Our trip started with a day layover in NY on the way to Europe. I love NY!!! After landing in Milan, we drove to our friends house in Northern Italy to the village of Mezzolago. After a day of rest we took a drive to see more friends in Bolzano, this was such a unique place in it’s culture and history. I have never seen such a bicycle friendly place. Next, we were off to Verona to drop our bags and take the train to the amazing city of Venezia. After 2 days and a night here, we rented a car for the drive through Tusany and Umbria. There are just too many beautiful places to see, places like Firenze, Modena, Siena, Orvieto, San Gimignano, Pisa, Lucca. I didn’t think we would be able to, but we made it to Rome. We tried to visit as many different cities without overdoing it, finally, I think we overdid it….

We had such a great time visiting each old town of Italy. Each place is so different; offering so much to see. So many breathtaking structures and architectural marvels around every corner. Oh yea, food and wine, too…

We enjoyed Tuscany with view of grapes & rolling hills for miles, so much, that we found a little villa to stay for a few days. From the beginning, we decided to keep an open itinerary in case we wanted to see more of a specific place. It turned out to be wonderful 17 days in Italy.

After Italy, we had tickets to fly to Paris for 4 nights (our only real planning for this trip.) It was amazing to see this beautiful city of lights. We made a trip to the flea market to look for some vintage & antique things. To my surprise, I didn’t shop too much, it was enough just to walk around the city. Of course, there were the distractions of the world famous bread, cheese and wine. After three weeks, we had met so many nice people, ate so much great food and had experiences that we remember forever.

It was a great to turn off from my busy work schedule and just focus on the simple life. Laugh, relax and eating great food. It really opened my eyes to see so many beautiful things and it opens my heart to meet wonderful people. This was the longest time for me to be away from work and I feel fully charged of good energy. Life is good!