Rome

So you think you're a player. Been there, done it all, and almost fell asleep? No one, nowhere has ever been able to shake your unflappable cool, to wipe that bland smile off your stunning, self-satisfied face. You smile patronizingly when others speak of the nadirs and zeniths, of the heights of ecstasy and the sloughs of despair, to which they have been carried, and subsequently dropped. You have never mouthed enthralled cliches or had your heart broken. You have never been to Rome.

Rome will shake the cynicism from your world-weary soul, and dump you breathless at the Trevi fountain. You will discover a heretofore unknown cache of butterflies in your stomach, as you stare open-mouthed at the best the world has to offer in art, architecture, and plain, simple style. Knock-kneed as any cheerleader invited to the big dance by the handsomest of starting quarterbacks, you will stumble out of the Pantheon, filled with dreams of pagan gods. You will lose yourself and find yourself again in the narrow streets of Trastevere. And you will know what it is to fall in love. So please, relax and embrace a madness so divine that it is called eternal. Afterwards, curled on your couch, three pints into an ice-cream binge, as you gaze at your photo-album, and remember what you knew, all too briefly, there will be time to repine. For now, there is only Rome.