if i see one more painting of the madonna with child.....

i dont know what i am gonna do. but i am quite sick of them!

i am here in firenze (florence) italy, and i am glad to be leaving tomorrow. it is a beautiful city with amazing museums that cost a boat load, and too many tourists to even pretend this is actually in italy! and it is september, almost october, for crying out loud! ah, well...

i have been feeling better, but i am still not at 100%, which i am sure limits my energy (and therefore my willingness to be out and about) some. i have exhausted myself quite well the past few days, but to beat the crowds i have to be out the door by 8 or so. well, tomorrow i am catching a train to rome, so i dont have to leave until 9.

i did go to venice, and that certainly was an experience! it truly is a unique city, but not one that i would want to live in, or really ever go back to. i am glad i went and experienced it, but again, i was glad to leave. it is a normal sized city, with only walkways and a few boats along the canals, which equals a LOT of walking. and apparently the art museums are pretty sweet, but not being an art person, i wanted to save my very few "art points" for here in florence. even that was a stretch!! so, i did go in the duomo and up the bell tower, both of which were gerat.

but alas, my internet time is up. thanks again for praying for me, i do appreciate it. andthanks for emailing me, too!

better!!

now i am in verona, italy. it took all day to get here, and i am glad i didnt have to do much more than change trains a few times to get here. i am feeling much better, thank you for your prayers!! my throat is still sore, but that is nothing compared to the misery i was in a few days ago.
verona is beautiful, and i cant wait to explore it a bit before heading to venice tomorrow. too bad it is raining now!

still sick.

but of all the places to be sick, this isnt so bad. i am in gimmelwald, switzerland, still, in the alps south of interlaken, for those who know their swiss geography. this little farming town is part of the way up the schilthorn mountain, a gondola ride, bus ride, and train ride from interlaken. and 3 more gondola rides to the top.

i did go up the schilthorn yesterday, but that was probably a mistake since i havent felt that bad ever, i dont think. my drugs wore off up there, and at 10000 feet, it is a little cold, so my shivers were just worse! and my whole body tensed up, too, so i just ached even more. so i made a hasty retreat back to bed, where i basically have been since then. thankfully there is a computer with internet here, so i dont have to go far to check email!

the most bumming part is missing out on seeing friends. i was supposed to be in austria now, hanging out with brad, a friend from OU. and i am supposed to go to a town outside munich to meet up with alex, another friend from OU, tomorrow, but i may not have the energy for it. and i dont want to get her sick, too. so perhaps i will just go to italy from here....

thank you all for praying. i really do appreciate your prayers!

sick

hey, yáll, quick update. been sick today, like the flu. felt the crappiest this morning than i have in at least more than 2 years, if not since high school. i am feeling better now, mostly since i am drugged up, but not sure what is going to happen. please be praying for me! thanks!

heck. yes.

so. i had a fabolous post up, and since all the stuff on this computer is in german, i deleted it on accident. i thought i was publishing, but really i deleted it. dang it.

so, i think this is a lame recreation of what i said earlier, but i guess it will have to do.

so, this place is amazing. it is definitely my favorite hostel yet. out my window is the jungfrau, eiger and monch mountains. and i have to bend over to see them, thez are so high!!

yesterday i went canyoning. i donned a much-needed wetsuit, jumped into and over waterfalls, rapelled down waterfalls, floated down the river on my back, rushed down on my front with my hands out front, hopped over boulders in the water, etc. the sweetest way yet to spend 110 swiss francs.

so i am pretty exhausted today... i went hiking, on a supposed 3 hr easy hike to a waterfall. it was 4 hrs and we made it to a boulder field near the waterfall, and decided against trying to go up to the glacier to walk on it. figured we would probably fall and break something. at least that is what i thought. so we headed back, along the white-blue river with snow capped towering mountains all around, dodging the path of huge, cute cows with bells on their necks, noticing the tree line just above us, and trying not to fall. good times. and i greatly enjoyed the hot tub tonite, too. ;-) it is cool at night, but i can see so many stars it is ridiculous. so many. so ridiculous.

tomorrow i will head up the schilthorn, where the james bond movie was filmed at gloria piz, a rotating restaurant at the top of the mountain. i will play on the glacier and in the snow and enjoy the panoramic view as i sip my hot cocoa. mmmmm! then i will hike down, at least part of it, before getting all the way back down to interlaken to catch the overnight train from zurich to graz, austria. i am going to see brad and florian, and i am prettz stinking excited.

so now that i had another go at the computer (one shared among 30 or so of us), i am tired and heading for bed. gnight, and much love!