Trip to Europe - Part 3: Brunelleschi and Michelangelo

The day starts early, and sunny, but with some anxiety of more rain. We get to the reserved ticket queue (we have city-wide passes) for the ascent to the Cupola at the top of the Duomo only to find that we need tickets - you get those at "number seven on your right" (so says the guard). So we convert the passes into tickets and return to begin the climb.

It starts out with a basic stone stair case, with wonderful small view holes along the way. And it goes on for a while.

After some minutes, you reach the base of the dome, and you cross the interior of the cathedral on the inside, via a gallery at the base of the fresco by Vasari - though you're right up close it's very hard to see cause the gallery is very narrow and the angle is very difficult.

Using the gallery to get from one side of the dome to the other, you then take a set of tight, spiraling stairs that untwist for a while, the re-twist.

The view holes do re-appear, however, and the sights are starting to look real good. I'm not sure what the fork is supposed to do, but there is one at each opening.

Then the stairs start to get steep, and then worse, they flatten out into ladder-like paths. You need the railings at this point, but it's not terribly difficult.

Up the last short flight to this:

You can see the Palazzo Vecchio on the left, and the Piazza della Republica (and our hotel) closer to the center. The Campanile is in the middle, and that's San Lorenzo on the right.

We spend the rest of the morning at Santa Maria del Fiore: the cathedral and the baptistry are both full of interesting details.

We then go to spend some time with Michelangelo - first at the The Academia Gallery to see the "unfinished marbles" and the original David. No pictures allowed, but we really enjoy the galleries (very crowded!). The David is bigger than you think, way up on a plinth, and protected by a clear surround; the others marbles are surprisingly intimate.

Next, to the New Sacristy at the Medici Chapel - again, no pictures allowed (but I've added some from other sources). The Medici Chapel itself is under reconstruction, and is a hodge-podge scaffolding and strange geodesic rooms. The dark stone chapel is a visual mess compared the the Sacristy, with it's clean lines and beautiful coffered dome.

We end the day with Brunelleschi again, and the Pazzi Chapel. A wondeful contrast in its simplicity and clean geometry.

The Chapel itself is at the end of a courtyard a feels almost like a (very) large garden structure, as it is basically empty with a kind of dirt floor. The light within is amazing.

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