explore rome on my own

Great stuff. Especially at 3 in the morning when you have the entire city to yourself—except for the cats(!)

I wandered into Italy, managed to find the right train to take me into the city, found my hostel, made my own schedule, ate Roman pizza, tasted my first gelato, spoke my first Italian, gazed at my first Michelangelo, bought a beautiful tea rose skirt, and did it all my way.

Nothing better than wandering around Rome with no specific place to go. The best afternoon I ever spent was at a cafe at the Pantheon just watching the people and drinking espresso.