When in Rome...

Well, I was very sad to have to leave Finland last Friday and I will definitely miss everyone that I met there a lot...I felt like part of the family when I left! I guess that I will be able to keep in touch fairly easily, though (we have all the possible modes of communication covered - email, instant messaging, skype, and, of course, good old snail mail). So - on to "Phase II" of my summer adventure!

Last Friday, my mom, brother, and I hopped on a ferry (which was actually more of a cruise ship) and journeyed from Helsinki to Stockholm, Sweden (the boat ride lasted all night, and we slept in a cabin complete with fold-out bunks and a fake window). Although we only had about one day in Stockholm (aka "The Capital of Scandinavia"), we accomplished a lot - I guess you could call it the "whirlwind tour". We saw the 400-year-old Vasa ship, the open-air Skansen museum, the Nobel Museum, the Royal Palace, and the old town. On Sunday night, we jumped on a plane to go to Rome, Italy, where we met my dad (after a slightly scary ride from the airport - I think the driver of our car must have been driving at least 100 miles per hour). We are staying in a 400-year-old apartment that is a 3 minute walk (my dad timed it) from the Roman Forum, and about a 10-minute walk from the Colosseum. On Monday, we visited the Forum and the Colosseum (both amazing - just being surrounded by so much 2000-year-old stone and marble is incredible) and also took a night walk to the Trevi fountain (we each threw a coin in - supposedly, you get a wish and get to come back to Rome). On Tuesday, we went to the Pantheon (and marvelled at just how big it is...the oculus (eye in the ceiling) is very cool, too). In the afternoon, we went to what was probably the weirdest museum I have ever been to (or could ever imagine). It was beneath a church, and it was inside crypts that were decorated using 4,000 dead monks' bones (skulls, hip bones, femurs, and more were used to construct various "artistic" patterns such as stars and flowers). At the end, the monks that had created the "art" had posted a sign to remind us of our own mortality that said something like "this is what we are now, and this is what you will become"...not exactly the most uplifting and cheery place that a person could visit, but somehow interesting. Today we spent most of the day at the Capitol Hill museum, which is filled with hundreds of ancient sculptures and paintings.

Overall, Rome has been amazing...although it's hot, humid, full of tourists, and partially closed (most Romans take their vacations in August, so most shops aren't open), it has still been fascinating to see. Tomorry we will go to the Vatican, and after that...I have no idea. I probably won't have internet access after today (until I get home), so don't expect any new posts for a couple of weeks...eventually I will try to get some kind of trip summary with photos online. But until then...arrivaderci!