And I’ve come to the conclusion that no Italian could live here for any amount of time in their lives and NOT visit the top of the Duomo.  That being said, however, that is QUITE the climb.  Fortunately for Julio, Kourtnei, and myself, we live on the top floor of our apartment building, and have been working up to this for some time, however inadvertently.

But this little jaunt happened on sort of a “spur of the moment”, if you will.  There was a gap in all of our schedules, and likewise a blatant gap in our success in visiting the Cathedral we’ve lived next to for the past month.  That being said, we moseyed on over to the duomo and paid 8 EUR to climb to the top of the Duomo.  Kourtnei and Julio had just gotten over being sick, and I simply detest stairs, so we were all wiped out when we reached the top.

It was worth every upward trudge.  The view, of course, was breathtaking, not to mention the miracle of the architecture itself.  Looking down, we could see the very bricks that made up the structure of the dome.  On the inside, we could see the interior slopes and even a small room devoted to the construction equipment of the Duomo.

We spent a good amount of time at the top, Julio drawing and Kourtnei and I enjoying the nice weather, before beginning the easy descent back to the ground.  We had Batik class to get to.

At the end of the day I sat down to my computer and promptly fell asleep.  No, there was no need for me to go running that night.

Interior. Image courtesy of Miss Finnell.