Something happened to the weather this morning. When I woke up, it was a paltry 8 degrees and for one weird moment, I thought I was back in Canberra! I know the temperature in Florence deteriorates over the month of September, but give me a break - it's not nice to go from 20 to 8 in one night!!. Boo hoo!!

We headed off (me with a cardigan, but Garth with just a tee-shirt) to Pistoia which is a town on the train route to Lucca . The area surrounding Pistoia is full of plant nurseries, so the 40 minute journey on the train is quite picturesque. We noticed today that the trees and shrubs in the nurseries have started to get their autumn colours, unlike just a week ago when we visited Lucca and the plants were still completely green.

Pistoia itself is a cute little town, even if Wednesday is a market day so every local for miles appeared to be in town. It looked like lots of people do not have jobs, given how many younger people were wandering around the stalls, and people certainly did not look as wealthy as their Florentine cousins. Whereas women in Florence (who always appear to be sooo slender and fit) look impeccably dressed, the same did not appear to hold this morning in Pistoia. But it was fun watching the activity as people shouted greetings to each other, and there was much kissing and back-slapping amongst the crowd. There were also loads of kiddies and dogs racing between the adults.

The town itself has an historic centre with many churches, historic walls on three sides, as well as a large fort on one of the corners. We visited the Cathedral of San Zeno which has a fabulous silver altar of St James from the 1200s made by many artists such as Brunelleschi (no photos allowed), plus a Bell Tower and a Baptistery. Unfortunately the Bell Tower was closed when we tried to climb it, so we didn't get a good feel for the layout of the town.

A couple of the old buildings that we visited are still used as public buildings today. For example, the Tribune (court house) has a fabulous ceiling, which I am sure poor sods will appreciate as they turn up for their day in court!

We had lunch in a small trattoria overlooking one of the squares - beautiful pesto gnocchi for me, and pasta for Garth, with the obligatory red wine and sparkling water. And loads of fresh bread to mop up the sauces. So delicious!