2006 - Rome, Italy

We flew to Rome on Easyjet which required a very early start. The next four days was spent visiting the main tourist attractions of this beautiful city, including St Peter's Basilica, the Vatican Museum, the Victor Emmanuel Monument, the Colosseum, the Spanish Steps, and other churches. We stayed at the The Beehive, a small but very clean and tidy hotel near the main railway station.

General sightseeing in the area near the hotel.

The outside of Santa Maria Maggiore.

A typical Roman street, heading down off the Esquiline hill.

Inside the Santa Maria Maggiore.

St Peter's, a beautiful church showing the power, majesty and extreme wealth of the Catholic Church.

St Peter's Basilica.

The Papal apartments.

The end of the Wednesday mass.

St Peter's again.

St Peter's square and a tourist in a yellow hat.

A nice bit of sculpture near to St Peter's.

Rome's finest policemen and that yellow hatted tourist again.

A Swiss Guard at the Vatican.

The central altar in St Peter's.

Daylight streaming into St Peter's.

A sculpture commemorating Pope Pius VIII (1761-1830, Pope 1829-1830).

The Castel Sant' Angelo.

The Ponte San Angelo, crossing the Tiber.

The Vatican Museum. This contains a vast collection of sculptures, paintings and other artwork. It is vast and takes a minimum of about 20 minutes just to walk to the Sistine Chapel with no stops.

A single example of the sculpture in the Museum.

Just another ceiling.

The gardens outside the Museum.

The view over Rome from the Vatican Museum.

The double helix staircase in the Vatican Museum.

The staircase again.

The Victor Emmanuel Monument. The views from the top of this monument are superb, especially if the weather is nice and clear like it was.

Impressive, but ugly.

The guards.

A nice old building opposite the monument.

More churches.

Trajan's markets, built about 100AD.

The back end of a horse.

The Roman Emperor Trajan (53-117).

The Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli was a few minutes walk from the hotel. It was built by Michelangelo in 1563 and was built on the site of the Baths of Diocletian.

The outside is not very exciting.

But inside...

The Colosseum, as made famous by Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn in "Roman Holiday" and Russell Crowe in "Gladiator".

The classic view of the Colosseum.

Let's fleece a tourist.

The outside.

A floor level view.

The partially covered floor.

A view from the top level.

The Spanish Steps, completed in 1726, are a very nice place to sit and watch the world go by. However every tourist in Rome has the same idea.

Caleshes for hire at the Spanish Steps.

A busker at the Spanish steps.

Not so many tourists at the top of the steps.

The crowds at the Spanish Steps.

In all, this was a very nice break on our way to the Philippines.
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