We then ate a super late lunch at a great place outside of the duomo that was serving a three course meal for 11 euros. It’s amazing how much great food you can get for so cheap there! (By the way, it was lasagna again 😬) I had to take advantage of the wine special and the duomo backdrop!

Then we climbed the (million) steps through the crowded tower and got to the top as the bells were ringing! This kind of thing would never fly in America – it was so cramped and I’m really surprised there hasn’t been some sort of lawsuit against the place because it is seriously rough to get to the top. The stairway is maybe 2.5 feet across and the stairs are pretty small and made of stone, and the entire time you are having to side step because people are coming down the steps as you are going up. You have to stop several times because of traffic jams at the corners and when you stop the claustrophobia sets in a little. None the less, we made it through to the top and it was so beautiful! I’m sad we really didn’t take any photos of this, but I’ll share the view of the tower from the duomo below.

The bells ringing

We had to wait until 6:30 to visit the duomo afterward, due to the fact that they only let 150 people per half hour in due to the even more narrow passageways it takes to get to the top. To preoccupy ourselves we had some tasty gelato and walked through some Italian leather street vendors before we made our way to the tour.

By the time we made it up to the top it was dark and Florence was amazing to see from 463 steps above ground atop the Dome!

Afterward, we made it home by train (no delay this time) and got to relax with – you guessed it – some vino, on our last night in Tuscany.

Then we made it to Lake Como and had to drive up an extremely steep and scary road to get to our hotel on the top of the mountain. Unfortunately, due to a rainy/foggy day, we weren’t able to see the view of the lake from our hotel room during the daylight.

We decided to venture back down to the town of Como by furnunculare, which is essentially a type of train that takes a handful of passengers up and down the mountain.

When we got to the town, we shopped and had a nice dinner outside before returning up the mountain to our hotel. By that time the rain had cleared, and we got to see the amazing view of the lake!

Once we were there, we enjoyed some wine and got to talk with the owners of the hotel on politics, world news, perspective, and culture which was super interesting!

We started the morning by waking up able to see our crazy high view of the lake.

Then we decided on driving up to Bellagio to see the famous village at the point of the lake. (The one they named the casino after in Las Vegas) We are really glad we did – it was gorgeous, and so well kept!

Then, we rode a ferry across the lake and drove to the Milan airport to make our way home. After a long flight, we got to JFK in New York and made it to long term parking where we realized that at some point during our trip, my car key had gone missing. A call to the car insurance agency, 3 hour wait in the (very cold) air train terminal and new key later, we made the 6 hour drive home in the middle of the night.

After such a great experience in Italy, we can’t really complain too much about the hiccup at the end and were both really happy to be in our own bed at home! We were so excited to pick up our puppies, be able to cook our own food, and enjoy reflecting on the great experience! We were both so so grateful that we were able to enjoy Italy and definitely hope to be back sometime in the future.