Carin had advised us to book our tickets online, which we did. Although it cost €4 extra per person, it was well worth it - another couple who stayed at our B&B had spent over 3 hours in the queue to get in! Three hours! Just to get in!!
We just walked right past the long queue, thanks to our pre-bookings.
Must say I can't fault the Italian customer service at all though. As I had booked the tickets on my phone, it was tricky to read all the fine print, so we had booked tickets for all four of us. Turned out, Lucas and his "carer" (ti-hi!) were supposed to get in for free, and even though it proved a bit of a challenge, they went out of their way to refund us the money for those tickets! Thank you very much.
We paid for the special "Family Tour" headphone-information-thing for the kids. We thought that us adults could always read the signs, but the kids would need a bit more incentive to focus and take things in.
Getting the audio tour was a great idea! The kids got their own map that they had to follow to find each important stop, and then listen to the information for each highlight.
The kids were so good, and attentive. After each stop they recapped everything they had heard!
I couldn't skip any stops either, no, no. They had to do them all!
They were really good, even though there was a massive amount of people pushing and shoving as we walked around, and there was a lot to see. Yes, we did skip some parts, and we did have a coffee break, but still - it's a huge museum to visit!
Going into the Sistine Chapel we got special assistance, and Lucas had to go on a handicap elevator down a short flight of stairs. Truth said, he could have hopped down those stairs a lot faster, but they were so nice in helping us that we didn't have the heart to tell them. We just laughed with Lucas, while he was going sloooooooowly down the special elevator..! :)
You weren't allowed to take any photos inside the Sistine Chapel, but that was just fine, we were all very busy just taking it all in. Even the kids.
After our long visit to the Vatican Museums, we were ready for the daily gelato. The most expensive one of the week because of the location of the gelateria, unfortunately the quality didn't match the price. But hey - it was ice cream!
We finished off the day by walking over to the St. Peter's Basilica. So beautiful.
A Swiss Guard outside the Basilica:
When the night fell and the lights came on, it was even more beautiful.
The queue was still rather long to get inside, but it kept moving all the time, plus we could shortcut since we had the wheelchair (he he), so we decided to go in for a look.
A Vatican City family selfie!
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