Well, I'm back with another fascinating entry. The train station workers are on strike, meaning trains are running, but that's it. John is sitting on our bags in the train station after I did guard duty while he ran to the post office to mail home some extraneous items. It means that we can't store our luggage or use train information, essentially killing off our hopes of going around Firenze on our last day.

John brought several things that I would have considered extraneous items: cologne, a dictionary, but the one that has taken the biscuit is the Fodor's travel guide. John said to me that it was as useful as a chocolate fireguard, I believe it is less useful. We could have eaten the chocolate.

Yesterday, John and I went to the Galleria della Accademia to see the David of Michaelangelo and the Slaves. David is a monumental achievement, attaining in many ways perfection, but it is less interesting than other works we have seen, most notably Picasso's Guernica.

We reduced the time to get into the gallery by reserving online at www.florenceart.it which sells timed tickets. Florentine musuems are very expensive, so it was the highlight of our day. The other activity was a wonderful dinner at the restaurant Al Lume di Candela, on V. della Terme, between Piazza della Signoria and the Piazza Santa Trinità. It serves traditional Tuscan food, as well as favourites from other parts of Italy. Dinner was €65 for two, sample meal: primi of gnocchi with rocket and fresh tomato sauce, secondi of breaded lamb cooked in artichokes, a contorno, bottle of house wine and coffee. John and I shared this memorable exchange:

'Jane, there's almost no coffee in my cup.'
'Well, John, it's espresso.'
'I agree it arrived quickly, but where's the rest of it?'

Afterwards we wandered back to the Irish pub on Piazza della Signoria, for a beer on the plaza where Savonarola was executed. The very friendly staff introducted us to a Scotsman who had lived in Italy for 25 years after arriving for a language course. He told us that this pub, the Michael Collins, was the best pub in Florence (cheap prices on beer - last night, during the height of the tourist season, was an all night happy hour with Guinness at €3 a pint and free appetizers for each visitor). He is now a schoolteacher and he told us his opinions of Italy and its regions, and then we settled in for serious football discussion.

I don't know what today will bring (probably lots of sitting on a backpack), but I know now my work placement in Ecuador (teaching children English in a Roman Catholic orphanage) and the family I will be staying with in Cuenca, Ecuador.

I hope it goes okay!