before everyone arrived
for the group photos
which Caroline also took
Our group linked up in teams with Sarah and Cara
Jane and Lucy
Suzanne and Michael
Rich and Ronnie
Benjamin sitting on my shoes ( over the sight of the effects of fine Italian pasta )
and the rest of me
and Lucy
with the Duomo in the background.
We made a short stop at the Duomo to see the ceiling
which would later inspire us to walk above it.
But first there was the issue of lunch.
Sarah and Benjamin
had the spaghetti pomodoro
and ravioli spinaci
respectively. I
had the pasta with porcini mushrooms
The others
had varying portions of the
steak Florentine.
After lunch, we went to the market place
to see the pig
and rub his nose
Next, we went to this hat store
where Rich bought this hat
which Sarah considers very fine.
Cara bought a bandage at the Farmacia.
This fit her elbow well
and made the DeMillo family
happy. Not to be outdone, Suzanne and Sarah bought this purse
with the helpful guidance of Cara.
Next, it was time to get our exercise. We found this line
and waited in it
while noticing how high the bell tower
is. Then, it was time to go in
and walk up to the first level
from which the ceiling seemed much closer
and then to the top from which the bell tower
didn't seem so high.
Suzanne was happy to be at the top
as were Benjamin
and Sarah
We found our village (Villamagna) in the background
as we scanned the Tuscan hills
before it was time to start the trip back down
Once down, Sarah had to inspect the doors of the baptistery
to see if they looked like the doors to heaven. Suzanne, Rich and Ronnie
read that the real doors were elsewhere which explained why they didn't impress Sarah.
But the duomo
remained exciting to us as we celebrated over gelato and granita limone
On our way out of town, we made our way to the stazione once more where Sarah and
Benjamin
contemplated taking the train to Paris and we took the obligatory phone booth pictures
including this phone booth picture
where Sarah was actually talking to another person.