The large assortment of amazing pastries that they have here (they look and smell so great!) : 
Afterwards we met at the Duomo at around 9 A.M. and followed everyone else up into the Dome. Of the Duomo and then the cupola. AIFS bought our 10 euro ticket that allowed us to go up to the Dome, cupola, bell tower, baptistery, down into the crypts and into the museum of the Duomo. First we walked up into the Dome: 
I know those pictures are poor quality but it was really hard to take pictures because there was just something about the dome that freaked me out. I really don't have a fear of heights but the Dome was really weird and I didn't like it. It's a beautiful dome and it's an exciting depiction of the end of time and judgement day. In fact I could stare at the picture all day just not while being right next to it. No one else had this problem and I didn't have it when I was in the cupola.
Next we went up some claustrophobic killer stairs (so many steps, a lot of out of shape people in the program were groaning) to the cupola of the Duomo. A window on the way up:
The amazing views:
So after some girls in the group and I had had enough being rained on, we decided to take on the tower. It was tough for some because they were tired from the Duomo but I found if you kept a nice solid pace it was easy. The tower was also pretty (and it was like 55 degrees at this point):
After that long two climbs which I believe was over 900 steps we decided to cool ourselves down with some gelato and then we headed to intensive Italian language training. There is no English allowed at all, which is very diffucult but our instructor, Linda, who is young, energetic and a complete sweetheart makes the class really fun mainly cause when we don't understand a word she uses charades, which she is really good at. I also don't think she knows English, so we must speak Italian or else she doesn't understand us. All together it was fun but we have to memorize a whole bunch of words before next class and I'm kind of scarred on how she will quiz us on them. After that we went to a local pizzeria. It was amazing. No other words are needed but I must try to explain it to you. This is the final product: 
You're probably like where's the sauce. Don't ask foolish questions. This is Italy it can break the rules of food to make it taste better. It worked. It was called Proscutto e mozzarella. Or ham and cheese. The ham and cheese was inside and when you ordered it they out it in the oven for like 5 minutes so it would get a toasty on the outside and all melty on the inside. Molto Buono! The people that ran it appeared to be a couple that couldn't speak any English and the place was packed! Something crazy did happen while we were all eating. A lady tipped back in her chair and fell. Before I knew what happened four Italian men were helping her and she was waving them off and there was a whorl of Italian from them. I didn't catch any of it but she appeared fine and got a free piece of pizza, so I'll be falling from my chair next time I'm there:)
After that we headed back to the Duomo for a tour of the baptistery, the cathedral and the museum. It was a good time: this was me in order from left to right: Kathleen, Lauren, Stephanie, and Vicky:
The baptistery was pretty sick as well and I learned a ton, like the ceiling shows biblical stories because people back in the day couldn't read so they just got the stories orally and pictorially:
The ceiling was a gold mosaic and amazing! Although the cathedral was so huge. I can't imagine praying at a church like that every week. The Florentines were so powerful: 
After our detailed tour of the baptistery and the cathedral we were taken to the museum which was lacking because most of the stuff was locked away because the museum itself is under construction. But I did get to see one of Michelangelo's Pietas:
And then I tried to unlock the gates of paradise with my apartment key. It's safe to say it didn't work: 
After the tours we went down to the crypts to have our breath taken away. We kept our breath. After seeing the cathedral, and baptistery everything else paled in comparison. I'm too spoiled because there were Roman ruins down there and the tops of tombs, which I laid down next to when security wasn't looking;)
We did get to see the skull of St. Benedict and I thought that was really cool. 
Afterwards people came back to my apartment for sandwiches and we had some really good cookies for dessert and then I called it a night. But it was really good.
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