Hello from Grindelwald, a little town above Interlaken in the Swiss Alps. I am having the time of my life. Each place that I travel becomes the most beautiful place that I have ever been.

We spent the last week in Italy, which was fantastic. We started in Venice where we watched the gondolas cruise down the canals. It was really pretty, but brutally hot, so I dragged Geoff to the island of Lido to go to the beach (I know, rough life). After Venice we hit Rome for three days. We spent a little more to stay in a hotel instead of a hostel which ended up being a great decision because we were right next to Vatican City. Our hotel was very old and charming, and had one of those old elevators that are exciting to ride because you feel like any second you could plunge to your death...

We explored all of the sites-the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, St. Peters, The Sistine Chapel, Trevi fountain, Spanish stairs... and then at night we cruised the streets and ate too much pasta and pizza and sipped on wine, my favorite of which tasted like strawberry juice as was referred to by the fourteenish year old boy who served it to me merely as "sexy wine". haha. i also tried all of the gelato I could get my hands on to discover the best flavor, which is decididly honey.

We felt spontaneous so we skipped Florence and decided to head for the Riviera. On the way we stopped for an hour to snap shots of the tower of pisa. We camped along the beach (in a legit campsite) in Deiva Marina and spent the day hiking the 9 km trail along Cinque Terre (five lands) which is five Italian towns full of those pastel colored buildings that basically hang onto the cliffs over the ocean. To get to each town we walked through vineyards, olive groves and lemon trees. The air smelled like rosemary and lavendar. When we got to hot, we just stopped at a beach and jumped in the ocean. Definitely not a day Ill soon forget.

Now we are spending a couple of days in Switzerland, the third country weve been to that makes me wish I spoke German. It also happens to be breathtakingly beautiful. We are staying in a lodge in the mountains that we had to take a train up 1500 meters to get to. It is lush and green, but when I look up the mountain I can see snow. We could actually go skiing if we wanted.

Just a bit over a week to go, Ill blog from Spain when we get to Valencia!
Auf Weidershen!