Lots of gold and pretty things.

And art and oppulence. And beauty pillaged from other places.

On Monday we went to the Vatican Museums. Despite the sshhhhing guards the Sistine Chapel was almost as pushy and uncomfortably overcrowded as the our exit from The Stone Roses at Heaton Park last weekend.

The Vatican museums were impressive, but believe the guidebooks when they warn that you will have cultural fatigue before you get to the bits you probably wanted to see most.

After a restorative Marinara Pizza (tomato, oregano and garlic - no cheese anywhere near and I didn't even have to ask!) we made our way to St Peters. More gold, more art, more oppulence. A very beautiful place. But I think my misgivings about Catholicism and its seat of power are best left un-typed, enough to say that a day at the Vatican only reinforced my cynicism for this particular institution, despite all its historical beauty.

(And it was another v hot day - three showers!!)