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So Florence and Venice......well.

Florence:
I went to with Saran and Simon two australians I met in Rome. It was alot of fun. We went to the Ufizzi, which literally means offices. which both simon and I got a kick out of, saran not so much. I saw great works of art and a painting of a crazy baby. you know how in most portraits of children they have a gentle calm look on their face, and anyone who has spent time with kids knows that is not true all the time. and while walking through there was one portrait of a child who looked distraught and it was holding a dead bird as well. crazy i tell you! crazy. By the end of it I was a bit arted out.

That night we went to a very nice italian cafe and had amazing food, and the best tiramsu i have ever had.

So before Italy at all I was in Copenhagen and Stockholm.

I liked Copenhagne but the weather was not great, raining pretty much the entire time. But for the couple of hours it was not I enjoyed walking around the city. I wish I had a change to go to Tivoli, the amusement park int he middle of the city, but the weather did not permit it. I did walk to see the parlement and mermaid statue.

On my way back to hostel I saw a stage set up in the bid square on H.C Andersen Street. It was a proformance for Danmarks African Beauty Queen. There was a band and a few women dancing. It was very interesting to see. I loved how enthusiastic they were. It reminded me of the dance breaks we would take in the kitchen at PIC. I miss it, I have been craving it.

After Copenhagen I headed to Stockholm. One thing I love about Scandinevia is the colorful houses. They are gorgeous, bright yellow and golden houses. I am going to paint my house golden yellow and my door bright blue. Mom, Dad dont be surprised, I warned you.

In stockholm I stayed with Jonatan Dehnisch and his family which consisted of his mother, Marie, Sister Julia and Brother Jakob. It was really nice to have a place I could just hang out for awhile. the first full day Jonatan and I went into the city and walked around. It was cold and rainy, which sucked, bnut I did get to see old town and some of the castle and other old buildings.

The next day we headed to Drottingholm Palace. It was a prestine day out. There were perfect clouds in the bright blue sky. When you think of the perfect royal palace that is what this was, the gardens were perfecting trimmed and cared for. It was the total opposite of the past couple of days. No rain what so ever, such a releif.

So I was trying to decide whether to take 3 days to travel to Itlay by train or fly and take 3 hours, easy choice right? not really, because the flight was 120 dollers compared to reservations for trains would be about 70 dollers, but I ultimately decided to fly. Although I was spending more I think it would have been such a hassle to take the train.

I am sorry about the bad spelling there is a line behind me for the computer and I feel bad, so I am not taking my time.

Overall It was great, I hope to go back someday to Denmark with my family and I think I will enjoy that more.

Yay....

I am not the best at keep you all informed on my happenings and I am sorry about that. I am in Venice Italy right now, I just got in from Florence today. and was in Rome before that.

I will start with Rome, I arrived quite late by plane from Stockholm Sweden and had to find my hostel. I finally got there after a confusing walk and was about to check in when the man at the desk looked at me and said "Packard?", it was a bit unsettling but he then explained that my reservation did not come through until they were already booked up, so i had to walk to another hostel called Guillivers house. And boy amd i gald I was moved I met some of the coolest people; Saran, not Sarah but Saran, from Melbourn Australia; Ben from Long Island, NY; Dan from Washington State; Carlos from Panama; Sam and Danielle from Arizona and although he did not stay in the hostel, Simon from Melbourn as well. For the two days, which by the way NOT ENOUGH!, I was in Rome I hung out with all of them at some point.

Saran and I were almost always hanging out. For the past 5 years she had been going under cemotherapy for lymphoma. The doctors told her she was clean so she bougth a ticket for vietnam and has been on the road for two months with no set plan. Pretty cool girl, she is 34 but I would have never guessed that.

I was in Rome for the football game between Milan and Liverpool. We all went to a small irish pub near our hostel, that is were we met Simon.
People were really intense about the game. I knew that was how it was, because i went to a game in Germany while I was there. I like that atmosphere. Some people see it was silly,. but i think it is great.

Simon is a sargent in the Australian Army and is on leave from Afganistan for two weeks and decided to come to Italy and Germany.It was really interesting to talk to him about things and his view on the middle east. The first time I had spoken about it with anyone who has actually seen what happens over there.

The next day Saran, Dan and I went to the Vatican. Some pretty crazy things have happened there, like Pope Joan! I women pope! I think that is pretty amazing that a women could hind her idenity for so long and then be appointed pope and the only way people found out was that she gave birth in the middle of a parade, where she and the newborn were stoned to death right there and then. think about if that kid had lived " hey, yeah my mom? she was pope." I) doubt it would be something to brag about then, but still pretty crazy.

that night we all went out again, and Ben and I walked to the coloseum at about 2 in the morning, some creepy guys hang out there at night. it was beautiful though nonetheless. then the next day i headed to florence with Simon and Saran. I will write more later, but people are in line for the computers.

love and adventures.

I went downtown Chicago today to do some last minute shopping at a traveling store that is closing. I am getting very excited. The one thing about this trip, is while trying to go to as many countries as possible it seems like i have to cut short on some places. But i think it will change once I am over there. If I love someplace there is nothing stopping me from staying there for another day. It will be interesting what citys I love and which ones I dont. I think I am going to love Italy.

well until next time!
Alice

Hey Guys!

Well, This is the way you can "track" me on my travels. I will be leaving March 26th and will be travelling to as many European countries as I can in three months. I am really glad I have this chance, that so many people have expressed to me as a "once in a lifetime opportunity". Well I hope that you will email me. And if you are going to be overseas and want to meet up for a couple days somewhere, let me know and I will try and make it work. Traveling alone, I will want to meet up with some familiar faces along the way.

I hope to hear from you!

Alice