Climbing to the top of Firenze

Today I planned two excursions. The first reason is because I wanted to do them, then the second reason is to get the kids to spend some time alone. 

 In the morning after breakfast, Jesse, Jaramie and I decided to climb Giotto's Tower, which is the tall white bell tower that stands next to the Duomo Cathedral in Florence, Italy.  

Luckily, when we arrived there was no line so we paid our ticket price (6 Euro each for Jesse and me and niente for il bambina ) and started climbing....and counting..

This is the "before" picture, when we are not tired and barely hot...

.

....still counting

View from the first window...

Here are the first views from the first landing. Pretty impressive already...

....view from the second landing....

Feeling pretty sweaty and tired so far. 

(The people we met along the way were almost all Americans like us.... no one else is stupido enough to climb 400 odd stairs in 90+ degree heat.)

The hand signals show that we're at 2 hundred 71 stairs so far...

Mama needs a rest, but Jaramie is just waiting patiently. 

I told the kids, "I need to rest and wait for my heart to stop beating..." 

Jesse promptly retorted, "Yeah, but then you'd be dead Mom."

...ahhh teenagers....

The top is only a few stairs away!....

Jaramie sure does love her brother.

1800s graffiti....

(They don't let you carve your name in the stone anymore...)

It sure is a loooongggg way down!!

Ta-dah! Here is the gorgeous view from the top of the tower.

We made it down too. But then it was time to get a gelato for the stellar climbers.

Well, the first mission of the day was a success... Tune in later to see if the second excursion had the same outcome....