A lovely sunny morning at the Pantheon today, followed by a guided tour of Santa Maria sopra Minerva from Fr Daniele. Then the main event! The Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill.

Yesterday's excursions included the Galleria Doria Pamphili, a very grand private villa and art gallery, the Spanish Steps, (where we did an SHS takeover of Sephora) and shopped near the via Condotti, before walking through the beautiful Piazza del Popelo and up to the Modern Art Museum, returning via the Trevi fountain

Sephora was well and truly taken over!

Despite the literally thousands of people on Holy pilgrimages, we managed to keep together and enjoyed a tour of the beautiful Vatican Museums, and visited St Peter's Basilica, even managing to enter by the Holy Door! To congratulate the girls on being so fantastic, Miss Salmon bought us all ice cream at Tre Scalini, a very smart gelateria on the Piazza Navona, before mass at Santa Maria Sopra Minerva to soothe us after our hectic day. Then, dinner and a some people watching at the Pantheon before making our way back to the hotel.

A selection from our first day in Rome! We saw the Catacombs of St Sebastian, Piazza Navona and the Pantheon, listened to some great live music and went for a lovely meal!