To the top of the Duomo!!!

Hi :)
I am so glad I am living here for 3.5 months, because otherwise I wouldn't get to see practically any of this city or do any of the cool stuff. I haven't even scratched the surface of things to see! It's crazy. I keep thinking i've heard of all the cathedrals/piazzas in the city when someone will mention yet another one I don't know. One of us will read something else to do or another food to try. Almost 4 months might not even be enough to see/ do it all!!!! But that's why this place is amazing; so much history.
-Today my family and I began with a walk to get my cell phone from one of the school offices across town (not actually very far, the city isn't very big) and then walked around to a nearby chiesa (church) called Santa Croce. It's beautiful of course!!!!! I never get tired of looking at all this Gothic and Romaneque architecture in Florence. #artnerd. Sorry, not sorry for all the pictures of all the pretty buildings and interiors of cathedrals.

-We made friends with one of our waiters the other night, and we occasionally see him when we walk past his restaurant to go somewhere. We stopped and talked to him today while walking to Santa Croce like we're old friends. He gives me tips about living in the city, and he also tells us funny stories. See how friendly people are here?!

-The street fashion here is awesome. It's chilly when the wind blows, so everyone has heavy coats on most of the time. But even so, there's every kind of coat imaginable. Printed ones, brightly colored ones, basic neutral ones, lots of puffy ones, leather, fur, etc. I saw many women with fur on today: fur vests, coats, and one lady had a full fur length coat with matching fur hat that was all black and utterly glamourous. Can I be her please? Ugh. Even the men are bundled but dress nicely in leather or wool with nice scarves.

-Designer stores are everywhere. Gucci, Prada, Michael Kors, oh my.

-We did the coolest thing today... we walked to the top of the dome! THE TOP OF THE DUOMO. Santa Maria della Fiore, that big red-domed church we went in yesterday that is in all of my pictures because I am obsessed with it, yes that one. They have a special entrance that takes you up, up, up! I was so excited! I heard some people went a few semesters ago and ever since, I've wanted to go. Well, it was 463 steps to the lookout point, which isn't the very top/spier or anything, it is a lookout point on the outer rim of the dome, giving you a GREAT panoramic view of the city. The stairs are all enclosed inside the walls of the church itself until you hit the lookout point, so luckily it wasn't too cold. Actually that pathway was the actual one built by Brunelleschi himself, it wasn't added later. All of the internal structuring is the same from his original construction, save some extra support added recently. It's an engineering marvel really. About 200 steps up, you hit the frescoes that cover the entire inner section of the dome. Looking up at it from the viewing area, you see huge angels, Jesus, God, just breathtakingly beautiful paintings right above you. Viewing this from the ground yesterday it looks small, but up there you are so close that the seated Christ the Pantocrator figure I bet is easily 20 feet tall and quite possibly more. I also took a million pictures of this on the flickr page, it's just too pretty in person. I was floored by how cool this was. Studying it in a textbook was nothing; you have to see it in person because Brunelleschi was an absolute genius (the actual designer of the dome, this blueprint of dome had never been created. His creating of this one changed the way domes were built) and Vasari was (one of the painters of the frescoes inside the dome) one of the great renaissance masters. Touched by God they were and seeing what they created in person blew my mind. After recovering from my out-of-body religious experience, we continued the climb. The staircases are narrow, but lit, and there are handrails most of the way up. Some are spiral staircases, some straight, some going at strange directions, but you eventually make your way up to the observatory level. And it was a feast for the eyes. But you are up there, let me tell you. Windy, cold, very very high up. It was a little crowded, but it was interesting the diversity of people doing this with us. I probably heard 10 different languages just up there. It was so pretty, definitely one of the coolest things I have done and seen in my 21 years. Coming back down was easier, but the climb in it's entirety it was quite the workout! Calves of steel will result if I frequent that tour. Doubt it, it's 10euros for a ticket. But I might do it once or twice more just for fun.

-We tried gelato today! OMG so good. This was our reward for all that exercise from climbing the dome steps :) I see why everyone raves about it! So tasty.

-Dinner at a pizza shop, so so tasty, and we made friends with our waiter again. He asked us where we are from, and when we replied "Texas" he got all excited and said "Texas! Ooh, my friends from New Jersey saw Beyonce there!!!" Haha, okay, super random! He was so nice though, from Romania living in florence for about 8 years. People have such interesting lives and backgrounds, very different than in the states.

-They played popular AMERICAN hip hop and rap in this pizza shop. And some dubstep. Yes, in a pizza shop. It's weird. Why do they like our music so much??? I came here expecting to hear italian artists, italian pop or rock or something, not Ariana Grande's new single that I hear everywhere in Waco lol.

-I pick up my apartment keys tomorrow! I will be officially living in Florence come tomorrow, I won't be a tourist in a hotel room any more. It was quite fun though, beautiful hotel, beautiful rooms, clean and big, they had a very very nice bar area, breakfast was always nice, and they had a very nice staff. I really enjoyed staying there, clearly. Hotel Berchielli everybody! About 10 paces from the Arno river, maybe a block to the Ponte Vecchio. Great location! Woo sales pitch :)

-Okay I'm tired now. Goodnight!