Roman Days Drifting Away ...

It's going to be a weird transition to go from strolling past the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain while stumbling on cobblestones and fighting hoards of tourists to walking back along the Ave at U.W. in less than 2 weeks. My apartment is all cleaned out (only damage: a broken lamp, not our fault!) and its time to say ciao to our quaint stone floors/hanging laundry outside to dry/eating gelato twice in one day right back into the stream of Seattle life.

Bright and early tomorrow morning, I'm hopping on a train through Pompeii and a ferry to Corfu, a day on the Amalfi Coast, Athens and Santorini, back to Rome and then homeward bound I go! I've lost track of time, learned embarassing little Italian (I try, I try but I'm much better at remembering food names, very essential that). Maybe I'll even miss the ridiculously pushy peddlers who hawk everything from roses to bubble guns ... or maybe not. My camera is exhausted from photo overload but Europe, its not a one time thing, I'm leaving with the mindset that this is just a taste of the multitude of return trips that lie ahead. No "this is the last time" thoughts here, no negative Faithy!

On another random tangent: I realized the extent of technology when I could participate in a conference call with 3 people in Seattle via Skype while I sat in my school building in Rome. Times, they are a'changin'!

Absolut Stockholm

No, I didn't get to try Absolut Vodka although Stockholm is its birthplace! That and H & M, the gigantic clothing empire. The plane ride was straight out of a movie complete with rocket ship take-offs that about rearranged my inner organs and a landing that made my life flash before my eyes. Ryanair ... the things I put up with to fly for cheap.

The best food I've had during this trip tend to be outside of Rome (sorry kids for bursting that bubble of amazing Italian food being in Rome - maybe I just can't afford the good stuff). And oh yessss, I had thai and sushi, in Sweden to boot! Typical me. I was going through withdrawals. The Swedish meatballs pictured above were pretty decent with lindonberries and pickled things. And an epic vegetarian buffet spread at a restaurant by the water - almost made me want to convert from my carnivorous ways ... almost.

Weather? Snow, snow, ice and more snow but not too bad - mostly light & pretty flakes drifting down. There was even a make-shift ice rink where my friends and I slipped/slid like we were 6. These Russian looking children (I swear they weren't Swedish) were dancing around a Maypole with colorful costumes on (it's not May or spring!) and selling little hotcakes and doughnuts that they fried right before your eyes. Do you see a pattern here? Apparently, I remember all my travels by the food I eat there. haha. The Swedes speak perfect English putting my bilingualness to shame and it's a really modern city complete with, get this, 7-11's, McDonalds and the fanciest Pizza Hut I've ever seen. (I peered through the window like a creeper). Kroners though, can't handle that type of currency, I was madly dividing every price by 10 to try to figure it out.

I'd love to go back for more than a day and visit the rest of Scandanavia!