We awoke as early as was possible for us and were greeted with another hot sunny day. We headed over to the Colosseum and, following Rick Steves' advice, went to Palatine Hill first were there's supposed to be a shorter line for tickets. We still ended up waiting for an hour and a half in the heat and since we were planning on visiting St Peter's Basilica later (which enforces a strict dress code), we were wearing pants which made it even worse. Finally we made it through and started up the hill. All around us were piles of rubble, marking the spots where grand houses of Rome's wealthiest once stood. But that's all they were now, piles of rubble, and were rather unimpressive. We explored throughout Palatine Hill and found some more impressive remains, showcasing the grandour of their lifestyles. We moved on to the Roman Forum, which was once the political, religious and social center of the Roman kingdom. We saw the Temple of Julius Caesar (constructed on the spot where his body was burned) and Casa delle Vestali (home of the virgins who tended the eternal flame of Rome) along with various other temples and arches, most of them reduced to piles of stone and mortar. Next stop was the Colosseum! We climbed to the second story and gazed out onto the giant pit that once housed fights between gladiators and exotic beasts, trying to picture what it would've been like back in the day. With a little imagination, we could hear the roars of the crowd and the clashing of swords, feel the excitement coursing through every onlooker. We had spent so much time at these places that St Peter's Basilica was already closed, so we just headed back to the campsite. Throughout the day, we had seen this same girl at all of the different sites we were visiting and as we were walking through the campsite, we happened to run into her again and finally decided to introduce ourselves and suddenly we had a new friend, this awesome Aussie named Jess! The three of us were hanging out back at our tent when I went to the store to grab something and met these two Germans named Mike and Konsti who turned out to be the coolest guys ever! So the group grew to five and we were all back at mine and Carson's tent, finishing off the case we failed to even open yesterday and playing drinking games. There was a bar and dance club on the site so we all migrated over there after we polished off the case and danced the night away with the 4 or 5 other people from the campsite who showed up. Our little pack of friends agreed that we'd meet up tomorrow and visit the Vatican together, so it was off to bed!