Eurostar is amazing... so much better than the trains in Scotland. Quicker and in much more comfort! Rome to Florence in an hour and a half! The hostel in Florence is, as Phil put it, 'a typical student hostel completely oriented towards a binge-drinking culture' - exactly my cup of tea!!! I think it's quite nice actually and a relief from the flat in Rome.

We quickly set off to the Accademia primarily to see the statue of David, which is both amazing and stunning! It boggles my mind how Michelangelo managed to create such a masterpiece at the age of 26 - mind you it did take him 3 years to complete it! Again there were no crowds, which is awesome! But not great for taking photos on the sly, as these are 'forbidden'. I managed to get several, but Phil seems to get picked on by the curators, with cries of 'NO PHOTO!' He needs to adopt my cunning ways of avoiding them - he he!

Florence is a very compact city as we soon realised - everything is in close walking distance. Il duomo was our next port of call - a massive church/cathedral in the centre of Florence, which actually looks more like a mosque from the outside. Always tempted by the thought of climbing a claustrophobic, steep, grafitied sets of stairs, we clambered our way up the 427 steps to the top of the dome, and also to an impressive view of the city. One thing I will always remember is the red slates on the rooves of all the buildings. Stunning, if slightly wet and windy!

Phil is obsessed with Dante's inferno and was delighted to find that Dante actually lived in Florence and we could visit his house! It was a bit boring, but Phil seemed delighted and bought a poster of Dante's inferno in Italian, which he's determined to translate.

ThePonte Vecchio, bridge over the river, which has many expensive glittery jewelry stores is so pretty and reminds of Bremen in Germany for some reason. Lots of well-dressed Italian men and women strut the streets, window-shopping, with an air of arrogance - highly amusing to watch!

Giving into my sugar-craving, we set off in search of the famed 'Gellateria Perche No!' only to find that it's closed on Tuesdays. I settled for another gellateria, and had an over-priced mint and chocolate cone, where we discovered the lady behind the desk is from Lincoln, much to Phil's delight - he's from there you see.

Despite being tired from the early rise, we set off in sight of the Uffizi gallery, home to the most impressive collection of Renaissance artwork, Da Vinci, Rafael, Michelangelo, Donatello - all the teenage mutant ninja turtles! 'The birth of Venus' is housed there, and temporarily a exhibition of Medusa and Perseus, which given my obsession with Greek mythology, will HAVE to be visited tomorrow.

I am now the proud owner of a massive poster of David, due to my predilection for buying overpriced useless things. I'm so so looking forward to an 'all you can eat breakfast' tomorrow morning and a trip to the leaning tower of Pisa!!!

One more thing - everyone seems to make their mark on a momument/tourist attraction/natural treasure by either grafitting it, which is a shame, or sticking a padlock on it, which is just plain odd!

I wish you were all here! x