Danger Dome

We climbed the Duomo today.

The end.

The backside of the Duomo. Not as clean as the front... but that's generally how the backsides of things go anyway, now isn't it?
The line. It was a healthy length... it took us about an hour to get from the very end, into the church/cathedral.

(Rebecca and I just had a talk about which the Duomo actually is... church or cathedral. It's up to you to decide. Tomatoe/tomahto).

The "impressive" entrance into the Duomo to climb all those stairs. The pretty doors are reserved for people who actually go to church here, and the people who want to see the front half of the church.
Graffiti!
A pope. Specifically, a stone Pope. Even better!
Stairs. Some of many...
The wall.. or A wall. Not THE wall. Whatever.

The ceiling of the Duomo... we think Michelangelo painted it.
Please take the time to click on these pictures and make them their real size... there's all sorts of crazy things happening on this ceiling and it's worth it. Trust me.
There's a crazy toad-person in hell, just waiting to chase you with a hammer.

Don't write on the walls.

Dont. Do. It.
A shot looking straight above my head. The inner shell is at the bottom of the photo and the outer shell is at the top, you can see how close and yet how far apart they are. It was a crazy moment when I realized we had gotten in between the shells of the dome... you don't immediately realize it until you noticed this curved, giant egg of a wall next to you.
This is a shot of the unique herringbone brickwork used by Fillippo Brunelleschi, one of many unique inventions he employed to build this crazy masterpiece.
Mmmmmm... steps. A few of the 463 we climbed today.

The crazy thing about this picture, and the reason why I posted it, is that the doorway you see Rebecca through is actually crooked. My picture is straight, everything else is a little wonky because we're curving around and over the dome at the same time. It was a little disorienting after climbing so far and being in such a cramped space.

PLUS this stairway is open for two-way traffic, so there were people cramming past other people going in different directions. I'm not claustrophobic, but I was beginning to panic a couple of times.
At one point in the climb you're actually walking on top of the dome... this is a picture of said activity. It was pretty steep, something not totally translated in this picture.
Finally at the top!

A view of the rooftop, hanging over the city.
Our apartment, behind the hospital. Our apartment... closer.

The tower.
The tower, and Piazza de Republica in the background (it has a massive arch that is a couple hundred years old but still considered new here).
Florence was founded with two straight streets... one going to the east and one to the west. This may be one of them, however I'm completely directionally impaired so it could not. But it was one of about three straight streets we could see in all of Florence. And it's pointing straight up to Fiesole in the hills.
A shot of San Lorenzo (the dome), San Lorenzo market (just to the right of the dome on the street) and the train station (the flat building to the left/behind the dome).
One of the arches periodically placed around the roof.

Rebecca... given me a look. I inspire some very odd looks sometimes....
Part of the roof of the dome.
Santa Croce and, in the distance on the right (the white line) is Piazzale Michelangelo across the Arno. Shadow time!
A shot out of a hole the dome on the way back down.

The climb wasn't as hard, it's got a bad reputation because all these fat tourists insist on climbing up there and then freak out when they figure out it's actual work and not instant gratification. For 6 euros and a 10-15 minute climb you could see the of the dome up close, walk inside the shell, see some statues and the old wooden machines they used to build the dome and then get a chance to spend however long you wanted on the roof, looking out over Florence. Infinitely worth it.

Today, Of Days

Drunkie pumpkie!

In front of the hospital again, but coming from the other direction. If you go up one block and take a left, that's our street. That corner is also where I began the video of my walk to school. So now you know, and knowing's half the battle.
The hospital... looking pretty in the sun.

P.S. their hospitals look way cooler than ours. All archy and gargoylie, two components that virtually garuntee healing.
My new favorite cafe. I haven't been there, and I don't really feel that I need to. It's enough that it exists and that I can walk by it occasionally and go "Oh, that's hilarious" and move on.
The internet train where I used to do all my online biznass until I got my sweet, illegal wifi.
Taya, pooped after two days of partying.

Palazzo Pitti

The Pitti family began to build Palazzo Pitti to rival the Medici family (the top dogs of the time) in the mid 1400's. Unfortunately they ran out of funds and went bankrupt in the process so they had to sell their Palace to the Medici (the very family they were attempting to spite with this building) in 1539.

I believe that's a grand example of irony.

In any case, everyone in the program paid the palace a short visit on Tuesday. Eventually I'll make it to the gardens, but so far all I've got are pictures of the front entrance area where we waited for everyone to catch up.

Taya and I waiting but looking good doing it.

My sweet tights!
Taya taking a picture of said tights.

Fiorentina Football Anthem

I took this video when I was at the football/soccer match on Sunday, it's the song the fans sing to the players. I couldn't hear the words while I was there, all I got was "... OH FIOR-en-TINA!..." and then a bunch of garbage between and then "... OH FIOR-en-TINA!..." again. It was fun though! I came home and looked up the lyrics and it's something to effect of

“O Fiorentina di ogni squadra sei Regina…” which means "Oh Fiorentina of every team you are Queen.”

Anyway, enjoy!

Lyrics (in Italian... deal with it!):

Garrisca al vento il labaro viola,
sui campi della sfida e del valore
una speranza viva ci consola
abbiamo undici atleti ed un solo cuore!

Rit.: O Fiorentina, di ogni squadra ti vogliam regina
O Fiorentina, combatti ovunque ardita e con valor
nell'ora di sconforto o di vittoria
ricorda che del calcio hai tu la storia!

Maglia viola lotta con vigore
per esser di Firenze vanto e gloria
sul tuo vessillo scrivi Forza e Cuore
e nostra sarà sempre la vittoria!

Rit.: O Fiorentina (...)
Forza Fiorentina!Alé Alé Viola!

Fiorentina Vs. Sienna

Everyone in the program went to a football game today! It was Florence (Fiorentina) versus Sienna, two rival cities in all things plus football. Florentines have a popular saying about Sienna: "Only two things come from Sienna: clouds and bitches (beetches!)." That pretty much gives you a sample of the friendly attitudes between cities.

Waiting for the bus in PIazza San Marco. This couple had huge pieces of focaccia bread. Yummy!
Lauren, AJ and Carrie with Sophie peeking in the right hand side.
The Stadio! Pay attention to it in the next couple of photos because it shows what kind of weather we sat through in the hour and a half we watched the game.

Plus rain. Sprinkly, cold rain.
Ana and Taya!
Rebecca and AJ...
Carrie
and Justin. Justin, Justin, Justin. Doin his thing!
Alot of the girls...

Sophie and her boyfriend... he who will not be named.
Rebecca and AJ under my umbrella. Just because I'm from the West Coast doesn't mean that I"m above hauling around my umbrella... I mean seriously, to not have some protection is sheer madness. MADNESS!

Ana and Taya. Taya's either yawning or super excited... you decide.

This is the section reserved for Sienna fans, or fans of whatever team is playing against Florence. Things get so rowedy that the opposing fans have to be caged in to protect them and then have an extra layer or two of security for good measure.
It's good to be prepared.... especially SUPER prepared.

Fans!
Old man smoke-stack sat right in front of my down wind so all of his cigarette smoke puffed right back into my face. Just a little touch of Europe for ever'body!

I just read most (I skipped some of the boring parts) of Tobias Jones' book The Dark Heart of Italy: Travels Through Time and Space Across Italy on the train ride to Pompeii. He had a section on football (and seduction but that's another blog post) in which he summed up the Italian game of football very well.

"Talk to any Italian about the strengths of the Italian game, and they will always mention the two vital ingredients lacking in Britain: fantasia and furbizia - the fantasy and cunning. Fantasy is the ability to do something entirely unpredictable with the ball...That's what the Italian fantasists do...it's the side of football that can't be taught. It has to be instinctive, suddenly inspired...
Many players will kiss on both cheeks before kick-off. If one scores against his old team (cause for exaltation in Britain), in Italy he refuses to celebrate... sometimes they actually break down and have a little weep (Gabriel Batistuta is a long-haired Argentine who played for Fiorentina for almost a decade. When, having signed for Roma, he scored a vital goal against his old friends, he scrunched up his face in a grimace of pain.)"
And later on the subject of performance-enhancing drugs in Italian football, Jones goes on to talk about how in the 2000-2001 season allegations of drug use began to fly and a few of the major players turned up positive (for Nandrolone). There was an outcry in the Italian public not because of the unfair advantage or the legal status of these drugs, but because it made the sport ugly. Italian football takes pride in its beauty and the drugs made it too much like the English version... "Strength and speed, the argument went, had become more important than silky skills." This is a prime example of Italian culture in general. Every aspect from the language to the body language exudes "silky skills" and romance.

More on this later. It's bed time.