Things I will never quite "get".

Sometimes, Roma, you really push my buttons. You delay my trains, even though you know my time is limited. You soak me in rain, for the fun of it, I assume.

Even your stray dogs want my change. Unashamedly you toss in front of me scenes of depravity, force me to confront elements of humanity I often forget about in my naivety.

And some of your quirkier... eccentricities I could never hope to understand.

In fact, sometimes I am downright disgusted by you, Roma. You're a gritty mess, with awful traffic, pickpockets, swindlers, and crap tourist food.

You know I can't resist your grandeur. You know that I will come in any weather, change my best laid plans, and fret over you, and you exploit that. You tempt me with history and art, then around the next corner you attempt to take my money and humiliate me in your downpours.

But I can't stay mad at you, Roma. On some level I understand that the dirty parts, the grungy corners, add to the pure, unadulterated humanity you exude. I get it, and while at times I frown upon you for sitting back, for allowing it...

for resting on your stately laurels, you have earned it. You purport to be a modern city, to be relevant, but your past is where your relevance lies, and there's nothing wrong with that. I even understand why you will never admit to it.

It's a damn glorious past. You possess more earthly treasures than you could ever hope to know what to do with, and you sell me tickets at a premium, and I feel honored to pay it.

Because you know you're unique. You hold... the archetype of my own culture. You hold the key to the knowledge we take for granted. You destroy your treasures, if only to create new ones. You adapt, but somehow you do it without changing your character, and I admire that in you.

And your lifetime of sights hold the power to stop me in my tracks at every corner. You have no idea, what you do to me, Roma.

I take that back, I'm pretty sure you're aware. I'm pretty sure at some level you have life of your own. I don't even think I'm anthropomorphizing, here. You radiate with life. You shine with all the beauty inherent in mankind, all the art, music, elements of hope and justice, charity and goodness. Simultaneously you unabashedly shove our dirtier side to the forefront, make us all to aware of the follies that have plagued our kind since you were the center of all things, and before.

You truly are the eternal city. I'm truly honored and humbled to have scratched your surface.

P.S. Roma; I will be making it to Vatican City. You won't stop me next time. Nice try, though.