Roma

R headed off to Roma for a few days with a friend of ours from Melbourne (due a break after a big trip by M to Australia and numerous 2-3 night jaunts around the UK). Spent 2 days in Roma and then down to Pompei. As you might expect our accomodations was luxurious...thankfully it was ok on the inside!
This has got to be the smallest car I have ever seen...it was only just longer than the scooters and only a little bit wider!
On our first day we went to the vatican...the queues for St Peters were filling the piazza out the front so we went round to the Vatican Museums and only queued for an hour! It is an amazing place, I especially liked the map room which was decorated with maps of italy like this one. The sistine chapel was ok too, although we almost died of the heat and crowds getting there - there is a one way system and lots of narrow passages and crowded rooms.

After the museums we went round to St Peters and only had to queue with a thousand or so people. Had a look at all the dead popes in the basement and round the inside of the cathedral. It is quite different to the cathedrals here and in France that we have looked at, massive square columns.
Second day was spent wandering round the roman ruins in the forum and the colosseum. Saw the Tarpeian rock where traitors where thrown to their deaths and the Tullianum where Vercingetorix was executed and thrown down into the Cloaca Maxima (although St Peter and St Paul were incarcerated there as well so it is a full on shrine).
The colosseum is an amazing building, especially considering a large part has been torn down. I was surprised how small the arena is - I doubt you could hold a cricket or football match there.
We wound up at the Scala Sancta which are supposed to be the steps up which Jesus was dragged to see Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem. You are supposed to ascend the steps on your knees, praying at each step, so of course as soon as he saw them michael said 'lets do it'. It is painful. You cant pass the people in front who are praying on each step so it takes a long time. When you get near the top you get photographed by groups of tourists who have walked up the steps you didnt see which go up the side behind a wall. This is Michael pretending it doesnt hurt and trying to make up his mind to miss a step.

Next day was spent on the train to Napoli and Pompei. We only had a couple of hours in Napoli and didnt find the nice bits, it was a bit too industrial for us, so we hopped on the circumvesuviana train to pompei asap. The ruins are right next to the station and we only had to walk 200m from our hotel in the morning.
We decided that although the Romans are famed for their roads and engineering skills, there wasnt so much evidence of it here...the road surface was horribly rutted and uneven, and it has only been there for 2000 years! I am looking forard to going back to Roma and Pompei with J - his class are studying Celts and Romans this year so quite topical.