On the buses: touring Prato

January 8th: I had a quiet morning wandering around Prato finally getting my bearings. I found a small market and purchased some bread and a soft cheese, still not exactly sure what it was but it tasted okay. I then bought a pair of boots after checking out four shoe shops and went back to the hotel. Room 202 was then transformed into a snack bar where Deb, Liz, Rosanna and Rosemary and I all had a quick snack befiore embarking on some afternoon adventures. Other Fellowship members had decided to go to Florence to do some shopping.

Goretti, Deb and I decided to try out the local bus routes and bought a biglietto urbano (ticket) from the main train station to use on the LAM(Linea alta mobiltà). With this ticket we were able to take three different bus routes. We basically spent the afternoon sitting with the locals doing circuits around Prato. We did make a stop at a large supermarket to buy a few nibbles and some alcohol to keep in our rooms. I bought some Stregga to take back to Australia. Whilst waiting in one bus we saw a mass booking of cars. A tiny police car pulled up outside the castello, out climbed four policemen who then proceeded to write parking tickets for every car parked outside the castello (castle). I have never seen so many tickets on cars in my whole life. We spoke briefly to one of them who had spent five years living in Melbourne. Adriana and Ceci showed us all there wares from their shopping spree in Florence.

That evening we tried out a local Pizza place and found out just what a real Italian pizza is and how large they are. Stefano, the manager is a real cool guy. It was then back to Goreti's room for a few drinks.