Visit to Rauma

Last week at the university where I work, we hosted International Week.  There were about 15 guest professors from all over the world, well mostly Europe and the USA.  Of course as an international intern, I was involved in most all of the activities of the week, and on Wednesday I accompanied them to another town for lectures and a bit of site seeing.

Rauma--the town we visited--was about an hour bus ride from Pori.  Below you can see exactly where Rauma is located in relation to Pori.

Rauma is a very old town, founded around the 1400s, I believe.  Luckily, we had the privilege of taking a guided tour around Old Rauma.  I was, of course, captivated because unfortunately, we just don't have places that old in the United States.  I wish the pictures captured how truly beautiful it was.

This picture is interesting because back in the old days houses had names. Instead of saying you were going to Main Street, you would say I'm going to "insert house name here."  This house Kirsti is one of the more famous ones and is actually a museum today.

 I took a lot of bridge pictures.  For some reason, I'm just obsessed with cure little bridges.

The lady above is making lace! Apparently, this is quite a popular hobby in Finland, and anyone can take classes.  Below you can see just how complicated it looks.  They told us, in fact, there are only 4 moves that you need to know to make any type of lace. I just don't believe it.