Rambling Thoughts on a Summer Abroad

I've had so many thoughts and feelings about the places we visited, and already they are beginning to fade. I'm going to try to get some of them down tonight, as always in a hurry, but better something than nothing.

Iceland was an amazing trip. I loved how it felt small, the people like a close-knit family, everything accessible. And at the same time, the landscape felt open, vast. The wild-ness of the environment is such a contrast to the close-ness of the people. I hope as it becomes more popular as a tourist destination, it doesn't lose either the wild or the close. It's sweet and quirky and fierce and *cold*!

In Norway I loved the way of life. Oslo is a huge city but the people there still know the beauty of living outdoors, breathing fresh air and feeling sun on your skin. Everywhere we looked the people were walking and hiking and biking and swimming. There were always places for children to play and to learn. Their children are welcomed into all places, and at the same time are allowed to be children, to have freedom play and explore. Things are clean and orderly, but not sterile and metallic. In summer particularly, people in Norway seemed so happy to just be alive.

Italy does not try to be anything other than Italy. The food is always Italian, always fresh and always absolutely delicious. The shops and people move at their own pace. They do not try to cater to you, they hold to their own way of life and their own attitudes first and foremost. Rome is ancient and resists modernity, as it has every right to. Rome is a city to wander and eat and shop with no watch and no schedule and no demands. It is jarring place at first but as you settle in and "get" the pace, it is full of delight.

I want to take some of each of these places with me into my "regular" life, but I don't know if that's possible. To remember how to gasp in awe at Mother Nature's wonder and fierceness, to let my kids run through the grass and soak in all that the world has to offer at their own pace, to remind myself how to wander and eat and admire and think on a daily basis.....and so much more.

Coming home to all that is comfortable and familiar almost makes me yearn to leave again so that I can live all these things without the difficulty of figuring out how to weave them into a normal life. That's silly, I know, but I feel like if I don't live some of what I've loved in these different countries, what a waste. 

One bite at a time, I will try! And then travel more and then try some more. :)

Copenhagen for Five

On our way out of Rome, we had a five-hour layover in Copenhagen. We decided to go out into the city for a bit, mostly to add Denmark to our list of countries we've visited. But we had kind of an amazing few hours in Copenhagen!

The city was just adorable! And there were so many things to see in just a few hours.

Mermaids over the windows! Holding beehives!

Everyone was biking downtown, but no one locked up their bikes! Kind of amazing.

Hans Christian Andersen lived in this house! He was a ballet dancer and tried to join the ballet in Copenhagen. He wrote the Ugly Duckling after being rejected from the ballet here.

Hans Christian Andersen's apartment

Of course, Quintana did not want to nap at all on the plane, and chose instead to sleep in Copenhagen. Little stinker! Better than nothing I guess.

We went to see the Royal Palace, and we just happened upon the changing of the guard, complete with marching band! It was really really cool! The Royal Family was in residence, and it's crazy that we could walk practically up to the front door.

We also turned the corner and happened upon the cathedral, which had a beautiful copper dome on top.

We did not make it to the statute of the Little Mermaid, but we did see a replica in the airport, haha. We also saw Hans Christian Andersen's trunk, and a quote by him which said, "To travel is to live."

Oh, on the way to Copenhagen we flew over the Austrian Alps. They were just beautiful!

Oh, if only we could have spent a month in Copenhagen too! Haha, I'm addicted to traveling. I definitely could spend some time in Denmark. Sigh! I'm so glad we got to drop in, though.

Rome Wasn't Built in a Day

We are home! Back in Florida! But I have a few more blog posts that I must get down. Levi and I keep commenting that there were more hours in a day in Europe than there are here. Wah.

Rome life! Here are some pictures of our apartment in Rome. For an apartment so close to the city center, it was spacious! And really very lovely. But it was very European, in that there was no air conditioning (yes, I've mentioned that a million times), no dishwasher, and no clothes dryer!

I love the high ceilings. Apparently because it is a historic building they weren't allowed to build ducts in the apartments for air conditioning.

I actually did not miss the dryer. It felt so very Italian to hang our clothes on the line out the windows of the apartment, especially as the nuns across the alley sang their Vespers in Italian (or Latin maybe? Not sure). I kind of loved that time.

I was always so afraid of dropping clothes into the neighbors garden. I did drop a few clothespins, haha.

The volume is very low but you can hear a little of it.

Around the corner was a big public "park" (I put the quotation marks because there are not the grassy expanses I'm used to, haha) called Villa Torlonia. There are several historic buildings there, including the house Mussolini made his palace.

Mussolini's villa

Called the Swiss Hut

Also around the corner was the most fantastic gelato place! My favorite flavor was blood orange with whipped cream on top, and of course Levi J always got chocolate (fudge, whipped cream, a cookie, all for €2!)

Once we finally found a big grocery store (with a parking lot, haha), grocery shopping was fun! There was such an amazing selection of pastas, fresh meatballs, and cheeses! It's always hard shopping with the kids, especially when you're not familiar with the foods, but I found so many things that I really really loved.

Um, but we definitely did not try the horse meat, ha.

Cheeeeeese!

We loved the ward in Rome. We met lots of wonderful people there, and someone always offered to translate for us when there wasn't official translation going on.

Junior Primary and Nursery got combined a lot since so many people go out of town in August.

There's one other picture I want to post, this awesome butter cookie with the Romulus and Remus image on it! If I had more room in my suitcase (read: any room in my suitcase, ha), I would have brought back a bag.

This post may only be interesting to me, remembering some little things about Rome that will disappear from my memory in a week or two. But these are some of the things that made it so incredibly awesome to be there a whole month, finding all these little beautiful snippets of Rome.

Secret Garden

This morning we did a quick trip into town to see a little something I had almost forgotten about. If you go up to the headquarters of the Knights of Malta and peek through the keyhole, you can see an amazing view of St. Peter's basilica through the gardens! Nobody knows if this was intentional or accidental, but it is so fascinating.

At the door, you don't see any views of Rome at all, much less St. Peter's. And then, when you peek through this little hole, the sight is breathtaking!

This is obviously not my picture. But look at that view!

This is my picture. Not nearly as demonstrative!

Another of my attempts.

That green door is through where you peek.

Buongiorno bella!

We stopped at a nearby park to take in the views a little more. There was a huge fire somewhere close to St. Peter's, and it was a little eerie to see all the smoke so close to the basilica.

I love this fountain.

The drive to and from was fun, as we passed by most of the main sites of Rome. We passed the Wedding Cake and the Piazza Venezia, the Circus Maximus, Santa Maria in Cosmedin and the Mouth of Truth, the Roman Forum, Trastevere, the Castel, St. Peter's Basilica, the Piazza Popolo, Borghese, and the Tiber River. It was so fun to see everything one more time and to remember how many amazing things we've been able to see.

We leave the apartment tomorrow and stay that night in a hotel by the airport. So this may be it! I hate to leave! There is still so much we could see and do here.