We climbed to the top of the dome in the Duomo in Florence today! The climb was 464 steps from bottom to top. Along the way some of the passage got to be very narrow. Along one of the very narrow passages inside the church dome along the high wall of the church, where the curvature of the dome, meets the wall, a fairly large woman decided to go against traffic. We all had to squeeze tightly for her to get by. Tom took the brunt of the frontal attack, as he was leading our group. Lowell was unlucky to be on the corner and took a 270 degree swipe. Unfortunate, but neither was physically hurt in the awkward situation. Upon reaching the top, the views were spectacular.

With all the pictures taken, we headed back down and went into the church. The Duomo (St. Maria de Fioro) is a beautiful cathedral built in the 13 century.
We walked from there to the next church on the list of many to see. St. Maria Novella. A smaller church with a spectacular alter. The church was also built in the 13 century. The green and white marble alter is very high. Too bad we could not take pictures to include here. The churches, the designs, the architecture, the colors, the age, and the size of all of the churches have us all in awe.
The girls went shopping for a half hour today and came away with only some nice pictures of the goods for sale.

Florence is a walking town and we have done our share of walking. We have seen churches, panoramic views of the city, museums, sculptures, renaissance art, frescos, tombs and monuments. All within walking distance of our apartment. We stopped at our favorite bakery and made diner at the apartment again today and then went out for a gelati.

After dinner another night stroll around the town to see the night sights. Everything is picturesque and we all have our cameras working at night to search for the best shots. Most are erased, but every now and then we get one to keep.

Tomorrow is a travel day. We take a night train from Florence to Munich. It leaves at 10:00pm. We have to be out of the apartment by 10:00am, so it will be a busy morning, and by evening, the day will be dragging as we wait for the late train. But in between we will adventure into the city once again to enjoy the Tuscan day and find something new in the city.