On about Day 5 in Rome, I started to get sick of the city. So many tourists (I know, I know, Iàm a tourist too, but I'm not one of them), so many aggresive drivers, and so mnay officials pushing you around. Towards the end, we only stuck around the city center longer enough to check two important sites off the list: The Vatican and The Pantheon. The Sistine Chapel was incredibly beautiful, but not quite worth standing in line for three hours for the second time in my life. The Pantheon, however, was excpetional.

The Pantheon no longer holds the pantheon of Roman gods, but it is still a marvel. Unfortunately the local Christian population has substituted the original pagan statues with a bunch of massive tombs and unimpressive paintings. So while most of the other tourists took pictures and looked at the artifcats, I stoof in the center, dizzy, just trying to grasp the immensity and perfection of the architecture surrounding me.

The rest of the time, Scott and I spent outside the city. We walked around the park of Villa Borghese, discovering fountains, and watching dogs play. We explored Hadrian's Villa, climbing around the ruins of an expansive estate. And we toured San Sebastian's catacombs.

Getting to the catacombs was an adventure in itself. When we got out of the metro station two hours before the museum opened, we decided to try to find it by foot instead of taking the bus suggested by our guide book. We walked up and down the suburban streets, glad to have escaped the bustle of the city. We passed by a schoolyard full of screaming children; we drank from a fountain; and we pet a few cats. When we finally located the park we were to cut through, two hours had almost past. In the park we saw dogs, lizards, sheep, some weird birds, and a huge, decrpit castle. We got lost along the path, and then decided to stray from the path and find our own short cut.

Throughout the day we'd gotten farther and farther from the crowds of Rome, and closer and closer to nature. When we finally broke from the path and saw more and more hills ahead, I was ecstatic. At that moment nothing else mattered but the sky and the hills. Whether we got to the catacombs before it closed; whether we ever found our way back--none of that meant anything as long as the wind was in my hair.

By jogging up that short hill, I ssaw the expanse of another world before me. That route did not end up being a short cut by any means, but it was certainly worth it.