Rome

The train trip from Paris to Rome - which i had hoped would leave me rested and ready for a big first day of exploring - did not work out quite as planned. Anyhow, life went on. I arrived in Rome around 5.30am on Sunday morning and after some breakfast and a visit to my hotel to drop my bags, it was off to St Peter's Basilica early to try and avoid the crowds. I was pretty lucky - i pretty much walked straight in. I was pretty awe-struck by what I found inside. Words cannot describe really. For a Catholic boy like myself it was just out of this world. Then again - i imagine any tourist would think the same thing. After walking around for a while and having a look at the many different displays, statues, tombs etc I was able to go to mass. It was said in Italian so I wasn't able to participate as much as I could have, but the sacredness of the situation wasn't lost. There must have been 30 priests participating in the mass (so much for the shortage of priests in Australia!). All in all I think I spent about 4 hours at the basilica in total.

The rest of my time in Rome was dedicated to seeing many of the other sites in this historic city. Not surprisingly, there's a church on almost every corner with a story and some link to history. Thankfully the tour I was on didn't stop at all of them. I spent time in the historic city centre, went to the Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum and the ancient ruins. I even took a trip down the Tiber on a ferry.

One of the last stops was the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum. I was a little disappointed that there were so many people in the Chapel at one time (by my estimate there would have been a couple of thousand in this small space) but I suppose that's what you get with tourism. Again, the Chapel and the Museum that you go through to get to it are just so beautiful - telling the story of the Catholic Church as well as the history of Rome and much of the surrounding area. Beautiful paintings and sculptures adorn the walls and, as is well known, the Chapel is simply spectacular.

St Peter's Square

The square looking towards the basilica

The front of the Basilica

The square from the front of the basilica

The entrance hallway to the basilica

Looking from the main door towards the main alter of the basilica

The roof of the dome

Sun shining in

The main alter ... and there's another one behind it were the mass I attended was offered from

The Swedish Guards and their colourful uniform. They've been guarding the Vatican for hundreds of years and they're all Catholics

Front of the Basilica

The Colosseum

Sunset over the ruins at the Circo Massimo

One of the many beautiful ceilings in the Vatican Museum

Vatican Museum

Sunset over the city

The grounds of the Vatican Museum as seen from one of the second floor windows

The grand monument in the Piazza Venezia

The ruins area near the Colosseum

I wonder if these people will give me a job?

Rome's town hall

The so-called "Happy Fountain"