Flu, bed bugs, achy backs, stinky shoes and the Alps...what do they all have in common??

So a lot has happened since my last post. Well for one, I got the flu so I was not able to do much let alone try to write a post. Second, internet is just so dang expensive in Europe, and I really dislike paying 2 euros to use the internet for 20 minutes to write a couple stinkin emails. But to catch ya'll up- we left Rome and went to the romantic Florence and Venice. We got lost in Venice a bunch of times....on purpose. That was half the fun. The other half was eating gelatto every chance we could get. Venice is exactly how I had imagined it- bridges and canals everywhere, gondalas with charming boatsmen, romantics making out on every bridge and corner, outdoor cafes along the canals, old cobblstone streets and the magnificent square with St. Marks Basillica. The only downfall was the smell and the bed bugs... well on Josh's half of the bed at least. I guess he forgot to not let them bite. Unfortunatly we only stayed in Venice for one night but we pretty much had two full days because we did not take a train from Venice until 9:00 at night. That is when I started to come down with the flu. I think a lot of things had to do with my sickness including my out of aligned back, dehydration, exhaustion and the intense heat. All in all, I was in a lot of pain for about 5 days. We took a night train from Venice to Salzburg, Austria (bad idea), for we got to Salzburg at 4:00 in the morning and we didnt know what to do in the empty train station until the sun came up. I was sick in Salzburg so we were not able to do much. We went to Munich, Germany after Salzburg which was definitly a worth-it stop. If you did not already know, Munich is the beer captial of the world so it would be a diss to Munich and a shame to ourselves if we did not get a beer in the famous Hofbrahaus. Josh ordered the famous liter beer, and it actually tasted alright (considering I hate beer). The Hofbrahaus definitly met up with our expectations- long wooden tables, women wearing the traditional munich clothes and carrying 8 or more liter beer mugs at a time, and the loud, traditional German band playing in the corner. After hanging out with some sweet Germans, watching the famous and overrated Glockenspiel clock that dances, taking a free 2 hour tour of the city, seeing the Neuschwanstein Castle, and visiting the Dachau Concentration camp, our 2 nights and 3 days in Munich were up. We packed our bags and took a 7 and half hour long train ride to the beautiful Alps in Switzerland where I am writing this post at the moment. Honestly, the Alps take my breath away and if there is one place I could recommend you to spend time in in Europe, it would be here...in Interlaken, Switzerland. Interlaken is this small village in the valley of the Alps between two huge, tourquiose coloured lakes and it is everything one thinks of Switzerland to be. Today Josh and I took a train up into the Alps and hiked for 7 hours. We passed through numerous Swiss mountain villages that have about 10 wooden houses each decorated in flowers. The hike gave us an unbelievable view of the Alps- snow capped mountains encircled us. No joke- there were random cows and billy goats just walking along the sides of the mountains and the hiking trails. Josh even tried comparing his gotee with that of a goat's (the goat definitly won). We had a picnic next to a waterfall, and icecream at a little bed in breakfast in the small town of Gimmelwald (pop. about 50). Today was probably one of my favorite days on the trip, and I am also finally feeling better! We finished the day off like true, authentic backpackers by cooking our own dinner in the hostel kitchen (spaghetti with sauteed mushrooms and onions...delicious but very repetitive...) and airing out our stinky hiking shoes on our balcony. Even though our trip is coming to an end soon, we are definitly finishing on a lextraordinary bang. Tomorrow we will go biking around the lakes until we have to catch our 3:00 train back into Germany. Miss you all!!