Off to Saaremaa, tell me that doesn’t sound like someone should be talking about The One Ring. Every time someone said it a Lord of the Rings quote popped into my head, usually something about “an eye, lidless.” Back to MY story. We crossed the border back into Estonia and stopped at a grocery store [...]
Leaving Rezekne for Segulda. Not one, not two, but three castles today. We started with Cesis Castle where we carried lanterns lit with candles. Our guide was dressed in period clothing, including shoes (which looked really uncomfortable). She knew her stuff and had us winding through the remains of the castle, up stairs, around corners, [...]
Driving, driving, driving. On our way back to Latvia we visited Aukstaltijos National Park and went on a hike. It was a very nice change of pace and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many mushrooms in one place. If I haven’t mentioned it already, people in the Baltics are big on foraging for [...]
Standard drill (which is fine, I’m not complaining). City Tour followed by wandering about on our own. This city tour was a bit different though, we actually drove around to parts of town outside the Old Town before heading off on foot. We began at an overlook with great views of the city, and much [...]
Ah, Radisson hotels, how comfy are thy beds and how nice are thy rooms. Thy showers leave something to be desired, however. The tiny lip around the floor and the slow drain made what should have been one shower four. Get wet, turn the water off so it doesn’t flood the bathroom, wait for the [...]
A quick ferry ride and we were on the Curonian Spit, off the coast of Lithuania. It’s 97 kilometers long but only half of that is Lithuanian land, the other half is Russian (why does Russia have a little disconnected piece of land sitting there? Not just the spit but an actual chunk of land [...]
Bye Bye Riga, Hello Lithuania. First stop, Rundale Palace (which is pronounced Run-dahl-ay). I may not like museums but I sure do like palaces! Well I like walking through restored palaces. They’re fascinating and this one was no exception. It’s evidently one of the only ones not hit by a bomb during WWII. It was [...]
Even without an alarm I was awake at 8:00. Didn’t get up and going until almost 9:30 though. It’s absolutely beautiful out today, sunny with not a raincloud in sight. Breakfast and then over to Alberta to look at the all the Art Nouveau buildings. I thought for sure I’d catch up with Carolyn and [...]
Up at 4:45, on the bus at 6:30, arrived in Riga at 11:30. Out the door and off to the Menzendorff House, “an impeccably restored merchant’s house decorated in grand style and adorned with period furniture”. No big thrill. I was worried about the exchange rate here since it’s pretty much 2-1 in favor of [...]
Hop on the bus for the ride to Tartu. Can’t believe I missed the Plink Plonk Festival. We only have one day here which, until we saw the town, didn’t seem like enough. First stop, the KGB Cell Block which felt dank and dismal from the minute we walked in. The cells themselves weren’t terribly [...]
