Let's cut to the chase: we love Italy. It has it all — arts and culture, wonderful food, a strong identity and friendly people. Most of all, there's a pace of life that you have to embrace. Italians enjoy life and they live as if there's no tomorrow. Being present in the moment and savoring life — whether drinking a cup of coffee at a neighborhood bar or trying to get to your destination in time for an appointment — is all-important. La dolce vita is alive and well.

So, there we were, sitting in cafés in Athens and Thessaloniki, trying to figure out a plan for our next few weeks. We had only planned as far as Greece, enjoying our new-found freedom, with no onward tickets or plans beyond getting to our friends in England by April. How we would get there was anyone's guess, but there was never really any question whether we would go to Italy. The complicating factor was that we also wanted to visit Cairo, but, coming on the heels of a few months in Southeast Asia and then India, we weren't sure what Egypt would be like. After a few brainstorming sessions, we managed to plan a route that would make us both happy. We would fly to Rome from Thessaloniki, spend a few days there, fly to Cairo for a few days and then back to Rome to catch a train to Florence. Piece of cake, right?

This was a sign of things to come. The Europe chapter of our trip was a non-stop trek on trains, in cars and aboard ferries. We would spend a few days in each place at most and race on to the next. We had a wonderful, exhilarating and exhausting time. Starting with Roma, where we hit the ground running. No sooner were we at the airport than we followed a familiar path to the train station and navigated to our new digs near the Vatican. We met our Airbnb host, dropped off our bags and went looking for a supermarket in the neighborhood. We set up camp and explored areas both familiar and unfamiliar, starting with some of the highlights of our previous trip — the Forum, the monument to King Vittorio Emanuele II, the Colosseum, the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel — but this time at a much more relaxed pace.

We enjoyed ordering coffee in Italian at a local coffee bar, we had homemade pasta and mouth-watering pizza, ate fresh anchovies and drank Peroni beer. We walked aimlessly, down side streets, dark alleys and across leafy squares. We visited museums, monuments, churches and cemeteries. We listened to Italian pop and the incessant singsong chatter of the locals. We watched couples kiss, friends embrace and strangers argue. Throughout it all, we felt a deep admiration for the sheer "Italianness" of Italians and Italy. I now know that I deeply misunderstood the character of this country and its inhabitants when I was younger and more English. I gladly confess the error of my ways and salute the Italian people for their ability to truly enjoy the finer things in life. My only regret is that I didn't understand this sooner and that I didn't live here in my twenties.

At a certain point, we realized how surreal and fantastical our lives have been these past few months. After visiting the Vatican, which we had been unable to do on our previous visit because of security concerns, we learned that the Pope would be leading a penitant's prayer later in the week. We duly obtained our free tickets and returned a couple of days later. While we are not religious, we felt fortunate to attend a service with Pope Francis at St. Peter's Basilica, surrounded by devoted Catholics from around the world. When he walked by us, a few feet away, you could almost feel our Costa Rican neighbors swoon. This Pope is treated like a rock star by his followers. It was a rare privilege to witness a ceremony in this kind of setting, under the dome, surrounded by the finest trappings of the Catholic world. It made us realize how fortunate we are to have experienced so many different cultures and religions up-close around the world. We have visited some of the holiest and most magnificent structures built by mankind, which are tributes to human creativity and yearning for transcendence, more than mere monuments to religions.

The very next morning, we found ourselves on a plane to Cairo, pinching ourselves, trying to process everything that we'd seen in Rome. The greatest thing about the city is being able to walk down any street and find some trace of a remarkable historical incident or figure. One of our favorite anecdotes involves the afternoon when we ate a slice of pizza from our favorite, Pizza Florida on Piazza Argentina. We were standing near the center of the square, looking down at the ancient ruins below, watching dozens of feral cats lounging on crumbling columns and enjoying our pizza. Later that night, I read that the ruins are the alleged site of Julius Cesar's tragic murder. That's Rome for you! You'd never know it to look at it. To us, it was just the square with all the cats...

When we returned from our Cairo adventure a few days later, we were better prepared. As we headed up to Florence by train, we knew that we would have to pace ourselves if we wanted to appreciate everything the city has to offer. Florence is very different from Rome. It's smaller, less ancient, but it is arguably the art capital of the world. As the epicenter of the Renaissance, the town flourished in the sixteenth century, marking a decisive break with the Dark Ages of medieval Europe. For the next hundred years, Florence would lead the way in terms of art, science and culture. The rest of Europe would soon follow, leading to a succession of revolutions — both cultural and political — that transformed the continent and the world. We had more than a week to explore, but even that time would not be enough to see it all.

Unfortunately, our plans were slightly flawed: we hadn't counted on spring break or the rain. Hordes of school children from all over Europe (but mainly France) and college kids from America descended on Florence right when we were there. I recently heard tourism described as a competitive sport and, indeed, it can certainly seem that way when you're sharing small spaces with hundreds, if not thousands of other people. We made the most of our time and managed to dodge the crowds as much as possible, mainly by visiting the most popular attractions — like the Uffizi and l'Accademia — during lunch hours. This meant that we could actually enjoy Michelangelo's sculpture of David, as well as innumerable masterpieces by Da Vinci, Rafael and Botticelli, among many, many others.

One of the highlights was staying in an apartment a few steps away from Santa Croce Church, where Michelangelo and Galileo are buried. Florence is a city where the past and present conspire to make you realize that we truly are standing on the shoulders of giants who have paved a way for human progress throughout the ages. While we took our time and enjoyed the small pleasures of Italian life outside our experiences in Rome, we were always aware of the rich history that surrounded us in Florence.

There were also some lighthearted moments, like when I finally heeded Jona's advice and got a haircut. I found a small, local barber shop and proceeded to have a wonderful conversation with Vincenzo, my barber in Florence, whose English was as good as my Italian. We managed to have a charming time, involving much gesturing and pointing. He was delighted to find out that I was traveling around the world ("la gira del mundo") and that my last haircut was in Delhi. In fact, he had a photo of barbershops around the world neatly arranged on the wall, including an Indian scene, which amused us no end. When he had finished with my hair and had wished me a good journey, we shook hands like old friends. I stepped out into the rain and stood with my eyes closed as I felt the cool water trickle down my scalp and a smile on my face. Simple joys.

We made one last fun detour before leaving Italy: we took a short train ride to nearby Pisa to see the famous leaning tower. It is well worth the visit. The tower is much more beautiful than we had imagined and it does indeed lean at a crazy angle. It's actually part of a square, with a church and a baptistry, all surrounded by a carefully manicured lawn. We spent a few minutes watching tourists from everywhere you could possibly imagine doing all kinds of goofy things to the tower while being photographed. We even saw a troupe of Chinese ballerinas bend themselves into unbelievable contortions with the tower in the backdrop. The rest of our time in Pisa was spent sampling gelato by the river, which sounds very romantic, but it was actually raining and cold, and the gelato wasn't nearly as good as our favorite place in Florence, Vivoli Gelateria. When you start getting picky about the quality of your gelato, there's a chance you might be going native. While we could quite happily live in Italy, it was time to say Ciao and head on to the next adventure beyond the mountains.