Oh, Italy. Where do I even start? My parents visited when I was young and had nothing but great things to say so in the back of my mind, it was always a place I wanted to visit. Even with just a week allocated between Rome and Florence, I got a good feel for the place and am already planning a multi-stop train voyage back next year.

Once I landed in Italy, the biggest draw for me was the passion for a full, vibrant life. The Italians have a level of sophistication and attention to detail that translates to everything they do including their food, cars, design, clothing, art and coffee. It was so nice to be in a place where small businesses were thriving, history was left intact and quality was paramount.

In America, we get caught up on the premises of things being bigger, faster-paced and cheaper and while none of those concepts are necessarily bad on their own, together they can chip away at the quality of life. In contrast, simple pleasures took precedent in Italy. We were content with our tiny apartment, eating handmade late night dinners, walking miles through markets and historical sites and just enjoying a slower-paced existence.

These are some of my favorite moments from Rome and Florence and I’ll be doing a more detailed travel post later on — enjoy!

You know you’re in the right place when you turn a corner and it’s so beautiful that it resembles a movie set.

Every time I passed this fountain, all I could visualize was the face of Mark Twain. 😉

The scale of the colosseum in person completely blew my mind. it is the largest amphitheatre ever built and dating from 72 AD, it’s hard to imagine how such a behemoth was even constructed.

One of the world’s oldest pharmacies, Santa Maria Novella was so epic that I’ll be sharing a full post soon dedicated to it.

The Pantheon is one of the best-preserved ancient Roman buildings and an absolute must-see.

We came, we saw, we conquered.

A long day of walking around Rome calls for a bottle of wine and fresh flowers.

Italians do everything better including door buzzers.

The shopping in Florence was on another level.

When you see a carousel, it would be rude to decline riding it. Best €1.50 we spent.

No photos of The Duomo can do it justice — the surfaces are inlaid with multiple colors of marble.

Oh, David!

Florence is full of beautiful orange trees. I felt right at home!

Another day, another stop at the Gucci Cafe.

And with that, I just flew into New York last night and am off to visit some friends — have a fantastic weekend and I’ll be sharing some more travel-related posts soon. Thanks for reading!