day thirty-five; july 27th
Got up early with the intent to climb the Duomo which opens at 9am. Thankfully not too many people had the same idea to get there early so I was close to the front of the line and got in pretty quickly. I had my water and my puffer ready and had taken Nurofen earlier for my hip so nothing could stop me! To my surprise it wasn’t as claustrophobic or difficult as I had been told to expect. Maybe I’ve become used to the tight spaces from other monuments I’ve been to with similar indoor spaces to get from A to B? Or maybe it was just a determination to get to the top and so the process in between doesn’t play on your mind. I definitely believe that my ease at climbing the 463 steps has do with five weeks of contending with my stairwell everyday. Nonetheless, it was an experience and when you make the final vertical climb to the top (you actually go between the inner and outer dome!) the view that awaits you is staggering. It was awesome to be able to spot all the different neighbourhoods and how, like the Vatican, the Duomo is at the centre of it all. Of course I took a million photos and a few panoramas on my film camera. The air was very fresh which was a kind relief. Climbing back down you come out onto a tight balcony that goes around the top of the whole dome where you can look up to see the frescos on the ceiling (which were quite disturbing close up, think paintings of the devil pulling people apart) and then look down to get an immediate case of vertigo at the church below with ant-sized people. Then you make your descent down a continuous spiral staircase which after awhile becomes very dizzying and then ten or so minutes later you’re out into fresh air again. I’m really happy I did it and although my hip is suffering now, it was worth every cent, no make that step!
Got back to my apartment around lunch as Serena was coming over. I cooked us a pasta dish so I could start to use up what was left of my food. She bought me a beautiful book that has beautiful black and white film photos of Florence from the 18 and 1900’s which is so kind of her. I packed a bit more and then made my way to school where we printed some more photos from out last assignment and finished up in the darkroom for the last time. We also scanned a few of our negatives and worked with them in Photoshop, an image editing program. I had an early dinner in San Lorenzo and walked home through the markets.
