February 11, 2009

climbed the Duomo with Pat and Nikul. They let you (if you pay of course) climb all the way to the top of the dome. There were 462 stairs, but I was less tired climbing those than climbing the 72 to our apartment. The view from the top was spectacular. We could see all of Florence except our house because the bell tower was blocking it. After climbing pretty much inside the walls for about 283 steps, you come out onto the little walkway around the inside of the dome. From the there, the fresco is huuuuge. You're right underneath the gruesome devils and the people in hell. On the other side of the dome, you climb another 179 stairs around the dome to come out on top of it. The second half of the climb is really weird because you're between the inner dome and the outer dome so the walls are both curving in, making you feel like you half to walk slanted. The very last part of the climb is straight up the dome, so it's really steep. So not only was the view really cool, but just seeing the hidden spaces in the walls and the dome was really neat.

had my first test in Italian. I finished half an hour early, so Nikul and I went to get some gelato and go back to our site for studio for some measuring and picture taking before studio. Working in metric is pretty convenient, because we can approximate distances just by taking a long stride and calling it a meter. The people milling about the piazza gave us some pretty odd looks.