After breakfast we walked to the Duomo. I had purchased tickets that got us in to the Gate of Heaven tour. It doesn’t happen all year, and had just opened up again yesterday. It seemed like it would be a good thing to do, despite my fear of heights, and I thought they managed the tour quite well: a limited number of us taking a long spiral staircase up, we are lead from area to area, and they close the area behind us. For the most part I could handle the heights pretty well, although I had my moments, and it really was fascinating. We could see tools that were used to build the church in one of the first areas of the roof that we saw, and as Dan pointed out, it really is amazing to think about how they built such a structure with what we would, I’m sure, call primitive tools.

From the Gate of Heaven we moved to the main part of the cathedral and we spent a good amount of time there. One room (I think they called it a library) showed old music, which was quite large, so all the singers could read it (no books for each singer back then). I couldn’t figure out the notation, but I didn’t spend a gob of time with it. In the same room the walls were covered with frescoes.

Mostly I marvel at the beauty of old churches, and wonder why beauty and good art don’t seem to matter to some denominations at all. I wonder if it’s a fear issue: art can be difficult for some people, and they might feel threatened by it. But I don’t know if that’s it. Just trying to figure it out. I am not comfortable with the pretty obvious adulation of Mary, but still, the church was amazing. Even in the places that aren’t seen by anyone (just like the Milan Duomo), there are decorations and such. Every part of the building seems to matter … I like that.

Next up was the crypt. It wasn’t huge, but it was, again, interesting to see the frescoes, albeit missing parts of the images. Than the baptistry. Turned out they were working on it (memories of Florence) so we couldn’t see everything. Kind of figures!

After a mediocre lunch we went to the Duomo museum: our tickets allowed us to go there and go up high (yes, I was giving it another go) and outside. We had to stand outside in line for a while. Then we went inside and had to wait to go up the stairs. Finally we went up, and ended up in another room to wait in a line. FINALLY we were admitted to what we thought was going to lead immediately to the outside. Nope. Another long line. It appeared they were admitting 10 to 15 people or so at a time, and we had a good (or bad — you choose) number of people ahead of us. After standing there for a while, and dealing with my aching back, Dan suggested we leave: we’d seen a lot, after all, and I think they really mismanaged this part of the Duomo experience.

Still, it was a good Duomo day, and I’m so glad we were able to get tickets since we only purchased them yesterday. (I do recommend getting them online: the line in front of the Duomo just to buy tickets was awfully long!)

We have gotten very good at our afternoon rests!

Dinner was at yet another recommended restaurant, and it was quite good. Of course I ate too much. Sigh.

Walking back to our place we went through the Piazza del Campo: they are clearly starting to prepare even more for the race. They put down a lot of dirt where the horses will race, covering up all the cobblestones. They must work quite fast! I felt as if I could sense the excitement mounting. (The race is a week from now.)

Now we have to pack up for the next, and second to last, city in Italy. G’night!