I'm so happy to have read this. I have been feeling this way ever since I came to Italy. It's nice that I CAN do this alone and that I'm FINE doing it alone, but you know what? It would be amazing to have someone (friend or lover) here experiencing it with me. 

This just inspired me to write my own blog post on this... it's been percolating in my head for a while now, but I need to just articulate my own version of this. Thanks!