Rome

I had been to Rome once as a kid and thus never felt a need to check it out when I was in Milan. Well as I going to Dubrovnik and had to pass through Bari to do so I thought I would go to Rome to see a newly discovered relative and check out the city 12 years later.
Rome gives off the same big city vibe that Milan does. The biggest difference between the two is the more casual attitude in Rome. People walk around in sandals and flip flops and are not dressed to impress anytime they go in public. It is more to my liking.

Lots of Roman ruins. Any random street or block will have some old roman building. You get used to this. I'm not going to bore you with descriptions of the big sites. Theyre all stunning. Most notable for me was the Pantheon. Inside its visually awesome. Also St. Peters for its sheer size.
This was the first time I would be traveling alone and it went great. I was lucky enough to stay at Hostel Ivanhoe (stoked on its 12 euro bed). I picked it randomly based solely on price. It was the cheapest one. It also happened to have free cocktails every night (there are very very very few hostels that do this). It brought everyone out into the common area and I was able to meet many people. Because of this I was never alone. One day I went out with a couple of Aussies and the next a couple of Romanians.

Salvatore, hostel manager and party starter

Hanging out with the Romanians was very interesting. While my daily complaints would be something along the lines of "ughhh my ipods not charged" theirs are "I wish we had highways." Makes you think

My Romanian friends at the Roman Forum

It was a good overall experience and I could see myself headed back to Rome to lay low and save $$$ working at a hostel.

After 5 nights I night trained to Bari to catch the ferry en route to Dubrovnik...