A Surreal Window Clean

Dali Museum challenges window washers (One surreal scrubdown): St. Petersberg - High in the sky, some very brave men took to the glass structure that is the Salvador Dali Museum. For the first time since it opened in January, the museum got a window washing. "We have this incredible structure which we call the Glass Enigma, and each of the panes -- of which there's over a thousand -- has to be cleaned individually," explained the museum's deputy director, Kathy White.

Randy Spears, 37, and Nick Samaras, 29, of Bay Area Window Cleaning, wash the windows of the Dali Museum's Glass Enigma. This is the first time the windows have been cleaned since the museum's January opening.

Bay Area Building Services specializes in high-rise window washing. But the Dali Museum creates some unique challenges -- It's not straight up and down; it has curves and bends and slides. "Well, as you see, you're supposed to be going one way and the glass is going the other. It's your job to try and figure out how to stay on that," window washer Randy Spears offered. "You got a little bit of everything on this job," washer Nick Samaras observed.

The guys had to take an elevator all the way to the top, then they threw ropes over the side and rappelled down, washing windows as they went. But the shape of the building isn't the only challenge. "The timing on some parts of the Enigma -- the temperatures will be in excess of 120," explained Brett Hamphill of Bay Area Building Services. "A lot of times we'll have to actually bail out of a drop and hydrate and stuff. Want to be real careful you don't get dizzy up there because of the heat."

For the guests of the museum, it was another spectacle to take in. Many stopped to watch and take pictures of the dangerous work. As for the window washers, while they appreciate the attention, they wear their harnesses and they don't fear falling. "I've come to the conclusion that if it happens, I'm gonna be a bag of ketchup anyway. You gotta rest easy and lay your head at night," Spears added.

The museum says this isn't a project that will necessarily need to be done every six months. But the glass has been up for about a year, and when they built the park around the museum, it kicked up a lot of dust and dirt onto the windows.