Merry Christmas everyone. Hope that you are all doing well. I am in Rome now...have been here since yesterday afternoon. I am typing on an Italian keyboard so there might be the odd punctuation mistake...sorry for any confusion this may cause and if I am implicated of anything, I will claim that I was not aware of what the computer was typing. Last night was an incredible experience. I was at St. Peters Cathedral in the Vatican City and the Pope was doing Christmas Eve Midnight Mass. My family and I didnt go in because we didnt have tickets but we did hang around outside and they had large tv screens and loudspeakers everywhere. There were a bunch of pilgrims there who had come from all over the world - China, India, America, various other European countries. The funniest thing happened during mass. I was standing watching the screen and listening to the pope and then I looked over and there was this girl who had just pulled a lighter out of her bag and who was lighting up a fattie! Yeah, you heard correctly...she was smoking a phattie while the pope was giving mass. It was quite comical but really, what can you do I guess.

This trip has been fantastic so far. Learned a lot of history. So far, Ive been in Paris (for about 20 minutes), Fontainbleu (where my brothers school was), Lyon, Cannes, Nice, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Genoa, Florence and Rome. Tomorrow we leave and we are off to Geneva (gonna stop somewhere on the way) and then eventually back to Paris. My parents then leave. Then its me and my brother for a day and then he leaves. Then it is me on my own for a day in Paris when I will do the Eifel Tower, Arch de Triumphe and The Louvres most probably.

Whats going on back home. Anything exciting. Actually, anyone know what is going on for New Years yet. Well its time to get going...gonna go rest up cause I think that I might be partying tonight with some girls we meet during breakfast. Should be a good time...