In the Dome

Our lovely children in front of Florence

Wednesday, 27 June

Wow, we’ve reached the halfway point of our journey.  We had a very busy day today in Florence, as well as a few hours in Siena.

We parked in Florence across the river from most that we wanted to see, so the first job was to go down to the river and cross it.  That done, we followed the signs to the Duomo--the main cathedral in Florence.  It’s facade made of pink, green, and white Tuscan marble. 

It boasts the first dome built since Roman times.  They built the church with a space for the dome, hoping that someone would be able to figure out how to span the space.  It was built in two shells because the space it covers is so huge.  So since there is a space between the domes and staircases for maintenance, etc., the church can charge money for you to climb up.  And climb we did.  Wow, 463 steps--as Tram said, our trip is my European step program--the Duomo is my Italian stairmaster--with a view.  Michalangelo was said to get his inspiration for the Dome of St. Peter’s from the dome of Florence.  It took us about an hour and a half to wait in line, climb up the increasingly smaller staircases, and climb down.  I asked at the ticket office if there were special prices for the children (there are only sometimes).  Happily, Joshua was free and the girls were two for one!  The first stop up was the gallery around the base of the dome--on the inside.

A view of the inside of the dome from the gallery at the base

Then, up to the lantern at the top.  A lot of heavy breathing and people stepping off to the side at the landings to take a break and catch their breath.  We finally made it!  The views were great and the trip down a piece of cake.  

We made it!

The view from the top!

  

In the plaza of the Duomo, there is a statue of Brunelleschi (who designed the dome)which has him holding a compass and piece of paper with a drawing of the dome on it  and has him looking up.  If you follow his eyes, he is looking directly at the dome of the church.  

Then, this being Florence, we had to visit a museum.  The largest, the Accademia would have been about 100 dollars for our family and you have to get reservations in advance,  so we chose the slightly smaller Bargello.  It has statues by Donatello and Michelangelo and many others.    The building itself boasts a great central courtyard and loggia.  

The central courtyard of the Bargello museum

Then to walk across the Ponte Vecchio--like the Rialto in Venice, it is filled with shops.  It has the facades of houses on the outside.   You can see it in the center of the photo:

The Ponte Vecchio is the bridge in the middle

We stopped for gelato in a store that did not have prices listed, but we figures one or two euros each.  So we each ordered two scoops and they were huge!  I had a 20 euro note out to pay when she said 40 euros!  My jaw dropped open!  That’s about 50 American dollars for five ice cream cones!!!  And they were so big, you had to eat them quickly and couldn’t enjoy them.  Then we went to Siena to upload our blogs.  We went back to the same restaurant and Randy sat outside.  It worked fine until the owner arrived (after siesta), then it stopped.  I tried later and he asked why we did not eat at his restaurant and suggested that there was another spot that might work.  It didn’t, but we won’t be bothering him again.  We did see some groups practicing for the flag throwing competitions of the Palio with drums to keep them on beat--very cool!  (They’ll be in medieval costumes for the competitions, of course.  See blog of June 25 for more explanation).  

Flag throwing practice

Doing better after pointers from their coach

We have two more full days here in Tuscany and have decided not to do some of the further away daytrips, but to stay closer to home and relax.  

Uh-oh, who told a lie?