Views of Florence from Piazzale Michaelangelo

The statue of David

The building nicknamed "The Pajamas" for its multi-coloured exterior

Views across the Fiume Arno canal

In the Giardino di Boboli

I barely even remember the drive to Florence. I was so tired from the day before that I was in a daze (and partially asleep) most of the way there.

We stopped off at the Piazzale Michaelangelo, which overlooked the city of Florence. It was here that we had a professional group photo taken of everyone on the tour. Andee joined us for the picture, but even at the urging of everyone in the group, our driver, Lucas didn't join us for the photograph.

A very small group of us went on a guided tour of some of the artistic highlights of Florence, including the magnificent statue of David. We then saw a leather branding demonstration and then we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves.

The heat in Florence was more bearable than Rome, due to it felling less humid. It did feel hotter though because I literally felt my skin sizzle in the sun (thankfully, I slapped on plenty of sunscreen). Because of the heat, we went straight for another helping of Italian ice cream. The ice cream we had in Rome was better, but this was still very good.

After wandering around a marketplace of many vendors selling everything from souvenirs to jewelry to leather, John (from Australia), Kim and Lynn (both from Ohio), and I ventured into the Giardino di Boboli. There were several intricately cut trees and bushes as well as fountains and statues. There was one of a fat naked man sitting on a big turtle. What it was about we had no idea, but Kim and Lynn got a picture with it, with Lynn picking up a postcard of it just to be sure.

We all made it back to our rendezvous point with the remainder of the tour group and made our way to our coach to take us to the Hotel Delta for the night. Lucas earlier in the day had already dropped off all of our luggage at the hotel, to which he received a round of applause and cheers from the whole group.