Friday in Florence

Friday, June 3, 2011.  Our last day in Florence, the girls are really sad to leave.  The adults are slightly sad, but feel we’ve had lots of fun and have spent enough money at this point!

The city was significantly more crowded today, and the wait to begin ascending the 463 stairs to the top of the Duomo was an hour long.  No problem, Madeline wanted shoes after seeing the twins’ acquisitions the day before, so she and I used part of that time to buy two cute pairs for her.

Climbing the steps was dizzying, and I confess to getting my heart rate up at points where the pace was brisk.  At one point, the space opened up to an area with sculptures essentially waiting in the wings.  A nice surprise.

How lucky to get to walk out of the stairway and onto a balcony inside the Duomo where we could see the beautiful artwork on the ceiling.  Because of the plexiglass barricade on our narrow balcony, it was difficult to get a good photo of the inside of the building far below.  I did make the effort.

More, even narrower, winding steps up (at last) to the very top of the Duomo.  Spectacular views!  

We had one last outrageously good lunch, before checking out of our hotel and driving to Milan.  This was a long drive, and we’re staying at a hotel not too far from the airport for our flight to NY tomorrow.

Dan gets to fly directly back to the west coast, but due to a United flight departure time change, the rest of us have to spend a night in NY before flying the remainder of the way home Sunday.