Rome DAY2

Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome, were said to have been suckled by a wolf.

St Peter's, from Castel Sant' Angelo

Approaching St Peter's from Via del Conciliazione

In St Peter's Square

We were very fortunate to arrive in St Peter's Square just as Pope Benedict XVI was about to give an address. He delivered a sermon in Italian on the appearance of Christ to the Disciples on the road to Emmaus, followed by briefer messages of Easter goodwill in about eight other languages, concluding with the Lord's Prayer in Latin.

Arrival of the Pope

On the dais

The Pope delivering a blessing

Swiss guards

Following the Pope's address, we hared round to the Vatican Museum before the bulk of the crowd could do the same. The Vatican Museum contains countless magnificent works of art, mostly to the glory of God, but also many splendid works from ancient Greece and Rome before the adoption of Christianity. We also saw the magnificent frescoes by Michaelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, where unfortunately photography is not permitted; suffice to say that they absolutely live up to their reputation.

Entrance to the Museum	Courtyard of the Museum	Egyptian sculpture of a pine cone!	Modern sculpture of concentric globes, depicting the ideal and real worlds.
Augustus, first Roman emperor	An impression of both the extent of the sculpture gallery and how crowded it was!	Bronze statue of Hercules in the Rotunda.	Laocoon
Perseus with the head of Medusa (he shouldn't be looking at it!)	Ceiling in the Room of Muses	Ivy in the Sculpture Gallery	Looking up into the Dome of St Peter's