Italy Chronicles Part 1b

Ok moving on with our tour of Florence if you will look out your window you will see the Duomo...also known as the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed structurally in 1436 with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. The exterior of the basilica is faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white and has an elaborate 19th century Gothic Revival facade by Emilio De Fabris. oh wait sorry...I keep forgetting I am not on a bus....and I totally stole that from Wikipedia, but now you know more than I did when I was there. Shame on me. Words will no longer accurately describe the Duomo so we will go to the pictures {yes I am aware I can put together a slide show using Photobucket etc...but I like this way better}








The following images are inside and therefore dark, grainy...and have I mentioned I would like a new camera?







That's enough of the inside...it was dim and dark...in a pretty ethereal way, but I grew frustrated with my lack of ability to take decent pictures. So we opted to head to the top of the Duomo to see the great views of Florence. There were 463 steps to climb...but whose counting {I was after the first 15 kicked my rear} What seemed like a good idea was soon to turn into a horrible idea.



This photo is blurry but it is the best representation of what we climbed. I was too busy trying to breath to worry about taking decent pictures. At first the stairs were straight and then it turned into a tiny winding staircase and I thought for a minute that we were in the wrong building and I was going to end up at the top of a lighthouse.



Here they are still climbing. Did I mention that they were also steep and there were 463 of them? Well they were and there was and it was....well I have no words. So we make it to an opening....Hallelujah...the end. Instead this was the point I realized that we had made a horrible mistake in ever thinking about climbing all those stairs. Remember this picture?



Well we were approximately here:



Now this picture is not a good representation of how high it actually was so don't sit there and say to yourself that doesn't seem that high what is her problem? It was high and I was in a panic...just see for yourself:


This is my sister taking a picture of me doing everything in my power to not get on my hands and knees and crawl. That plexiglass was doing nothing to help my sense of security. This picture doesn't even come close to showing the feelings raging inside of me at this exact moment. In fact, this may have been the only time I even looked up from the floor. So no...I did not enjoy the close up view of the dome from the inside. Thankfully, I made it out alive and we proceeded up the rest of the 463 stairs to the top of the Duomo.


Here I am feeling a little more comfortable with my surroundings.



I found this picture to be both ironic and shameful...and kind of funny since Hugo and Laura apparently didn't make it to 2009. The graffiti was horrible most of the places we went and I just don't get it. It is terribly disrespectful especially in a church that is several hundred years old...well it doesn't even have to be old it was a church for crying out loud. Ok I'll get down off my soap box and we shall continue with some more pictures of the amazing views.









Just thought I would throw this one in there to prove we were really there and that I am not just Google imaging this stuff.


And this one too...awwww....sisters.






I even looked up which is usually a horrible idea when you are up high, but I am glad I did because I kinda love this picture...and I didn't even have to photoshop paint.net it that much...just auto correct and wa-lah!

That about does it for the roof top pictures we only stood on one side to take pictures so things start to look the same. We headed back down the 463 stairs I had to again hug the wall when we went back around the duomo balcony and finally we made it safely down to street level. After such a harrowing life threatening climb we decided it was the perfect time for gelato...our first since arriving. We headed into a place that looked like it had the best selection and it was close to the Duomo, most importantly.



Look how cleverly it is displayed...a little coffee cup and all. Sorry about the glare but you do kinda also get to see the cool building across the street too. Anyway, we all eagerly ordered our gelato and then I went to go pay....what would you say a fair price for 4 gelatos would be?
10 Euro ($13) 15 Euro ($20)...that's what I thought but apparently THIS gelato was made of gold and the cones too because our total was a whopping 38 Euro which is about $52. Yes folks, we are stupid Americans and apparently that was written across our forehead...we could do nothing but laugh it off, enjoy our golden gelato, and promise we would never let it happen again {the mango was delicious}

Here is Brandon {I know it's blurry and hard to tell} enjoying his 14 Euro ($19) gelato cone. Just to give you a bench mark we didn't pay over 3 Euro anywhere else for gelato our entire trip. Travellers beware!

After we finished every crumb and morsel from our golden gelato we decided to walk to the Ponte Vecchio bridge




This is the only picture you get for right now because we are nearing the end of our day 1 tour and this is for day 2. We leisurely walked around before deciding we would head over to ZaZa for dinner. Heather had made reservations to make sure we stayed up but by now we were all tired and would rather live on the edge and eat dinner before 8pm...that's bad for you anyway...by the way.







Here is some sidewalk art we saw along the way....it gives a whole new meaning to sidewalk chalk. If I wasn't feeling like a fraud already I sure was by now. That is the artist in the last photo. I mean that first one is my favorite...I like portraits of old dead people...I know I'm weird.



ZaZa did not disappoint it had a great atmosphere with hanging lights and all. It made me want to build a little wooden platform in my backyard so I could eat dinner at my bright table with my bright chairs too.



What's that you say? I am drinking white wine in Italy...yes as a matter of fact I am...we will discuss that in the Tuscany portion of our tour....at least I am not drinking champagne like Heather.





And here are the food pictures. I had a pesto fettuccine that was yummy and Brandon had a veal pasta dish that he choked on and had to pull out of his mouth {my sister almost threw up at the table} but I think he liked it even though it tried to kill him.


Thus we ended our day fat and tired. We stumbled back to our hotel {from tiredness not drunkenness} and promptly passed out for the night.

Up next, the Uffizi Gallery, Ponte Vecchio, Piti Palace, and more gelato...



I don't know what I was doing in these two pictures but I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time. Looks like that is what you are going to get left with because I must take a stab at working today. See you later for Day Two!