Vatican Museums

 We had a half day at the Vatican Museums & LOVED it. We are hoping to go back for more. Here are some of our photos.

Nero’s Bathtub

The drapery and columns are painted, as is the ceiling.

The ceiling of the map room is stunning

The map room and the Sistine Chapel were our favourites (you can’t take any photos in the Sistine Chapel)

This wheelchair lift takes you onto the Sistine Chapel level, and is as dodgy as it looks (but it was worth it to get into the Sistine Chapel). The Sistine Chapel was mind blowing in it’s execution and artistic creativity. We really loved sitting in the chapel and discovering all the little details. You can’t take any photos in the chapel (or talk).

This is a moving sculpture in the Pinecone Courtyard.

 

Official photo from the Vatican Museums website. We were lucky enough to be able to sit on a bench against this screen and admire the chapel for about 20 mins. It was breathtaking.

 

We read a lot of Rick Steves guides to get information on the Vatican Museums. Unfortunately we couldn’t use his audio guide because the disabled access doesn’t go on the same route as everyone else. the disabled route goes in the opposite direction to the normal route about 50% of the time (maybe a bit more), which means you are fighting against the crowds a lot of the time, but the staff are super helpful, which makes up for it).

Vatican Museums Disabled Access Map

The official website of the Vatican Museums (there are a lot of fake websites to avoid, this is the official website) https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en.html 

London!

We are back in London! It was a quiet week, with us all recovering from jetlag, but we were able to catch up with some good friends, eat some great food & check out some wonderful art. 

Our last 2 days in Australia were REALLY stressful, due to a veterinarian making a dogs breakfast of Skye’s paperwork to leave Australia & enter the UK, but the kindness & professionalism of the Sydney based Live Animal Export Team and the Animal Reception Staff at Heathrow made our trip still possible.

The baggage handlers managed to break the wheelchair twice - on the trip from Sydney to Canberra they bent the wheel, and on landing in London we discovered that they had managed to sheer off a bolt holding the front wheel on (but surprisingly the wheel was no longer bent and scraping on the frame). Our wonderful friend Geordie very kindly took the wheelchair to a plumbing supplies store and managed to get the right parts and borrow their tools to fix the wheelchair so it is working well again (thank you Geordie!). 

(She was only on the seat very briefly so I could extend it so she could sleep at the end of the bed in the footwell - this in the one and only time she’s been on a plane seat & it was only because it was the only way to extend the seat because there was no where else for her to sit whilst I did it - but she does look very cute)

Skye’s sleeping hidey hole

This is a combined 80 years of Qantas staff & they had never had a dog on board one of their flights before. 

The hardest part about traveling to Europe for us is getting Skye to pee in the “water lilly garden” (there is no grass and you can’t get her to climb on the garden), also known as the smokers outside “lounge”. We’ve been working on her “peeing on command on wet concrete” skill, and thankfully she did it straight away (last time we went through singapore she was NOT impressed about having to pee on concrete).

This London “Park” does not allow dogs, but has statues of dogs (service/assistance dogs are allowed)

Skye enjoyed hanging out with Geordie (& I think Geordie enjoyed it too)

The Seymour Kitchen did not disappoint with their AMAZING dips and warm bread, just what we needed to combat our jetlag.

Our favourite painting at the National Gallery

Paddington & Skye, in Paddington Station

We have been taking a Paddington Bear stuffed animal around London and taking photos of Paddington’s adventures for our granddaughter to follow back home, which has been a LOT of fun!

Cheese : We went with Geordie to Pick & Cheese at Seven Dials Market, which is a Cheese Train!! It did not disappoint <3 https://www.pickandcheese.com/locations/seven-dials 

Hotel : we stayed at the London Paddington Apartments (18c Star St, Paddington) & whilst the location was amazing, the room was great and the staff were incredibly helpful and kind, having the lift broken down for 2 days made life very difficult, as I’m part time in a wheelchair at the moment. https://londonpaddingtonapt.co.uk/ 

Best Restaurant : we loved this place last time we were in London & were glad to go back to the Seymour Kitchen in Marble Arch. The food is phenomenal, but the service is what makes this place feel like we have stepped into a friend’s dining room. https://seymourkitchen.com/