We awoke to the beautiful blue sunny skies that seem to accompany every day here in Italy. We packed a lunch from the grocery store and then caught the bus and metro into town. We exited the underground and suddenly right before us was the Colosseum! It was incredible to see it with my own eyes and gave me the feeling of "wow, I'm really in Rome!". The area surrounding it was filled with guys dressed like gladiators, preying on tourists foolish enough to pay to take a picture with them. The line to get in was ridiculous, so we walked towards Palatine Hill, which was once home to the city's wealthiest families. The line there was long as well so we walked around the entire hill and past the Roman Forum to Capitol Hill. We ascended the steps of the massive white marble Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele, passing by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, to the very top which had spectacular views over the city. We browsed through the free museum on Italian history located on the top floor before heading back down and making our way to the Trevi Fountain. Even before it comes into view, you can hear the water splashing and the chatter of the crowd surrounding it. Then you round the corner and the massive fountain is glistening in the sun before you, every bit as impressive as you had imagined it. It was blistering hot so we made our way to a drinking fountain on the side, refilling our water bottles and splashing ourselves with the ice cold water. We chucked coins over our shoulders into the fountain to ensure our return to Rome and then continued on our way. Our next stop was the Capuchin Crypts, a complete change from our previous stops. Inside, the monks' arranged hundreds of human skeletons into these bizarre altars. Bone chandeliers hung from the ceiling over stacks of skulls and various designs of shoulder blades, hip bones arms, legs and the skeletons of small children. We left feeling a bit disturbed so we cheered ourselves up with some gelato before heading over to the Pantheon. Built in 27 BC, the temple is the best preserved example of the splendor of ancient Rome (it's massive dome is still an architectural marvel to this day). We were exhausted from walking all over Rome so we ended up falling asleep on the benches inside before realizing we should probably call it a day. We made our way back on the metro and bus and decided we should get some drinks from the grocery store so we came back to campsite with a case of Carlsberg. Carson wanted to take a 'power nap' and when he woke up 2 hours later and I asked him if he was ready to start drinking, he said 'yes' and promptly turned over and fell back asleep. So I decided to hit the hay too. Tomorrow we plan to visit the inside of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum (which conveniently are all included on the same ticket) so we needed our rest to wake up bright and early to beat the crowds!