ROME – I was only kidding when I told Rosa, a dear Roman friend, that I’d like to take a piece of the Forum home with me.

MONTEROSSO, ITALY – As the hull of the powerboat slammed against the choppy surf and our stomachs churned, we wondered if this day trip to see Italy’s famed quintuplets of towns known as the Cinque Terre was worth the sea sickness we were experiencing.

SAN GIMIGNANO, ITALY - From afar, this ancient town of towers looks like a fairytale village

BURANO, ITALY - We rushed to catch the early morning ferry to Burano, one of Venice’s enchanting out islands, but were lost in the maze of alleys leading to Fondamenta Nuovo pier, the boat’s launching point.

ROME - The scene is ancient Rome. The year 205 A.D. Chariots race around the Circus Maximus, the city’s oldest and largest chariot track, at a blinding pace.

VENICE - It was in a small shop on a narrow back street of this water-logged city that I had my first encounter with a Merchant of Venice.

MILAN - Italy’s fashion capital sometimes gets a bad rap.

BARCELONA - Outside my window, Europe is whizzing past. First Holland, then Belgium … France … Switzerland … Italy … Spain. Small towns, their church spires sticking up like pins on a map, pass by in the blink of the eye.

It’s a brisk autumn morning, and Italy’s Lake Como is glittering like an emerald set not in gold, but among green undulating hills. The frothing wake of my boat creates the only ripples on its otherwise mirror-like surface, which reflects the sorbet-hued villas that cluster around its banks as if admiring their glamorous facades in the water.