Day 32: Monday
I had class in the morning again, then after we finally got Accent to listen to us about our sink and stove, and we scheduled an appointment for the housing coordinator to come take a look. Elli and I had planned on going up to Piazzale Michelangelo for the afternoon, but we had to be at the apartment at 5pm, so we decided to climb the tower next to the Duomo instead. First, we went home and had sandwiches and I read a little. Then we met Mike at the tower and we paid our €6 to climb. There were 414 stairs, but climbing wasn’t actually that bad. There were three landings where we could stop and catch our breath. The worst part was that the way up is the same as the way down, and the stairs aren’t exactly roomy, so we had to squeeze by people as we went up and down. When we finally made it to the top, we had an awesome view of the city of Florence and the surrounding mountains. I liked that we could see the Duomo from the top. The rooftops of Florence are all orange, but I like how the main churches completely stand out, and that I’m familiar enough with my geography of the city already to be able to tell which ones are which. We wandered around the top looking at the view, took pictures, and then we decided to head down.
Afterwards Elli and I decided to go inside the Duomo, but we had to wait in line for a little bit. The inside is nothing like Roman churches because it’s extremely plain and simple inside. In my opinion, that’s how churches should be. The windows were impressive, and so was the fresco on the ceiling of the dome, but we couldn’t get a good look at it because we couldn’t go underneath the dome. Then we went down into the crypt and archeological site for an older church called Santa Reparata. We used our knowledge from our tour guides to identify some Medicis buried down there, and we saw Brunelleschi’s tomb, which was sadly next to the gift shop, and he was the architect of the Duomo. On our way home we did some souvenir shopping and browsing, and I wanted to buy some nice scarves, but I only bought postcards. When we got home, I took a small nap waiting for Accent to show up to look at our stove. When she did arrive, she realized that our stove actually does not work and that she would talk to the landlady, but not until tomorrow because it was already too late in the day. It only took them a week to believe us, meanwhile we’ve been cooking at the boys’ and been unable to do dishes. After she left, Mike and I decided to go out to dinner, and we ended up going back to the place we went with the first night and with my parents, and I had the calamari and fries again. Then we got gelato, and then I went home and accidentally fell asleep for a half hour. Then I did some reading and chilled until bed time.
Afterwards Elli and I decided to go inside the Duomo, but we had to wait in line for a little bit. The inside is nothing like Roman churches because it’s extremely plain and simple inside. In my opinion, that’s how churches should be. The windows were impressive, and so was the fresco on the ceiling of the dome, but we couldn’t get a good look at it because we couldn’t go underneath the dome. Then we went down into the crypt and archeological site for an older church called Santa Reparata. We used our knowledge from our tour guides to identify some Medicis buried down there, and we saw Brunelleschi’s tomb, which was sadly next to the gift shop, and he was the architect of the Duomo. On our way home we did some souvenir shopping and browsing, and I wanted to buy some nice scarves, but I only bought postcards. When we got home, I took a small nap waiting for Accent to show up to look at our stove. When she did arrive, she realized that our stove actually does not work and that she would talk to the landlady, but not until tomorrow because it was already too late in the day. It only took them a week to believe us, meanwhile we’ve been cooking at the boys’ and been unable to do dishes. After she left, Mike and I decided to go out to dinner, and we ended up going back to the place we went with the first night and with my parents, and I had the calamari and fries again. Then we got gelato, and then I went home and accidentally fell asleep for a half hour. Then I did some reading and chilled until bed time.
