion from Medjugorje.

We boarded our plane and left for Frankfurt, Germany. We arrived and decided we wanted to see the city for a couple of minutes. Monica found a great German restaurant in the heart of town and we went. It turned out to be a very traditional place where we enjoyed some great food and German beer. We now rest and prepare for the final leg of our return home and back to life in the great land of the U.S.A. For more pictures of the priest magic show and our German meal click here.