This morning Ali uses the site laundry while Nick uses the free wi-fi, uploads a few photos etc.

Once the washing is hung out under the awning we set off for another afternoon in Florence and we approach the bus stop just in time to watch the bus pull away, but they run every 15 minutes and soon we're on No.14 to Palazza San Marco. Now, don't tell anyone, but yesterday we forgot to validate our ticket for which there can be a spot-fine of €45. Anyway, today we validated it [same one] properly, so ended up with 2 days for the price of one!

The streets are even less crowded and the weather is a milder 27C making it much more pleasant. When we reach the Duomo today we only stop briefly and decide yesterday's later light was better.

A few hundred yards down the road we see a particularly attractive gelateria and remember we didn't have breakfast so after we have chosen our flavours Ali goes in [big step, no ramp]. What she returns with are not cornets but, using the music analogy, euphoniums [euphonia?]. Enormous cones each with two flavours, two biscuits and a plastic shovel. We munch and lick and slurp and after 10 or 12 minutes have reduced them to normal sized ice-creams. 5 minutes later they have vanished and they're not the only things. While we were eating a few of Florence's many black street sellers had set up with large sheets on the ground on which were the handbags they were selling. One second there are two such sheets and four tall guys and literally in the blink of an eye there is nothing, as if they'd been beamed up by aliens. Seconds later two policemen on mopeds cruise down the street but they're too slow for these lads. As we round a corner the sheets and bags are down like they've been there all morning and at least there is no pestering, if you walk straight by - no offers, only those who show interest are paid attention. We see a few of these disappearing acts as we go about today.

We make our way to Palazza della Signorio. Apart from a few dozen couples and the occasional tour group the square is empty, giving everyone perfect views of Michelangelo's David, The Fountain of Hercules [trickling] and the Palazzo Vecchio, the turreted and towered building featured in Dan Brown's book, Inferno. We are able to look inside the ground floor of the palace and find an internal courtyard reached through a chamber of columns with ornate plaster work. The walls are painted to look like marble relief. One side is being restored but instead of simply being screened off, the screening material is printed to look like the real thing. The same has been done around the Battista.

Restoration is also underway at Loggia dei Lanzi, a sheltered gallery of statues opposite David. We can see 'Perseus with the Head of Medusa' and 'The Rape of Polyxena' but the other statues are covered.

More statues and more screening greet us outside the Uffizi Palace, life size images of Gioto, Dante and other great thinkers, noblemen and reformers. It would be good to see inside the famous gallery but none of the great doors appears to be an entrance. From here there are steps to Ponte Vecchio so we skirt a narrow road around Uffizi and re-emerge alongside the River Arno and walk down to Ponte San Trinita, the next bridge, from which there is a good view of the famous old bridge. Back along a narrow back street we turn up onto Ponte Vecchio, originally used by butchers until they were banned in 1593, it was taken over by gold merchants and today is lined on both sides with gold and jewellery shops.

We find a ramped way through Uffizi and back to the square where we stop for a salad. After a pleasant rest we head east towards Palazza Santa Croce. The Basilica of Santa Croce is another stunning tri-coloured marble church, the largest Franciscan church in the world. Also known as The Temple of Glories it is the burial place of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Foscolo, Gentile and Rossini. Its beautifully proportioned facade shines in the evening sun.

We slowly make our way back to the bus stop, passing the street artists chalking on pavements or offering live portraits or charicatures, peering into shop windows at such diverse things as olive oil, souvenirs, luxury lingerie, ice-cream, pizza, leather belts at €100, ear-rings that start at 4 figures and go up from there, and shoes, clothes, hats and scarves.

The bus is nowhere near as busy as last night and the walk back to site much cooler.

Ali picks in the washing then we have a bowl of simple tagliatelli for supper. We decide we've seen as much as we wanted in our two visits so we'll move on again tomorrow rather than stay a third day and night.