879 Steps

This is the Duomo.  It's an insanely huge cathedral located in the heart of Florence - and conveniently right down the street from our hostel!  The nice thing about living right next door to the largest building in Florence is that if I ever got lost, all I have to do is get to a high place and look around.  It's kind of hard to miss...

We decided to climb to the top of the dome, which you get to by climbing stairs.  A lot of stairs.  458 of them to be exact (I counted).

(I took this picture of a window on the way up, because it was too dark to take a picture of anything else.)

We twisted and turned up this giant spiral staircase that I thought would never end.  When we finally emerged into the rooftop we were breathless -- for multiple reasons...

It was quite exhilarating being 458 steps into the air. 

The way back down reminded me of a room that you might find in Willy Wonka's factory.  At one point I wasn't sure if we walking forward or upside down...

(People put coins and locks in the strangest of places here.  It's like every nook and cranny is a wishing well.)

Our next adventure of the day was to climb the bell tower (which, if you look at the pictures above, is right next to the Duomo).  

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN. (That's my intimidating sound.)

Street view from the second floor.  

Street view from the third floor. 

Creeping on the Duomo through a tiny hole in the staircase. 

Fourth floor view.  

  

Aaaaaand at the tippy top...

(That's where we were earlier at the top of the dome, 37 steps higher.)

I was definitely beat after those back to back climbing excursions, but man, did my calves feel fantastic.  

Tomorrow is our last day at the Firenze d'Arti.  We're almost done with our letterpress posters!!! I will post pictures of the finished product soon.  It will also be our last night in Florence (HOW??).  We're celebrating with a fancy wine and cheese tasting party.  We've just become very cultured since arriving in Italy...

Buono notte, friends!

Florence

We have arrived in Florence.

We were met at the train station by Charlie, who will be our professor while we're here.  (Fun fact:  Charlie used to teach photography at WMU.)  He took us to the hostel where we are staying to drop our luggage off and then immediately began to show us around.

We visited the school first (which we start on Wednesday), and then he took us up to a hilltop which gives you the most INcredible view of the city.  In order to get there we had to climb a ridiculous number of stairs.  (I would say there was approximately a million, but there was probably more.)  Anyways, (that one's for you, Nona!) I sat down on these steps, warm sunlight on my face, and got lost in the scenery.  Literally, I got lost.  My group accidentally left without me and apparently didn't notice I was missing until someone tripped and jokingly said that they "pulled a Reina."  It's nice to be thought of.  It's also nice to be remembered for being a klutz.

First thing in the morning a group of us are going to see the Duomo, which is a HUGE cathedral that's literally steps from our hostel.  Then we are going to cram as much sightseeing as we can into one day, as we start school tomorrow.

I think I'm going to unpack now.  Seriously, the worst thing about this trip has been the packing, the unpacking, the packing, the unpacking...Daaaaannniiiiii?  Where are you when I need you??

The Secret Garden

Today we discovered the most magical place.  A couple girls and I decided to go on a bike ride this morning, and we decided to cross the river to the part of Verona we hadn't seen before.  We wound through narrow streets and alleyways until we pulled over to take a breather.  We looked at our map to see if there was a park nearby where we could chill at for a little while before returning to our hotel, and it turns out we had stopped right next to one.  So we chained up our bikes, walked around the corner, and found...this.  

The "park" we had happened upon looked more like a royal garden.  Fountains, statues, hedge mazes, and hundreds of those triangle-shaped trees that shoot up into the sky like rockets (you know the kind I'm talking about...the fancy garden kind).  We jumped right into the hedge maze, of course. 

After conquering that obstacle we continued to galavant through the glorious greens until we found these stairs.  

Which we climbed, of course.  And it was at the top where we found...

This pile of bricks that is apparently holding up the entire mountain (reassuring)...

This structure that might have made an appearance in The Hobbit...

This other J.R. Tolkein hangout with a heck of a view....

And this creepy door...

We then found this staircase that seemed like it would never end until we came to...

This.  

We sat on this bench for an hour at least, just gazing out over the garden and the rooftops of Verona.  It was the most magnificent sight to behold.  

Tomorrow morning we depart for Florence.  I'm sad at the thought of leaving Verona so soon, especially after finding this treasure.  I could spend hours on that bench.  The world was so still there...I can only hope Florence has such sights to behold.  

Ciao!

*DISCLAIMER:  I hereby ask for pardon for any spelling errors, horrible pictures, or  any other error in my writing.  I am typing this all on my phone, and it's not the most ideal situation.  Thank you for your understanding.  (;

Celebrate Good Times: Verona Style

Today we went to an old printing press in Verona owned by this sweet lady named Rosanna Conte.  The printing press was established in 1750, and was bought by Rosanna's grandfather in 1933.  We learned about the Linotype process (a method of printing). I've read about it before, but it was so amazing seeing it firsthand.  Such an incredible place.  And Rosanna was hilarious.

We also had the pleasure of meeting Carla, Rosanna's mother.  She is a master printmaker and was such an inspiration to me.  We even saw the world's smallest book (which was about the size of my pinky nail)!  And of course there was Rosanna's gecko guarding the front door (Rosanna called him her "jecko"). 

We then climbed this giant hill (approximately one million stairs, I'd guess) in order to get a view of the entire city of Verona.  We were not disappointed.  I took a touristy picture of myself and we spyed on rooftop gardens.    The last item on our agenda was to make an appearance at a festival that was going on downtown:  cool chalk art included.    

[Foot selfie!]

At the festival there was delicious food, music, and dancing.  The band sang popular hits such as "Celebration" and "We Are Family".  I wasn't into the whole dancing thing at first, but then I got myself some almond gelato (which my current favorite of all the gelatos I've had thus far) and all of a sudden dancing was more fun.  

A life lesson was learned:  Other people need alcohol to lower their inhibitions.  I just need ice cream.  

*DISCLAIMER:  I hereby ask for pardon for any spelling errors, horrible pictures, or  any other error in my writing.  I am typing this all on my phone, and it's not the most ideal situation.  Thank you for your understanding.