Uto (with dots above the o)

We met at the Kamppi, the bus station, at 1:40 pm to begin our 9 1/2 hour journey to Uto.

This ferry ride was the third leg, after switching buses north of Turku.  It was freezing! We had to lug our stuff down a snowy path, through this tunnel under the highways, then up another snowy path.  We then waited 20 minutes for our next bus.

Mike, Liz and Ali playing cards in the "restaurant" of the ferry.  The ferry ride was about 4 hours.  I slept, attempted to draw, and watched a little TV in Finnish.  We didn't end up getting to the island until about midnight.

First morning I wake up and walk out of the "hostel" and this is what I saw.  It was really dark the night before and our hostel was only 100m from the dock so we had no idea what to expect the next morning.  It was so breathtakingly beautiful.

  

This is our "hostel."

There are no paved roads here.  But there is a stretch "in town" that has cobble stones, built by Chinese prisoners during WWI.

Uto was settled as a military fortress in the Baltic Sea by either the Swedish or Russians...anyways it changed hands a few times.  The Finnish military left the island three years ago.  So now some of the buildings are being converted into a hotel and yes our hostel.

This is the main building where we have breakfast and lunch as well as our lectures and drawing reviews.  Notice the red hollowed out bombshells.

There are tons of fortresses and rooms carved out of the bedrock all over the island.  Some of them are locked but others are open.......very cool!

Because Uto is so small, everywhere you are you can see water.  Only this first day was it foggy, but it certainly made for beautiful photographs.

There are very few trees on the island because the wind prevents them from growing.

We have been here for 8 going on 9 days and I am ready to go back to Helsinki.  As much as I love my classmates I am so ready to have "Cassie time."  Two more days and we will be back to our apartment.

I will post and write more later.

Love you.