No rest for the weary, no caution for the claustrophobes...

Today was our big day in Florence, and we LOVE it. The title refers to our very long climb up to the top of the famous duomo in Florence. We didn't feel like waiting in line to see the inside of the church, so we saw it from way up inside the dome, which was painted on the top half like heaven and the bottom half like hell. Complete with naked devils pointing their pitchforks at each others' butts. Then we climbed ever so many stairs in very narrow hallways to get outside on top of the dome. Looking back, the it was worth it, but at the time our bodies were trembling so from the hike up that we had a hard time looking out onto the beautiful view of Florence and the surrounding countryside. We decided, after barely making it down because we almost passed out from being so cramped and crowded that there should be a sign at the ticket booth saying "Claustrophobic Types: BEWARE." Then again, if there had been such a sign, we may not have climbed the duomo at all.

We saw lots of other cool things today besides the entire city of Florence from on top of a church: another Pieta by Michelangelo (this one was my favorite), a wooden sculpture of Mary Magdalene by Donatello, some cool paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, and Botticelli's The Birth of Venus and Primavera. After waiting in line for two hours to see the Botticelli paintings, we stared for a while. They were so pretty, I even bought a poster of each one. We also went to an outdoor market, full of leather jackets, pashmina scarves, and a novelty item that Jamie and I had never heard of: surprise ties. These ties look normal on the outside, but once you look on the inside, you get a "surprise." Which can also be called a picture of a naked girl. We were, of course, very disgusted and glad we didn't accidentally buy one for James as a gift. Maybe he isn't so glad. Sorry James.

The best part of our day by far, however, was the cooking class we took tonight. We met three very flamboyant ladies from Texas (who kept trying to eat all the leftovers), a very nice couple from Melbourne, Australia, and a restauranteur from Miami named Ray (aka Renaldo) who said he knew nothing about cooking but everything about eating. We made stuffed tomatoes, homemade gnocchi, sauteed chicken with peppers, and tiramisu. Even though I despise coffee, even I ate all of my tiramisu. For those of you who know me well, this is quite a leap of faith for me. It was absolutely delicious and so much fun. We hope to do more things like this the rest of our trip and not spending all our time in duomos and museums.

Tomorrow we head for Cinque Terre, which is the Italian Riviera. I know, our lives are SO hard. We will be there for four nights, and, for the record there is a nude beach. We haven't decided if we are quite that adventurous or not. Beef carpaccio is one thing, nude beaches are another. If we aren't up for it, there's always pointing and laughing at rotund Italian men in speedos (or with speedos around their ankles heehee). There are five towns in the Cinque Terre, so hopefully we'll be doing some hiking between them. And lounging, since I don't think there's going to be a duomo anywhere in sight.

We will update soon, and we hope you are all doing well.
Love,
Jennifer and Jamie