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la dolce vita

 
this was a day when we enjoyed rome without doing too much touristy stuff. we did begin the day at the vatican museums and that was enough excitement for the day. we spent the rest of the day wandering around almost aimlessly through the city. we reached the trastevere district late in the afternoon and this is my favorite part of the city by far. we lost our way on the winding narrow streets which lead us to find places we wouldn't have found otherwise. this part of the city is so fresh, and colorful and vibrant, you come to love it immediately. we hang around piazza santa maria in trastevere eating gelato (my favorite part of any day in italy) and just watched people going by. we met up with my friend elena and her boyfriend in the square later that evening and took a stroll along the river before sitting down for a glass of wine. elena and i have been friends for 11 years but haven't seen each other in 10. she's actually the reason why i love this city so much.

top, sandals: zara * skirt: h&m
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florence and the art machine

the third day of our vacation in italy was spent wandering around the beautiful city of florence. to some it is the most beautiful city in italy, but for very sentimental reasons, which i will share with you later, rome will always be my favorite. the first thing you notice about florence is that it is full of art. this was in fact the birthplace of the renaissance and home of the powerful medici family, who were huge collectors of art. you can get a picture of how influential the medici were by how often you see their coat of arms displayed around every corner of the city. you can't even begin to understand how big the duomo is until you have climbed up on the palazzo vecchio and you have seen it from above in its full splendour. similarly, you cannot appreciate the beauty of the ponte vecchio until you walk on to the next bridge and see it from a distance. it's all a matter of perspective.

dress, sandals: no label * sunnies: h&m
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cinque terre

cinque terre or 'the five lands" is formed by five small and enchanting villages on the italian riviera. the villages together with the coastline and the surrounding hillsides are part of a national park under unesco world heritage patronage. getting there by car was quite the adventure. the small villages are quite isolated and the access roads are narrow and sinuous and some have been severely damaged by the floods last year. on our gps the roads looked very much like a bowl of spaghetti. our first stop was in levanto, the doorway to cinque terre. we took a strol around town and on the beach promenade and i dipped my toes in the mediterranean sea. we saw a glimpse of vernazza from above and headed towards manarola for dinner. manarola seemed like the typical fishing village, extremely charming and quite famous for its wines. i went for a vintage inspired look which seemed very vacation appropriate. given the surroundings i couldn't help but feeling we were in an old movie.

 shirt: h&m * shorts: lulu's * sandals, sunglasses: random
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dolce far niente


i guess you could call this the italian philosophy. but we did nothing of the kind while vacationing in italy. well, at least not for the first week we were there. my guy and i took a real tour de force visiting some of the most amazing cities in italy. our tour began in milan, world's fashion capital. we were only there for a day, but what a delightful day it was. went up on the dome and saw the city from above, visited the sforzesco castle and its gardens, stopped by for some amazing gelato (the apple falvour was my favorite) and strolled a bit along corso vittorio emanuele and gazed at the window displays. as we are mere mortals and cannot afford shopping chanel, prada or luis vuitton we settled for h&m and the likes and scored on some super sales. we had pizza for dinner and called it a night. the next day we would embark on new adventures.

 vest, shorts: h&m * top, sandals, bag: thrifted * hat: meli melo
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skinny buddha is now on facebook

it was about time skinny buddha got a facebook page!

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it's all about the journey, not the destination

work was such a drag last week, so i cannot tell you guys how much i was looking forward to this weekend. this was my second weekend here in india and i couldn't wait to travel a bit. southern india is more traditional and people here are very religious. i was really surprised to see the number of temples here, big and small, round every corner and how devoted people are in preserving and adorning them. we first visited the shore temple in the city of mahabalipuram which dates back to the 8th century and has been classified as an unesco world heritage site. the temple is dedicated to the gods shiva and vishnu. just as we were getting closer to the temple i noticed the place was swarming with dragonflies. my heart melted then and there. it was most rewarding to be in the presence of such natural beauty. i recently got a dragonfly tattoo on my ribcage so you can imagine just how dear these creatures are to me. they surely made my day. if we had stopped our journey then i would have declared myself most satisfied. but luckily we didn't and i have lots more to share with you.

tank top: zara * harem pants: bershka * sandals: thifted * bag: benvenuti
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