Florence - day two

This morning we set off in the beautiful warm sunshine (!!) to explore further into the old city.
Map in hand we walked northwards and discovered some gardens, a huge fortress (now used as an exhibition centre) and of course, the inevitable Church!
We headed south again and went to Santa Croce, the church where many famous Italians have their resting place.

Santa Croce (2)

It's an amazing feeling to be in the "presence" of Galileo, Dante and Michaelangelo. Click the link above to discover more!

tomb of Galileo in Santa Croce

There are many tour groups trekking about - led by their inenviable guides with the upraised flag or umbrella! Been there.. done that! -

We then turned our steps towards the Duomo, the huge main Cathedral of Florence.
But it was not open to tourists for another hour and a half, and despite pleas of "noi pregiamo per favore!" to the guards on duty at the side door, we were too obviously not locals!! (Hey.. don't laugh - it's worked for us before!!)

But we admired the beautiful facade (see pics in photos) and debated whether to climb the 500 steps up the campanile !

Rather footsore we decided to return to the studio for a cuppa, some lunch and a rest.
An hour later we again set off towards the Ponte Vecchio
We strolled down the great courtyard, past the long queue waiting to get into the Uffici Gallery. Marble statues commemorate many famous Italians.
We took photos on the Ponte Vecchio - very busy with tourists..
On the way back, Wendy we passed several "lifelike" statues - cupid, Leonardo and an Egyptian pharaoh who would come to life as people dropped coins into their boxes. This is what happened to one person:

Cleopatra

We dined out this evening quite a nice meal !
Tomorrow we tyhink the good 'ol hop - on - off bus might be a better option!!