A swim in the Grand Canal anyone?

Scott-
Yeah, I do like your watch. Do you still have it? You look young in that picture!!! Not that you look terribly old or anything now, but just different. Didn't you just love Venice? True, there are tons of people, lots of pigeons, and quite a bit of trash, but I still liked it. There's just something really cool about walking through all the tiny alleyways and over all the bridges, along with smelling the smells (yeah, the fishy smell near our hostel wasn't so great), and seeing a way of life so different from what I'm used to. We saw all kinds of boats that would normally be cars in the US - a taxi boat, a trash boat, a postal boat, a clothing boat, a police boat, and 2 hearse boats (complete with flowers on the casket and everything).
Where else did you guys go in Italy? What other countries have you been to? The Neuschwanstein picture you took looks just like a postcard! Hopefully, it will be a bit warmer and not have so much snow. Tomorrow we are renting a car and driving there. We will see that castle along with another castle and a church out in the middle of a field, called Wieskirchen ("White Church"). My friend Rosalynn says that it is just a random church out in the middle of kind of nowhere, but it is very ornately decorated inside, in the Rococo style. Kind of fun! I'll take some pictures of it, don't you worry. Also, we are going to stop in Rothenburg, which is a walled city. I don't know too much about it, but will find out soon enough. Will post more soon. -Kimmy