5. The Views: Looking out over a postcard cityscape with bells echoing through the streets.
4. The Fountains: I've always had a thing for waterfalls and fountains--and Rome had some of the most beautiful I've ever seen. And it didn't hurt that two of these were featured in '50's movies
3. Gelato: I've never been a huge ice-cream lover. Everyone kept raving about Italian gelato, and I'm not gonna lie, I doubted. But I soon converted, and ate it at least once everyday--coming home very disdainful of the American version. 
2. Sidewalk Cafes: I loved eating outside for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I did get carbed out pretty quickly, but I fell in love with every sidewalk cafe we ate at. This one was right in front of the Parthenon. 
1. Music in the Streets: People have always made fun of me that I randomly break into song. In Rome, I found a kindred city because everywhere we went people were singing. This man was a street performer who set up a boom box in the piazza, opened his mouth and suddenly I was listening to an Andrea Bocelli.
