Last Day in Italy!

we have been trying as hard as we can to see as many sights as we can before we go that haven't had any time to blog latly. We leave for london today!!
The one thing I don't like about London is that EVERY body smokes. A lot of people smoke here, but not as much.
The one thing that we did that was really fun in Florence was we rode on a tour bus. The tour bus was a double decker bus that you could get on or off at any stop you wanted, but at one point it started to rain and the lady said we had to come down at the next stop. the only thing was that at the next stop they didn't completly stop. Amelia and dad got a chance to go down, but I didn't so I was the only one up there besides one more person. The worst part was the bus skipped like fifty million stops so we couldn't get away from the rain! eventually we got a chance to go down, but just in time for me to warm up enough before we got off and had to walk. Anyway, that was a little highlight of the last couple days.

The Bell Tower (more pictures!)

Lately we have not had much time to blog, and we have LOTS of pictures to show you. Here we go!


Next to the Duomo, there's a bell tower that was built in 1350. My mom and I went to the top of it. Amelia didn't feel good so all of these pictures are of me. There were 414 steps up, but if you include the way down it was really 828 steps--really really steep steps!

It was really windy! (did you know if you click on these pictures they will get bigger?)
One of the staircases.

This is the church next to the bell tower called the Duomo. There are steps to the top there.

This is the other end of that church, called the Duomo.
This is one of the bells in the tower, the rest of the bells that have not been taken down are inside the walls! A lot of people write on it.
This is the view from the top!

Here's another picture of the Duomo from the top.
This was on a post inside at the top--it's Mary (called the Madonna in Italy) and baby Jesus

ITALY!

This is a picture from on top of the fort. The fort was a place were when the
city was really small they could go if the city was being attacked. Back then cities
got attacked a lot so they had to have a plan. We weren't really suposed to be up
there, but my gets to go have meetings in there! This is a pay phone in Italy.

This is Amelia at a pay phone in Italy.

This is me at a pay phone in Italy.

sorry we diidnt blog yesterday, we couldnt get internet in the hotel! I dont have much time because we are at an internet caffe and my time is almost up. we cant upload pictures on the computer so we will bring them back tto show every one. our day was terific! we saw so many sites. I will type more tomorrow, but my time is almost up!

Last day fun

this is a super long boat that was in the last resturant we ate at for lunch

this is a tree with metal flower sculptures hanging in it

this is an actual book trolly

this is me and Amelia being 'tree hugers' in a library where there is a real tree growing in the middle of it

this is me at a pay phone

there were squirle nests in almost every tree, yet we saw absolutly no squirles

this is a picture of us and our cousin Sofie in the middle

this at the bus station in Lund

in the hospital there were rotating doors and inbetween each one was a mini 'scenery'

one day for lunch Amelia got a sandwitch with(as dad called it) pink foamie sauce.

this is a swedish payphone

I hope that one day we can come back to Sweeden. It was one of the best experiets in our life(so far)!

more sweden fun!

Today some of the family didn't get up until noon. After that we went out and about. We saw our Great Aunt Gretchen who was in the hospital. She is almost ready to go home, but still after we leave. She had a stroke and is in phisical therapy to help her walk because she is dizzy all the time. After that we went and looked in some stores, but didn't do much shopping, though we probaly will do more tomorrow. Later Sofie, Tom, Alexander, Made, an Andy came over for dinner. We had a great time. Sofie is in third grade and is 18. I know what your thinking and you're wrong, thier grade system is different. at one point you just start over. If in the U.S. she is in 12 grade, then when dose she start over? We are having a great time and are eagerly awaiting for more Sweden fun!

more sweden fun!

Maddie and Mia get to Sweden

Today we flew into sweeden. Yah! We are staying with, or should I say in a family member's house. She is in the hospital at the moment, she should get out soon, but not in time for us to see her. We also have more family members that live close by that gave us a little tour when we landed. They have a dauter that is named two sons, Tom and Alex, and a dauter named Sophie! if I am typing this at 10:30 Sweeden time and you are eight hours earlier, then what time is it in Colorado? I was going to put pictures on, but I am using the computer in the apartment and the pictures wouldn't load! I will tell you about one thing though, they have these open spaces at som places and there is this huge stash of bikes and they are not even locked up! I hope I explöre more tomorrow and be able to put pictures on.