Alarm set for 8am, as L wanted to take M ice skating. The got up & ready, & walked to the Zocalo to get tickets for when the ice rink opened, at 10am. D&J lazed around in the room for an hour, & then went down for breakfast. Ice Age was on the large TV in the dining room, in English, with Spanish subtitles! When the film finished, the channel was changed, & Event Horizon was on - at a particularly gruesome scene involving a crew member & the outer door of an airlock! D rapidly moved J to a seat with his back to the screen for the rest of breakfast time, & once finished, the boys went back to the room to await the girls' return.

At 11.30, the door opened, & M bounced in, full of beans after going ice skating. The queues had been long, the boots ill-fitting, but all in all, a good time had been had!

We finished packing, & were in the hotel lobby, returning the room key & ordering a taxi, by 12 noon. Ten minutes later, the (small) taxi arrived, & we squeezed in for the 15 min journey to the northern bus station (M$120). We had to walk the length of the bus station to find the stall of the company going to Tula, but, fortunately, there was a bus just about to leave. We bought tickets & ran to the bus, loaded our bags into the hold, & were the last people to board (& the only Europeans!) for the 90 minute journey, with only 2 very brief stops en route.

The Hotel Lizbeth was only a 2 min walk from the bus station - M$499/night, twin dbl beds & own bathroom. We booked & paid for 2 nights, settled in, showered & changed. As we didn't have a map of Tula (& no wifi) we tried to use the LP to direct us to the Zocalo, but ended up asking a traffic policeman, when our attempt to find the centre of town obviously wasn't working!

The Zocalo was busy - a well kept area of grass & trees, centrally, surrounded by buildings of many colours, all around. We walked round the square, then started to investigate the streets leading away from it. One street in particular caught our eye, as it was beautifully painted & looked well kept & cared for! As we walked further down the street, we saw a sign for "Las Mesitas", & a menu on display. We decided to go in, & were delighted to find a small restaurant, with colourfully painted (little) tables & chairs, & "arts & crafts" all around the walls, on display. The restaurant was run by a husband & wife who helped us to understand the menu, & even took us into the kitchen so that we could see what was on offer! The 3 course meal was excellent, with garlic mushrooms on small crisp tortillas to start with, then pepper soup or pasta with bacon & broccoli, & the mains were chicken in creamy cheese sauce, pork or tuna pie. For desert there was a cupcake or mango cheesecake - just delicious!

We slowly strolled back to the hotel, full to the brim, & collapsed onto the beds to relax, & read for a while. All too soon, we realised that it was getting late, & it was time to turn in. Unfortunately, the locals had other ideas! First, there was a long parade of people singing Christmas carols walking past the front of the hotel. Then the fireworks started, & the noise of the explosions went on & on, well into the night.