The first light of day catches the front of the house - entrance to the lounge and my bedroom above 
Car packed and ready to depart
Last view back to the villa - nestled on the hillside to the left of the pictureThe car has not been working well since Spain and has been producing lots of black smoke from the exhaust on occasions. With the car loaded down with stuff, I am going to have to take the driving very easily. So I was expecting to spend most of the journey back to the UK in the slow lanes of motorways. There was not much traffic early in the morning and the drive to Florence was uneventful. I had aimed for the Piazza Michaelangelo but came into town slightly west and ended up parked on a meter for a few hours near the bridge three down from the Ponte Vecchio. A short walk to the Piazza della Signoria and a remarkably expensive coke and cake (Euro15!) at a cafe, but this did give me a chance to plan my morning's sight seeing.
Church on the left bank of the Arno 
Widely considered to be the worst statue in the Piazza della Signoria, but I am actually rather fond of Neptune. Locals call it "Il Biancone" - the big white man
The door to the Duomo - queues were already hundreds of metres long to either get into the main building or, especially, to do the climb to the top of the dome.
My planned first stop today was the Museo di San Marco. This is a former Dominican monastery and contains many works by Fra Angelico, one of my favourite painters. In particular, when the monk's cells were being restructured, he painted most of them with devotional frescos. And there is one of his most famous "Annunciations" painted on the wall at the top of the stairs.
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But the highlight for me was the Signoria Alterpiece by Fra Bartolomeo in the main museum. This painting is still in its preparatory stages. The cartoon has been drawn and the picture shaded to outline tones prior to it actually being painted. It shows the Patron Saints of Florence in conversation about the Immaculate Conception, and has strong political overtones as it symbolises free democratic discussion. It was left unfinished when its political message was no longer required.
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I took half a dozen photos (no flash) before asked not to by a museum person. Not sure that non-flash photos can do any harm, but maybe a blanket ban stops autoflashes.
I was later able to find a print of this picture in the museum shop which I am very pleased with. Overall, a great museum to visit - obviously overshadowed in Florence by the Uffizi and the Galleria dell'Accademia, which also had huge queues outside it as I walked back towards Santa Croce.
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Reading my guidebook to Florence, I had discovered that Santa Croce is like Westminster Abbey in London in that it is where a number of notable people are buried, as with Isaac Newton in London. So one of my main aims in visiting Santa Croce was to see the famous tombs, two in particular.
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Michelangelo supposedly chose this spot for his tomb so he'd be able to see Brunelleschi's dome on judgement day. The three statues represent Architecture, Painting and Drawing
Michelangelo's tomb in Santa Croce And opposite to Michelangelo is the tomb of Galileo. Much of my study this past week has been of Galileo and a trip to see his tomb was definitely a neat way to end this study week. He only has two statues on his tomb, representing Astronomy and Geometry. (later edit - I would find out a few days later that the original plan was to have a third statue so as to be symmetrical with Michelangelo opposite, but that the chosen subject, Philosophy - what we would call Science - was considered too provocative when the tomb was created, even though this was nearly 100 years after Galileo had died)
Galileo's tomb - completed in 1737, 95 years after his death. Prior to this, Galileo's remains had been buried in a tiny chamber under the bell tower at Santa Croce.
Elsewhere in Santa Croce, there are tombs to Machiavelli and Dante, among others
Elsewhere in Santa Croce, there are tombs to Machiavelli and Dante, among others
One room to the side had a number of illuminated music manuscripts - always a favourite with me.
Photo from 1966 showing the extent of the flooding that year - 5 metres deep in the church 
The cardboard-like facade to Santa Croce.
After a lunch in the square opposite Santa Croce, I was starting to make my way back to the car when I had one of those events in life that is so disappointing as to completely overwhelm how I was feeling after my wonderful morning in Florence. I knew that Florence did contain a science museum but didn't know where it was and couldn't find a mention of it in the guide book I had with me. It turns out to be on the right bank of the Arno just beside the end of the Uffizi
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But terrible news on arriving at it. The main exhibition at the moment is on Galileo's telescopes and the museum had shut 10 minutes before I arrived at it. Having spent all week studying Galileo in great detail, this exhibition would have been the highlight of my time here. I even tried to work out whether I could stay in Florence till Monday and still make the ferry on Tuesday. What a disappointment!
Last photo of Florence for this trip - looking back along the Arno towards the Ponte Vecchio.From Florence, I picked up the motorway to Pisa - the Fi-Pi-Li - then turned north towards Liguria and France. After a brief stop in San Remo for some food - and it was absolutely packed out there compared to my last visit in late June - I crossed the border into France about 7:00pm, before stopping at the first picnic area service station that I then came to. Dozens of RVs were parked up here and many were barbequing supper. I read for a couple of hours listening to music, before finding a suitable arrangement for my sleeping bag across the front seat of the car and settling down for the night.
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