A Day of Churches

  Roma, Italy
Thursday, May 31, 2007

Hi there,

I am only half way through the day but have some time before our tour bus leaves to go and see Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli. We got away early again today and boy does it make a big difference when you get somewhere before the 9am-over-60's-tourismo rush! Rome really fills up once everyone gets out of bed and out onto the streets. It is really bustling here. After the short rain showers we have had, today is bright blue skies and quite warm too. No complaints there.

Not shaving for the better part of a week is starting to show impressive growth. I know Clare will love me when i get home! Haha.

First port of call was Saint Peter's Square and the famous Basilica that adjoins it. We got through really quickly past the local policimo (there are hundreds upon hundreds of them here - i swear that it seems like more men work for the army, state police, secret police, plains clothes police, Europol Police, Municipali Police etc etc than people that actually do a job! They stand around in droves trying to look busy or just talk in rapid-Italiano). They make you go through metal detectors at many of the larger sites, but it isn't too bad when you get in early, as we have been doing. The Basilica is absolutely huge and covered from floor to ceiling in full-wall artwork, statues, marble marble marble and I think that at least 3 tonnes of gold is gilted on the ceiling. Very impressive. I even got a snap of the Swiss Guard boys, they looked so bored standing there all still, but had nice pants.

After leaving old Saint Peter, we headed to the old Mausoleum of Hadrian (Museulo Adriana) which the Papacy ended up turning into a big castle now called the Castel Sant'Angelo. It has a big wall running all the way back to the Vatican Walls and had a heap of old cannons, military uniforms, weapons etc in a museum there.

Next we were planning to get back to the Vatican to see the Mueso Vaticani, but because we spent too much time at the Castel, there was 50,000 tourists in line to get in! Damn... Nevermind, because i have flogged Mum all around the traps, we have made up spare time and will get there first thing tomorrow instead.

The San Giovanni Basilica was the next stop after a quick ride in the Metro (i love the Metro, so fast and running every few minutes). It was almost as imprresive as St Peter's, but just with less paintings on the walls.
Otherwise it was still a truckload of gold on the ceiling, lots of good quality statues and large vaulted spaces.

And here we are... Better get back to the hotel and get my stuff sorted before the bus arrives.