For years I’ve been telling everyone to see Rome on two wheels. There is nothing like the wind in your hair, zipping past white monuments and green umbrella pine trees set against the blue sky in Rome that makes you feel like rock star.

Only, I used to be referring to a Vespa. My scooter and I are still definitely an item, but the new two-wheeled love in my life is the Segway.

This past weekend my friend and I got a Rome Segway tour with Italy Segway Tours. I got it in my head to do this months ago when my friends Gordon (the photographer on my episode of House Hunters International, actually) and Adrienne booked a tour with them a few months ago and loved it. Gordon travels the world filming the show, so if he liked it, I knew I would, too.

I can first assuage any fears you may have about riding on or operating a segway. The instructor at Italy Segway Tours showed us each individually how to “drive” one and made sure we were comfortable. It only took seconds, not minutes, for me to be confident riding, starting, stopping, turning, and generally feeling like I probably wouldn’t die. And that’s saying a lot because I am usually very clumsy.

Riding the Segway is crazy fun. You’re about two feet taller than all the people walking around and getting tired, while you whiz (well, roll) past on your battery-powered chariot. It’s slow enough so that you can take everything in, and fast enough that you get to see a lot in a short time with zero exertion.

The tour started at 9:30 a.m. and lasted about three hours, which flew by. It cost 75 Euros a person, which I thought was very reasonable given how long the tour was and that our group was small (6 people), which meant we could ask the tour guide lots of questions and also to take lots of pictures for us. Speaking of the guide, I thought he was just going to lead us around like a taxi driver, but instead he told us a lot about the history of each monument, pointed out little details I’d never noticed (like the Roman numerals above the ground-level arches at the Colosseum – they corresponded to the tickets that the spectators would get, so everyone could find their seats – seriously interesting). The things I learned on my Segway tour!

On our tour, we got up close and personal with Rome’s greatest hits such as the Colosseum, Forum, Circus Maximus, Aventine Hill, La Bocca della Verita’, Trajan’s Markets, and others. And here’s what’s so great about seeing everything on a Segway: You can go everywhere you could go on foot, meaning you can go into pedestrian-only areas and get close enough to touch the monuments, impossible on a scooter or bus tour, and at the same time you are NOT WALKING. It would take you DAYS to visit all of these places if you were walking around, plus your knees would hate you. It really was the best of everything.

I’ve got some fun trips coming up for the summer and I promise you I’ll be looking for Segway tours. Starting with Florence (Italy Segway Tours also operates in Florence and Milan). I am also seriously interested in the one that they do in Rome at night, which takes you on a different route (Piazza Navona, the Trevi Fountain). I would use this company again in a heartbeat.

Ok, ok, I’m gushing, but when you live in Rome every day it’s rare you discover something that makes you feel like a wide-eyed visitor again. This one was so fun I felt like a kid again, too.

Some videos and pictures of my day (and what we saw):