Day 21: Florence

We spent the day hanging out with Stover today. I'm still amazed that I ran into someone I know in the streets of Florence... Inconceivable! We went to some church that we thought was the Duomo and paid an entrance fee to get in. Then wandered around and found the real Duomo and didn't have to pay to get in - go figure. We waited in a long, long line. Italy has many long, long lines. Patience. Personally, I think the fake Duomo was cooler than the real one, except for the cupola. The cupola of the real Duomo was amazing and horrific! The entire dome was painted with a scene of heaven and hell. In hell, demons eat you and stab you in the ass and crotch with flaming torches. It's not pleasant. The artwork depicting the unpleasantness was amazing though. At the very top of the cupola we were once again able to walk around the outside of the dome. The view was amazing. You are going to get bored of the word "amazing" while reading my blog. That's fine. They say pictures say a thousand words, so I took lots of pictures of the amazing view so you don't have to rely on my sad, inept writing to describe what I saw...