My own youthful European adventures in Britain, Greece, and Italy were far more tame and less wonderful, in large part because I was specifically never alone. However, because my mother and I ended up on a tour of Italy that the Department of Defense subcontracted through what turned out to be a frighteningly cheap British tour company, there were some oddities, which ranged from the mid 20s American woman who completely freaked when something ate her soap in the middle of the night while we were in Florence, to Rome, where we were all in a magnificently decaying old building with a terrifying elevator & intermittent running water that was across the street from a brothel.

On Friday night of our stay there, my mother and I looked out our window at the people coming and going out of there. My mother both scandalized and a bit amused that I was watching this with her.