ChiLuxe Travel

The Galleria Borghese in Rome is a must-visit museum when you are staying in the Eternal City. It’s chock full of incredible sculptures and paintings, and the grounds surrounding the museum (the Villa Borghese) are beautiful, and worthy of an extended stroll. You absolutely must buy tickets in advance to the Galleria Borghese. They do not allow walk-ins at all, and tickets are strictly timed, and there is never a line to wait in. You have only two hours to…

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On our recent art-and-food-of-Paris extravaganza trip in November of 2024, we, of course, visited the Musee D’Orsay. I hadn’t been here in about 15 years, and I was excited to return because the museum itself has changed quite a bit, and I feel like it’s actually got a lot more art going on here than it did back then. My main memories were basically just of the building itself, which is stunning, so it was fun to check out a…

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During our Summer, 2024 trip to London, Brian and I were super excited to visit the National Gallery, which boasts THREE Caravaggio paintings. We were quite disappointed to learn, though, that while we were visiting, two of the three paintings were going to be off on loan elsewhere. This gap was made up for, however, with the addition of Caravaggio’s final painting, “The Martyrdom of St. Ursula,” which is normally in Naples, Italy. Check out my Caravaggio page as well…

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During our recent summer trip to London in 2024, we, of course, visited The British Museum. This museum is at the top of any London travel list, although coming here is more than just viewing all sorts of antiquities and artifacts from all over the world. While doing so, you are also forced to reckon with the question of why are all of these things here in London? There is a funny meme that asks, “Why are the Pyramids in…

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We recently returned from Rome for a totally intense weekend trip JUST to come to this museum to view one Caravaggio painting, never before on view to the public. The Portrait of Maffeo Barberini has been in a private collection for the last, essentially, 400 years, and hasn’t been seen by anyone alive apart from the folks who own it and those who know them. Indeed, they hadn’t even allowed actual Caravaggio experts and scholars (let alone amateur enthusiasts like…

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We recently returned from a whirlwind weekend trip to Rome, and at the top of our list of things to do, as Catholics, was participating as pilgrims during the Vatican’s Jubilee year, and walking through the Holy Doors. There’s not a lot of very good information out there about what to do and where to go, so I’m going to break down a few things you need to know and do before heading to St. Peter’s Basilica this year. The…

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We absolutely love food tours when we travel, as it gives us a really great way to check out some local fare, learn some history, and perhaps even explore a neighborhood we might not have otherwise check out. In London, I was keen to check out Borough Market, though felt overwhelmed with the place and decided to book a food tour through the company Eating Europe. Our tour guide was funny and knowledgable, and the tour was jammed with food…

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We visited The Louvre museum in Paris on our recent trip in November, 2024. Our main purpose was to see the three Caravaggio paintings housed there, which you can read all about here! Apart from the excitement of checking out these incredible paintings, most of the rest of the museum for me was a massively frustrating, and really made me question tourism, especially over-tourism, in general. I had been to the Louvre before, about 15 years ago, and when I…

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