Climbing the Duomo

Before spending 4 hours of rigorous power shopping through the open air markets today, a group of us decided to practice become this ultimate stair masters by climbing to the top of the Duomo - 463 steps! Not just any 463 steps...463 spiral, steep, ancient, small, and unforgiving steps with little oxygen. The punishment seemed bearable when we finally reached the top and could see the city in its entirety - much like the top of the Vittorio Emmanuelle Monument's peak in Roma. You could see for miles and miles and perhaps it was even more rewarding because of the strenuous exercise we did to get up there. Did I mention that we had to climb down them as well? While going up was hard on the body - going down was very hard on the mind. Looking down an endless flight of very steep stairs that never ends certainly takes its toll on your mind. I thought about doing to Rocky pose when we finally got back to the bottom, but decided that probably wasn't such a good idea.