I Can't Believe It.

Rome? What can I even say about you? You're such a big part of the reason I search for more places. Your small corners with vines flowing out of your windows and flowers dripping from your balconies, how could anyone not love you?

I woke up early. Because I know I love this city, and despite the fact that I'm ready to go home; I love, this city. So I woke up. I ate breakfast and mapped out my adventure. Complete loop around the city, skipping the Coliseum and Vatican because this is my third time here in two years and we'll save those things for last. So I walked. I walked. And it was grey, the sky was grey. Rome has color, and life, and smells. Not grey. You're so out of place, what business could you possibly have to loom over this city?

I kept walking. I found some balconies, I found some people that made me smile. And then a young Roman man stopped me. And then he was my tour guide. Trying to grab my hand ever so often (very often,) because well he's Italian and definitely not French (he says only the French are gay). So we walked, he was funny (and Italian). And I went on my first coffee date in months, in Rome, with a Roman (a very handsome Roman).

And then I wandered some more, and found some more things to smile about. Took a break, ate some lunch, and headed back out. Now the sun was out, and I knew where I was going: the market. I love shopping for the people I love in far, far away places. So I did. Soon, my arms were full of colorful things and I wandered some more. Again, destination clear: Gelato.

I got lost. I get lost a lot, but it didn't matter, I had a map. So I found the Gelato place, the gelato place. Waited on line for 20 minutes, and licked some banana nutella gelato all the way back to the hotel. As I was eating my gelato, walking past the Vatican as the sun sank lower in the sky, I had this thought.

I can't believe this is my life.