Roma 4

Oh dear, we seem to be getting up later and later each day. Part of the problem with sleeping in a converted wine cellar is the lack of natural light - makes it easier to sleep in! We will have to be extra vigilant tomorrow morning so that we can get a good start on the Vatican Museum - it has terrifiying queues. I mean worse than Disneyland rides.

So... today was another museum extravaganza. We spent most of it at the Capitoline Museums, which have expanded considerably since I was last here. The museum is split over three buildings sitting atop the Capitoline Hill, behind Il Vittoriano, and overlooking the ancient Roman Forum. Michelangelo designed a nice sloping staircase up to the site, where visitors are greeted by the mammoth statue of Marcus Aurelius astride a horse.

The museum's collection has been built by donations, many from past Popes, and boasts several masterpieces including:

• She-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus - you'll have seen this before, but you not know that although the she-wolf is classical, the infants are 15th C additions.
• Marcus Aurelius - there is now a replica outside, with the original housed in a new glass atrium.
• Emperor Commodus as Hercules - one of Rome's insane Emperors, depicted as Hercules. He liked to dress up as Hercules and 'fight' unarmed quadriplegics in the Colosseum. He usually won. Was played by Joaquin Phoenix in the film "Gladiator".
• Dying Gaul - the famous statue of the Gaulish warrior (identifiable by moustache and the torque around his neck) collapsing onto his shield.
• Constantine - super-mammoth statue of the Emperor. The only remainders are his head, hand and feet.
• Bernini's Medusa head

We then nipped over to the Capuchin cemetary beneath Chiesa si Santa Maria della Concezione. It's not really a cemetary - it's a series of chapels adorned with the remains of 4,000 monks. Their bones pattern the walls and, um, even the light fittings. Ick!

After this grisly scene, we ducked back into another museum. Unfortunately, not the one we were after. We ended up in the Piazza Venezia gallery instead of the Pamphilj collection. It was still interesting though, and had some interesting medieval helmets and some naughty bronzes.

We also finally ascended the Il Vittoriano war memorial and took in the views. Hooray!

NZ WATCH: turned on the telly and caught the NZ episode of "The Amazing Race" - overdubbed in Italiano!