Rome

If you've got only one day in Rome, visit the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and the Sistine Chapel (which is in the Vatican Museum; don't let the queue put you off, it looks long but it clears quickly...unless it stretches all the way back around to St Peter's, in which case bring a book and a deckchair). I'm not going to post pictures of those, you've seen better versions than I can produce already. But in the Sistine Chapel, when you're done looking at the famous Creation of Adam with God sitting in a giant brain, turn around and look at the Last Judgement.

If you've got longer, then take the time to visit the Forum, Trajan's Markets, and particularly the Palatine. There's nice views and parkland space up there, and for me it was special because I've already seen ruins similar to the Forum/public spaces here in Libya (and it's good to see more arches to Libya's own Emperor Septimius Severus), but the Palatine is residential space, where palaces and normal homes once were, not something I've seen before. This photo was taken outside, from down in a chariot racing arena, now used to walk your dog. The rounded and earthen shapes of the Palatine ruins remind me distinctly of the Berber graneries I've seen here.

You could also go and see the famous sites: the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, other piazzas and fountains. Trastavere across the river with its Porta Portese Sunday flea market. The parkland around the Medici Villa (especially nice if you've caught a bad cold and would really rather spend the day curled up in bed...).

The rest of the Vatican Museum: though that would supposedly take years, so you're best to choose sub-collections of the whole thing; I liked the gallery of maps (where the 400-year old map of Venice is still accurate) and the tapestries you see on the way to the Sistine Chapel. This photo is of a head in the museum courtyard; a shame you can't tell it's actually taller than me...

Any other museums that take your fancy: I looked at the Castel Sant'Angelo (connected to the Vatican with a fortified corridor that allows escape by the Pope, very handy last time Rome was attacked by angry soldiers) and the Genius of Da Vinci exhibition.

The glaring omission to my list of things to visit was the actual St Peter's Basilica, but that's only because that's what I'm going to talk about now. Here's a picture of the space outside the first day I visited.

And a picture of the next day, when the Pope gave his general audience. He's the tiny little guy in white under the red canopy in the distance. Oh, and he assures me the blessing I (along with everyone else) received extends to my family and friends back home, so consider yourself blessed by proxy. It was a rather surreal event; each language-group (French, English, German, Spanish, Italian) got their turn to be acknowleged and addressed (they all had tickets to get into the seated area, they'd registered in advance). As the origin and name of various pilgrims groups was read out, the group would cheer and wave their hats and the Pope would make a vague waving gesture. Sometimes they got to sing or play a song for him too. Italians groups were most numerous, followed by American; there were no Australian groups.

The Ambassador wishes me to inform you that he particularly liked: the freely available water fountains everywhere. It's perfectly safe to refill your water bottles from these flowing taps as it's fresh from the hills through pipes and aqueducts. And he can't remember the other thing, I'll let you know what it was eventually...

Reading Reading Lolita in Tehran. Knitting that stupid headband again since I didn't like the first try and frogged it. Watching Heroes (Is it really evil of me to hope that Peter dies just because I cannot stand that thing his lip does? Probably).