Our first day in Florence started with all sorts of minor business to do - the post office, the internet cafe, the obligatory trip to the tourist office.

After dining on chocolate toast and tea for breakfast at our hotel, we seized our trusty map and headed out.

John wore his Liverpool jersey due to the laundry crisis, and we were greeted by all sorts of high fives and cheers. Fiorentina, the local Italian club, are fierce rivals of AC Milan and they were overjoyed when Liverpool downed favourites AC Milan for the Champions League last month.

After all the updating, we travelled to the Duomo, Florence's famous church steps from our hotel. It is a massive structure, initially designed by Arnolfo di Cambio but most famous for its' dome, a creation of the architect Bruneschelli (I've spelt that wrong, but you get the point). The interlocking bricks were crafted from recently discovered classical designs translated by the growing appreciation for classical culture.

Across the way was our next stop, the baptistry. The doors are actually the most famous part of the baptistry. Ghiberti cast them after winning a contest between the great artists of Florence for the design of the new baptistry doors. The audioguide to the baptistry makes it worthwhile to go in, pointing out the tomb of antipope John XXIII and the ceiling done in the style of Byzantine mosaics.

John and I made a pit stop at the same Irish bar on the Piazza della Signoria and relaxed from the searing Florentine sun. We then regrouped at our hotel for half an hour and then went out to the Chiesa della Santa Croce.

On our way, we passed the installation of the stadium for the calcio storico, a Florentine football tradition for hundreds of years. Teams from each quarter of the city do battle in a city square (27 a side) with a wooden ball on a sandy pitch. It can be quite violent, but has been a pastime of Florentine young men since the Middle Ages.

Chiesa della Santa Croce, a Florentine church, is a worthwhile visit. Our audioguides allowed us to adapt our tour to take in history, art and the monumental tombs. People buried there include Michaelangelo, Machiavelli, Galileo and Leonardo Bruni. Artwork includes a fine altarpiece dedicated to the life of St. Francis, Donatello's Annunciation, and sculpture. History includes the cloak of St. Francis, an handwritten Franciscan rule, and the family church of a well known Corsican, who was actually Tuscan - Napoleon Bonaparte.

After that, John and I wrapped up the evening by going to do our laundry, and ate a doner kebab and watched MTV Italia. We spoke with a Kansas dad and daughter pair who were on a break from the daughter's university program in Strasbourg.

And then, thankfully, we slept.