we walked to the duomo and saw the baptistry doors (beautiful and amazing), the ones pictured below are the "gates of paradise," so named because michelangelo referred to them as fit to be the gates of paradise.
we waited in line to go to the top of the duomo. the picture below was taken while we were in line. from left to right: basilica (cathedral), bell tower, and the baptistry.
the basilica, with the duomo (dome) peeping out at the top. i climbed to the top of that.
so we get to the front of the line, pay 6 euros to get in, and then started our climb up the 463 steps to the top of the dome. this may not seem like a lot of steps to you, but if you consider that there are 12-13 stairs in an average flight, that means i climbed about 38 flights of stairs. and not just any stairs, but crazy 500-year-old stairs. like this:
these stairs got me dizzy on the way up, and gave me vertigo on the way down.once in a while, on our way to the top, we were given glimpses of how high we had climbed through little windows in the staircase. i imagine they were put there for ventilation.
not so high.
pretty high.lauren had a hard time climbing with her asthma, so she and paula stayed behind after the first level, while roger and i trekked to the top. we climbed forever and finally came out at the base of the dome, right where hell starts. and i am not talking of the climb. the inside of the dome is painted with scenes of eternity: around the base of the dome are scenes of hell (torture of humans by scary demons), and as you move to the apex of the dome the scenes become more heavenly, until at the very top is a hole looking out into heaven.
this was taken from hell, looking up into heaven.the scenes of hell were pretty gruesome, but it was so cool to be so close to the paintings. from far away it looks good, but up close, when you can see every brush stroke, it looks amazing.
i'm not sure what this demon is doing to this poor guy, but i am sure it is not pleasant.
look at this foot! look how beautiful it is! i was so close i could touch it! and it was huge!so we climbed and climbed and climbed some more. it was very tiring. the last set of stairs were on top of the dome:
we climbed up these steep stairs that were on the outside of the dome, but not on the outside, and then we were there! i was so exhausted from my climb that i didn't realize that i had made it. i was temporarily blinded by the sun, because the staircases to the top are so dimly lit.
i made it!we were so high up that we could see for miles and miles in every direction. we were even higher than the bell tower!
red roofs, as far as the eye can see.we walked around and took pictures as proof that we had survived the climb, and headed back down.
one final look at the dome.
and one from the outside too.we ate lunch at a leisurely pace and then wandered the streets of florence.
we browsed through the outdoor market stalls looking at purses and scarves. we stopped at a gelateria for a rest and a treat, then headed over to the ponte veccio, with a quick detour through the piazza with the fake david and other fake statues.
the ponte veccio is a bridge lined with shops that crosses the arno river. it is beautiful, and a classic florentine landmark.
we walked to the uffizi gallery, and rested in the shade before going to dinner and then back to our hotel room.
me and davinci. we're tight.
the view from our dinner table.
moon rise.
3 comments:
Yah for Florence and lots of stairs and yah for posting about it more than a year later. AWESOME!!
at least i posted...
its about time! thanks kyra for your perseverance. Love you
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