Our first day as you can see was very dull and wet.

 Standing on the steps at the front of the Vatican.

The centre of the Piazza is dominated by a 25.5m tall red granite obelisk which dates from the 13th Century BC. This obelisk was originally brought to Rome from Egypt in 35 AD by Emperor Caligula and was moved to the current site in 1586 by the engineer Domenico Fontana during the rule of Pope Sixtus V. This task was an enormous undertaking requiring 900 men, 150 horses and 47 purpose-built cranes to complete. On the top of the obelisk was a guilt ball that was thought to contain the ashes of Julius Caesar. When opened, the orb was found to contain nothing but dust and replaced with an iron cross which now oversees St. Peter´s Square.