Dame Shirley Bassey

And possibly the highlight of the festival was Shirley Bassey belting out her Bond classics and others.

She owned the crowd from start to finish, and they loved her of it. It was fantastic!

The Marley brothers present the 30th anniversary of Exodus

The sons of Bob Marley (Damian, Steven, and Julian) presented a tribute to their fathers groundbreaking album Exodus on its 30th anniversary.

Fantastic stuff!

Amy Winehouse

Didn't know much about her before, but she has a fantastic voice.

Very good!

Glastonbury Festival 2007

I have returned from a VERY muddy Glastonbury festival. It was, however, fantastic as per usual.

I shall do a few posts on the bands I saw. Stay tuned!

The Sistine chapel

I couldn't take too many snaps as the Chapel is the one room in the whole Vatican where they make a song and dance about not taking photos. But the English stopped taking orders from Papist since the sixteenth century, so I sneaked a couple of shots. Not the best quality, but I hope you can see how magnificent it.

PS. I am off the Glastonbury festival tomorrow. See you next week!!!!

The Raphael rooms

One of the great joys of travelling is not just visiting the great sites that you were expecting to visit, but its the things that you were not expecting to see. I was not expecting the Raphael rooms in the Vatican museum.



Like Michelangelo, the painter was commissioned (made him an offer he couldn't refuse!)by the Pope to paint a suit of four rooms. All I can say is WOW!



It occurred to me that there is a reason they call them the Old Masters!

The Vatican museum

What can I say? The Catholic church has been pillaging, I mean preserving artifacts for 1500 years. It is an amazing/mind blowing collection of Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and Renaisance art works, statues and reliefs.

Some rooms were so full of amazing stuff I didnt know where to look anymore. All of this stuff was before I got the the Sistine Chapel and Raphael rooms. More on those rooms later.



Most of the artifacts were not named, or were in Latin or Italian, so I couldn't really tell you what they all were. So instead I shall just post lots of photos!


Enjoy!

The Vatican

What can I say about The Vatican and St Peters that hasn't been said before. More than once I was reminded of the granduer of the Pharaohs. Ramasis the 3rd built the magnificent Abu Simbal as a statement to the world (and his enemnys) "I am here. This is what I can do" http://www.world-mysteries.com/apeldoorn/Abu_Simbel1_gdj.jpg

Vatican City and St Peters are magnificent, and grand. This is the Catholic church saying "We are here. This is what we can do for our God"). I think I just missed His Holiness as you can see by the pictures. Dont know what I would have done if I had met him {insert joke about kissing Papal ring}

One thing I did learn on my trip there, is that Latin is the official language of Vatican City and the ATM machines are therefore, in Latin!

Castel Sant' Angelo and Hadrians mausoleum

This fantastic castle was built around the existing Habrians Mausoleum housing the tomb of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. The mausoleum was converted into an imposing castle bythe Popes in the 14th century. As a result it is a fantastic mix of Roman and Renaissance.



The courtyards are full of statues and frescos by Raphael and Carvaggio and others. There was an art gallery that was open that included Old Masters like Michelangelo and Carvaggio. Amazing.



It is just down the road from the Vatican so there are some impresive views of St Peters.

This was a real WOW day as I only visited the place on my brothers recommendation. I knew nothing about it before I visited.