Sunday dawned lovely and mostly clear so we gathered everything together and decided we would head across the Ponte Vecchio bridge and do our climb of the Duomo, which is 450 stairs.
We walked to the Duomo and found out we could not get in to see the cathedral because there was a mass happening and it was by invitation and for priests.
So we decided to climb Giotto's Bell Tower, which is only 414 steps. Ho. Ho. Ho.
We started up and it's this tiny stone stairway that everyone has to go up and down in, so you're constantly stopping and shimmying past people coming down. And as you climb, the stairs get tighter and smaller and it's hard to see because it's dark.
Anya, Robert, and I all made it to the top and took photos of the whole city, but we all agreed our Duomo excursion was right out as none of us could do a climb like that again. Climbing down was almost as hard.
We wandered Florence and bought leather and t-shirts and textiles and plates and souvenirs for our kids. We had an American breakfast at one Cafe and a Florentine dinner at another. Robert had lasagne, which was more like ghoulash, Anya had Gnudi, and I had filet mignon again.
We got a note from our tour operator that's said our balloon ride was canceled due to rain and lightning expected. Robert was bummed.
We bought new luggage which was very inexpensive and we made it home by 8pm and swapped out all our things into the new luggage. We will be mailing the old luggage home with the souvenirs.
I was in bed by 8:30.
Monday is Santa Maria Novella and Medici Chapel. Then Tuesday we hit the train for Rome. Woohoo!
No comments:
Post a Comment