<Unfortunately, technical issues destroyed half of today's blog. Fortunately, travel-journals are a family-wide compulsion, so I have backups! Enjoy the mix.>
[Dad] Up at 7, went down the street to a cute patisserie place for the included breakfast. I had a very yummy mortadella sandwich + a delish hot chocolate, and an American donut to go Brice, Eth, Hannah went up to the Duomo to climb. Sue + I strolled up to the Academy Museum to see if we could get in.
[Brice]We woke up relatively early to finish up Florence before our train to Siena for the Wedding. The younger generation was going to climb all the things, while the older generation had their heart set on seeing David at Academia.
[Ethan] And so myself, Hannah, and Brice all made our way to the breakfast joint which came with our stay. A couple sandwiches, a couple croissants (pretty good, too), and a coffee later and we were on our way; eating and walking to the Fiore de la Santa Maria. We wandered through the quaint streets, passing ancient buildings, quaint courtyards and markets, and a couple pretty squares. Once we came out into the area around the cathedral, we were immediately struck with awe.
The Cathedral, completed in the 1500s, is clad in all sorts of different colors of marble. The patterning is both exquisite and impeccable. The bell-tower, completed in 1358, is imposing: reaching an enormous height for the time. It's almost impossible to get the full height in one picture from the ground.
We started with the tower. We walked straight into the front doors, scanned our passes, slid our bags across the counter, and stepped through the metal detector that was largely ignored by the attendants. While that may seem silly, that was the whole of the security in any of these areas. We then started up the steps, and quickly learned that there is only one staircase.
[Brice] The first stage was about 6 stories of tight stairs, largely straight flights with some tight twists - and occasionally you'd have to pass people going in the other direction. By and large this was pretty easy... unless you had to pass on the spirals... and the down-climbers froze. Polite etiquette is that the upclimbers take the center of the spiral (easier to toe the tiny edges than to heal them) and rest, while the downclimbers slide around the thicker (but by no means thick) outside edge of the step. But not all stair-climbers are created equal, and I often found myself diagonally hugging the central pillar while burning hard pushing up the center on the tips of my toes. Exhausting but fun in a dumb kind of way. Like most my fun.
Anyways, the first landing was a welcome respite, and offered great views of the baptistry and the sides of the cathedral. The cathedral is a magnificent piece of work, the largest freestanding masonry dome in the world, and intricate stonework - not mosaics, but intricate multicolored stonework the whole way up. And now that we were up to the base of the roof, we could see that the details - while following the same motifs at lower levels - were simplified as they approached the top, further from the eyes on the ground. This landing also had a great view of the baptistry - another gorgeous stonework masterpiece with gilt highlights.
So we took all the panoramas, shook our legs out, and went for the next segment. Same as the last time, with pauses to look out all the tiny windows that provide light and ventilation to the stairs. The second landing, another 4? stories up, was level with the top of the cathedral roof. This let us check out the roofwork and the upper cupolas, which had empty alcoves where statues were conspicuously absent. Again, took all the panoramas, admired the views and the towers (it's basically assassins creed IRL. I wanted to say Etzio! or Screeeeeeaw every 5 minutes. Definitely going to have to replay the game now that I've been here).
Once more into the breach. Final set. 3 more stories, and finally we came out on top of the tower. The views were amazing, but metal grating to protect the pedestrians from us, and protect us from lightning, complicated taking panoramas for once. We were now 400? <413> steps and 300? <277> feet over the ground, and on level with the balcony around the top of the dome. The views of the church were worse, but the views of the city were amazing, and the breeze was very welcome.
[Ethan] We spent some time staring at a group of people try to all sit on each other's laps in a circle. While it looked fairly cult-ish, we finally decided it was likely a class trip.
Once we'd soaked it all in, we turned around and squeezed back down and out of the tower. On the way down we stopped to check out an old bell that had been retired. It was massive, and I believe it said that it weighed something like 15,000 pounds.
 | Back down, we saw the long line for the crypts and decided to put it off in favor of the Baptistry. The baptistry was no less ornate, and certainly more accessible. We took pause to look at the gilded doors that face the church. The doors depicted scenes such as Abraham about to kill issac, David killing Goliath, and (perhaps) Cain killing Abel. They had exquisite detail and perspective for sculpted images, and were done sometime around the 15th century. |
[Brice] Beautiful stonework all around, but as we walked the perimeter it started raining. No problem, Ethan said, we'll just go inside. Apparently he got a package deal on tickets. Complete surprise to me and again, almost no line. The baptistry was gorgeous inside, some gilt mosaics in the windows, but otherwise understated, a nice change from the ultra-detailed very busy venetian style. And then we got distracted by the floors. Beautiful patterns, many different styles, and manufactured with perfect tolerances. So we then spent as much time as we spent looking at all the art and architecture just staring at floors. Worth it.
Now, to continue the downward trend, we decided to hit the crypt. It was the crypt or the cathedral next, and the cathedral had a ridiculously long line. So we went for the crypt hoping we could sneak a peak at the cathedral on our way underneath. It alternated between slight drizzle and sunny while we waited in line, but never hard enough to convince us to buy an umbrella from the enterprising buskers who were prepared for any weather condition. We got to the front, presented our tickets, and walked straight into the cathedral. Not, like, a part of the cathedral, but the whole thing, just wide open. We'd somehow skipped yet another line. The cathedral was like the baptistry, understated stonework with blank areas, to draw your eye to the impressive sections (like the windows and the dome) while allowing your eye to rest in between. And again, memories of assassin's creed flashed through my head.
The crypt was smaller than expected, but fascinating. They had it excavated to expose different layers of history, from the roman buildings that had stood on the site, to mosaic floor of the original church (~500AD), to the footings of the cathedral itself (1296AD). Mixed in were a bunch of tombs including Medici's and popes, a few relics in reliquaries (including some dude's skull. <looked it up, oops>), and a very cool diorama showing how it all overlapped. On the way out, we ran into our parents! We caught up briefly where mom told us she "found tickets by looking for the shadiest dude in the plaza" and we scampered off for lunch while they headed down. |   |
[Brian] Sue + I strolled up to the Academy Museum to see if we could get in to see David. We couldn't find the front door, so we ended up walking all the way around the building. Then we had to figure out how to get tickets. We could buy a reserved entry at 1pm - which would be a little late for our preferences. Or we could stand in line for an hour -= which sounded horrible to me. Some guy offered to let us into hits tour group for 40Euro each, which I would have accepted. But Sue would not. Eventually she found a scalper with 9:30 timed tickets, which we bought for $25 each.
 | [Sue] So we were inside in no time. We saw Michelangelo's Prisoners (the unfinished sculptures) and David at the end of the hall. 14' tall + quite stunning! Much other art as well, mostly religious art. The museum took 90 minutes, and then we walked to the Duomo - church of Florence - and took many photos of outside. There was a huge line to get into the cathedral via the free entrance, but used our online tickets to visit the baptistry before heading to the crypt. As we went in the side door we saw Brice, Ethan + Hannah coming out. |
| [Brice] We had 45 minutes until our Duomo tickets, so we grabbed a quick lunch at a ricebowl place, a drink, and a few minutes off of feet. Essentials taken care of, we went to the Duomo line! It was a worrying long line, but as soon as our ticket-time came, the entire line flowed right in. The climb was much easier than the tower. There were a lot of landings, and we only moved at the speed of the line which was pretty casual. Plus we had to stop to stick a phone or a camera out every window and vent we could find. The first landing was in the cupola we'd seen from the belltower, and inside were all the statues missing from the empty alcoves! They were being restored after centuries of sketchy fixes (one had been coated 2" thick with sawdust and plaster paste as a sort of paper-mache make-do protection). Next stop was the lower ring around the inside of the cathedral, under the dome. It was a narrow walkway far above the ground, with only a railing and some plexiglass between us and the beautiful floor 100 feet away. I loved it, of course, and took a lot of photos over the plexiglass until a guard politely and loudly requested I stop doing so. We continued to wind up and around the tower, until we got to the point where we could no longer walk around the dome and instead had to walk up it. <end of Brice's journal> |   |
 | [Ethan] As we continued upwards, we spiraled up for a while, peaking out of the windows, and found ourselves between the inner and outer shells of the dome. we traversed around there for a few segments before climbing up the inner curve of the dome and exiting onto the stairs of the top of the cupola. When we ascended to the top, the view was impeccable. Close to the tower, but unhindered by a lightning-cage and very satisfying. We had enough time to look around, and then it was time to head back down. A relatively quick descent later and we found ourselves back in the square. From there, we regrouped with Brice, who had stayed behind for some shots, and returned to the convent to use the restroom and collect our bags. |
[Brian] We all met up back at the hotel, and got a cab to the train station. That was fun - he drove a little quickly, honking at people in his way, ran a couple lights as they changed, went up some very narrow alleys, made several sharp (more than 90*) turns, seemed to reverse direction twice, and then drove across the edge of a plaza filled with people + bikes but no cars.
Got there, and after 10 mins our train was cancelled. We went to inquire, and the line was about 50 ppl long. So as Sue + Ethan waited in line, I went to a machine + bought new tickets for another connecting train. We had to hustle to make it, but did. Then B-E-H almost got off at the wrong stop and had to jump back on!
[Ethan] Brice checked online and saw that there were no more stops before our transfer. He came back to let us know that we'd be cutting it close, so we gathered our bags and, as soon as we stopped, we hopped out. Hannah and I immediately had a bad feeling, and sure-enough, when we checked the nearby sign, the name did not match our transfer station. I dove onto the train and Hannah squeezed in as the doors closed. Brice, apparently, sprinted for an open door out of sight. As we pulled away, Hannah and I looked for Brice on the platform, but didn't see him anywhere. Without knowing the fate of him (or mom and dad for that matter), we rode the one remaining stop to Empoli. We got off there and had to run down the stairs, across the crossway, and up the other stairs into the train on the platform that was waiting to take us to Siena. Within a minute the doors were closed. And somehow, we all made it into the same train-car!
After such an exciting train journey so far, the remainder was very relaxed. It was an hour of journaling, listening to podcasts, and figuring out next steps. When we finally arrived in Siena, we got out and moved to the exit. Dad and I picked up some lunch foods for the next day, and we met back up with the fam outside the train station. At that time, we learned that Adam and Dani were waiting by the Taxi Stand right across the street. We went out and caught up with them for 10 minutes before their ride arrived. From there we had to wait another 30 minutes for two more taxis to come and collect the people ahead of us, and then us. They say that taxis are nowhere to be found when it rains, and that is apparently extra true in Italy.
 |
| <I took a walk around the grounds before dinner, as the storms rolled in> |
One more (only slightly less) harrowing taxi ride later and we arrived at the Villa! We made our way to the room, hastily got ready, and then made it to the hall where we were having the welcome celebration.
[Sue] We're in a lovely room w/ kitchen, bedroom, living area, and bath. Funny though that bidet + toilet are all in the shower. By this time we had 1/2 hr to ready for Welcome Party = with a delicious dinner of beef ribs, chicken (grilled), onions, sausage, tomato/bread specialty, potatoes, rice/veggie dish + even tiramisu for dessert. <Bride> looked beautiful in a white southern belle style gown + <Groom> wore his grandfather's sportscoat.
[Brian] It was a great party, with lots of wine and great food cooked outside on grills. We talked the whole night, to current and future family. Very nice party, lots of fun, everyone very happy! It rained overnight, and with the shutters closed it was dark → very good sleeping!!
[Sue] Another amazing day. We saw all we wanted in Florence AND made it to the party ON TIME. But kept moving all day - 17,924 Steps! Thank you Lord for your blessings of Today!
[Ethan]: I fell asleep whilst journaling... my notes end with "other final pice even if anecdoges. nd I think the foffeesd"
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