Florence + Rome / Week Five | Quad Cities Wedding and Lifestyle Photographer

Well, here it is. The last leg of our journey and the last couple of stops before we headed home. I have to say, it has been absolutely awesome to do these blog posts. I don't know if anyone is even reading them, but I don't really care. It has been more therapeutic for me to write them than I realized going in. Life is different these days and we don't get to adventure as much as we used to, but as the quote says "We'll always have Paris (or Dublin, London, Florence- really insert ANY other place here)"

So. Here goes.

Our second favorite place (next to Ireland) was hands down, Florence. The art, the people, the vibe; we felt at home. Totally relaxed and stress free the way a big city rarely makes me feel. We explored a few museums but really spent most of our time there just walking the city. We happened upon the gelato festival and I instantly fell to my knees in utter despair since I had recently found out that I was lactose intolerant and was unable to partake in my fav dessert. We also happened to find our favorite bar in the world. I couldn't tell you what it was called, but they had some of the best beer I've ever had. There was a little barrel and a couple of stools outside that we kind of set up shop on for the next two days. In the picture below, it looks like I'm holding a peace sign but really I'm saying 'yeah this is the second day in a row of us coming here and I'm not even ashamed to admit it'. 

We also did the most touristy thing in Florence- we had out caricature done. And I'm so.glad.we.did. It still hangs on our wall today and I love to look at it! The artist who did the caricature was super cool and while we were having our day-two-at-the-bar, he happened to walk by and we got to chat a bit more! We were really bummed to leave Florence and considered staying an extra day, but decided we needed to keep exploring since our time in Europe was nearly up.

So on to Sienna we went. If you've ever heard of the colors Sienna or burnt Sienna (a darker variation)- this city is where they get their name. We hung out at the city center plaza and truly, the city is the color of Sienna. We had a fantastic meal in Sienna but were ready to move on to our last stop- Rome. It took us way longer than it should have to get there because there was a strike and the railroads were shut down for a while. Lots of waiting around in train stations. 

Rome, Rome, Rome. What a city. It's where I got my first 'Ciao bella'! Oh, and other things like the colosseum, Roman steps, Julius Caesar's burial site (where people still lay flowers for him on a daily basis), doors that were thousands of years old, countless other historical markers that I can't even list and Vatican City (which ended up being a lot of long lines were we weren't allowed to take pictures of the sistine chapel). There is so much history in Rome and we only brushed the very surface of the outer layer of all there is to learn. I have to admit, we were kind of over learning anything else. All we had been doing for the past 4 1/2 weeks was going to museums and historical sites and we were kind of ready to just chill. For that reason alone we need to go back to Rome. After touring the colosseum we decided Rome had been good but we were ready for a night in. So, we bough a couple beers and some kebab and watched Gladiator in our room. 

All in all, it truly was the trip of a lifetime. We constantly say things to each other like 'remember that time in Venice when ______' or 'how 'bout that time we _______' or, our favorite, 'It's a Dublin kind of day'- a day when there is a sky of rain clouds and a chill to the air and all we want to do is be together so we can explore.  We learned, laughed, loved and adventured and I can't.wait to do it again- soon.

Thanks for reading this series and sharing in the love <3