View from the Top.

This morning I woke up to an absolutely beautiful day in Florence. Spinks and I decided we would take this opportunity to climb the Duomo since it usually gets cloudy later in the after noon. After walking the entire .1 mile it is from our house to the Duomo, we waited in what we assumed was the line to climb it with about a million other tourists since it was a Saturday afternoon. After paying the admission fee, we started our climb. Let’s just say I got my work out in for the day. 436 steps to the top is what the sign said at the bottom and we walked every single one of them. It was a good thing it was so crowded because that meant we got to take a lot of breaks while everyone filed through the microscopic staircase.

About half way up there was a detour to walk the perimeter of the inside of the church. I completely forgot about my fear of heights until we got there and realized there was nothing between me and the 100 foot drop below but a plate of glass. The church is gigantic so this was a really cool view. Plus we were right next to all the ceiling art which was so detailed. We continued our ascent until all of a sudden there was a holdup in the line because people were using the same staircase to get down from the top as they were to go up. 50 people jammed into one tiny landing while speaking about 20 different languages was not a fun experience.

After one last staircase that was so vertical I was literally hitting my knees on the step in front of me, we finally made it to the top. As I am poking my head out of the staircase and smelling the much needed fresh air I hear someone go, “Emily Wood?” Here I am, on top of the Duomo in Florence, Italy, half way across the world from school when all of a sudden I run into two of my friends who were rho gammas with me at Wisconsin. Such a small world. After snapping a picture together for evidence of this coincidental encounter, Spinks and I stopped to marvel at the view. It was absolutely stunning. We had our roommates stand on our balcony so we could see them which was really cool. Not only could we see them in our nearby apartment, but we could see what must have been all of Tuscany. We didn’t stay up there too long because I, again, was getting scared of heights. My feet are getting numb just writing this and thinking about the experience again. I’m such a wimp.