Climbing "The Dome"

  Third time was the trick. Third stay in Florence finally got us to climb the Dome. We love to fly in or out of Florence when we visit Italy. It's such a dainty little airport, and user friendly, in my opinion. I just know they are going to change it again, and make it bigger, but I hope not too soon. Ah, well...

  Anyway, on this last trip, we stayed 2 nights before flying home. I was bound and determined to get to the Top-O-The-Dome this time, and had to plan carefully. First, even off season, there are the crowds. I knew that it was a tight fit getting up there, and we didn't want to feel pushed or rushed. Then I took into consideration our tendency to have a little mid-day wine break(or two), which always kills any chance of doing something very physical (we screwed up our chance in this manner on day 1), and decided first thing in the morning would be our best bet. 

  Morning 2 in Florence we woke early, to a beautiful April day. A bite of breakfast in the hotel, and off we went to tackle this massive feat.... but of course we had to stop for just one more cup. We sat outside, at a cafe across from the entrance to the Dome, watching for hoards of people to get in line, but we lucked out. There was just a group of high school kids getting ready, so we sprinted over and cut in front of  them. Hehehehehe... we can still run... and still take cuts....

Waiting to go inside the Dome, having a cappuccino.

  Inside, you start climbing right away. I should mention that we had already visited the cathedral itself, so we were just here for the Dome. We huffed it up, up, up, high school hooligans hot on our heels. So it seemed. In reality, sound travels amazingly well in that space, and it just sounded like they were on our heels. It was very cool arriving to the area above the alter, and being able to view the Vasari frescoes so close. You get to go all around, on a catwalk type thing, circling above the entire alter. The sight of the people down on the floor of the cathedral was just amazing. Plus, all the tile work on the floor itself revealed the intricate detail beautifully, seen from above.

  So we start up again, and now we are in the "dome within the dome", part of the genius of Brunelleschi's design to help keep the weight to a minimum, and allow a space to climb up on the inside. This should be one of the miracles of the modern world. Perhaps it is. If not, I declare it so. To have the vision to design and build this masterpiece, without all the conveniences of modern construction, is mind blowing to me. 170 years in the making.

  Once through the really freaky tight spots, and corkscrew turn places, we are outside and stunned. So nice to be up there with only a handful of people. What's not to love... amazing views over one of the world's truly awesome cities, on a glorious spring day...  Kinda pretty, I'll say (thank you, legs and lungs. So glad I've been taking care of you!).

  

Looking towards Piazza Signoria, and the Arno River.

Love to look close up at the many roof gardens. There are some great ones in Florence!

So far up. I enjoyed seeing the outside curve of the Dome from up here. Imagine what it
took to build... begun in 1296, finally finished in 1436.

  After taking bunches of photos, looking for our hotel, searching for where we stayed with Mom & Dad in 2004, checking out where we would wander to next, we just stared out at the wonder of Florence. I believe I may have gotten a bit teary-eyed, being as it was our final full day in Italy. Eventually we wound our way back down, as it started getting crowded up there.

 Heading back down.
The dome within the dome... Just enough space to fit through.

This corkscrew part went on and on and on. It actually made me a little dizzy and  woozy!

  As we were leaving the area, there was another group of teens getting ready for the climb up. We overheard one particularly stylish young man with a British accent say to his companion:

   "Eight euro? To climb a bloody stair?" 

  We looked at each other and had to laugh. Brunelleschi's Dome. A bloody stair, indeed.