Day 19 in Firenze

Not too much to talk about today. Woke up, went to class, and went to the Duomo. Oh yeah, I guess the Duomo was pretty cool. It's pretty much the most famous, or at least the most recognizable, landmark in Florence (unless you consider Michelangelo's David a landmark). We went after class, so we couldn't go into the church itself because it closes at 5 p.m. and we don't even get out of class until 4:30. However, you are allowed to go inside and climb the 460+ steps to the top of the dome of the cathedral until 7 p.m. The passage way to the top is extremely narrow and very steep at parts. There are two instances in which you have to climb probaly 50 or so steps in tightly wound, spiral stone staircases. You have to remember that this building and its staircases were built sometime in the 1400's. This was well before modern materials and building methods, much less American building codes that require handrails. It was quite the exhausting ascent, especially since I still was wearing my 20 pound backpack from school and it was about 90 degrees. But it was well worth it for the beautiful views of Florence. Of course, if there exists a beautiful view, then that means that I took pictures. Thus, I will share some with you below.

Okay, I lied. I spent about 15 minutes trying to get Blogger to upload pictures and it just won't do it. I don't know if it's the website itself or my internet connection. The internet connection we have here at the Ricasoli in Florence is slower than hell, but this is ridiculous. So, you'll have to wait to get pictures until tomorrow. Sorry.

On that note, I'm going to bed. Tomorrow our class is taking a group visit to the Uffizi, the large art gallery located in Florence. Then we have classes in the evening until 7:30 p.m., which really sucks. So, hopefully after that at some point I can blog again and post some of the pictures I snapped of Florence from the top of the Duomo this afternoon. Ciao!