Grandma came bearing gifts of course! :)
Grandpa was good enough to entertain the kids by playing chess with them. Thomas is trying to play with the fake hand they gave him.
Gord gave us an absolutely miserable little puzzle of a cartoon caricature of Europe, and Bri and I got about a fifth of the way into it and couldn't find the energy to go on. However, knowing that Bri's parents love puzzles, we left it out in the hopes that they would dig into it and finish the thing. Mom and dad didn't disappoint, and made steady progress on the puzzle over the course of their stay. Bri came home after work and cooked for us, and we continued to catch up, to work on the puzzle, and to play a new favorite game (Five Crowns).
Thursday mom and dad hung out at the house in the morning before they (and I) headed to the embassy to grab Bri for lunch and for an afternoon of exploring Riga. It was wet and cold but not raining when we parked near the parliament and we headed out in search of food. We ended up stumbling into this absolutely wonderful old restaurant called Lasite, an ancient medieval building that they've made into a little restaurant in the basement of the old building.
The food was excellent, and we enjoyed learning about the history of the old restaurant; the building dated from the early 1500s, had an ancient wolf fur mounted on the wall next to an old coat of arms, and was a popular hangout for the Soviet leadership when Latvia was part of the USSR. We were all really impressed with the soup, the bread, and our entrees, and on the way out we complimented the chef and took pictures with the guy dressed in medieval garb on the street drumming up some lunch business for the place. 
From the restaurant, we wandered through old town, stopping in the Dom Square, in front of St. Peter's, and stopping in to several of our favorite shops and a few new ones.
Bri has a favorite spot in Riga that used to be a nunnery that is called "The Convent Yard," a little interior square between several buildings with the spire of St. Peter's rising over the gated entrance, and we ended up stopping into an old book store there and browsing. Bri and his dad struck up a conversation with the owner Constantine, and Bri spoke some Russian and got to know the old guy. Bri found an 1850's-ish copy of Farrar's Life of Christ, and he and his dad went in halves on the book. We also found a small painting that Bri and I both took to, and mom and dad were gracious enough to buy it as a gift for us. After a stop at Laima's chocolate shop, we headed back through the drizzle to the car and back home for dinner and more games and family time with grandma and grandpa.
One of our favorite stores!
I of course can't get enough of the fall colors!!!
Bri needed a couple of hours to wrap up some work projects, and so we dropped him off at the embassy on our way home, but stopped explored a nearby cemetery. We were enchanted by this cemetery located in the middle of a large birch woods and had fun exploring there. The fall colors and plants were lovely!
We noticed that every grave or area of family members, was separated from others with a little "fence" or barrier, and took in more area than just the headstone itself. They were beautifully groomed, decorated, with flowers, candles, special plants, rocks, etc. Definitely a cemetery where you felt the love and respect they have for those that were buried there. 
Some grave areas had been recently cleaned of their leaves.
Crosses on the fence posts surrounding the cemetery.
Bri took Friday off, and after the kids headed to school we all headed in to Riga Central Market.
Mom and dad enjoyed interacting with all the shops and the Russians, and Bri and his dad found some good breads, cheeses, berries, honey, jam, and nuts in the markets, and had some great donuts in the pastries hanger to hold us over.
The well known local honey brand.
Fresh spices:
In the states, we sell whole pumpkins and gords for fall decor. Here they sell them because they eat them. And you can just buy a portion of the pumpkin if you want and they'll cut it for you. Fresh and healthy for sure. But I don't think I have the patience to cook the pumpkin to use, when I can order canned pumpkin from the states. ;)
You can get every sort of beet, carrot, pepper, cabbage, and pickle fermented as well. There are so many choices because they offer them seasoned with garlic or unseasoned without.
Spices. It's such a sucker for a beautifully organized display. I love this. ;)
Dairy--cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, milk, cheese. Unbelievably they sell dairy in Latvia that is 25 or 35% fat! So creamy!
We headed to the outdoor markets but ended up getting rained out and headed back to the car and towards Pinki.
We stopped at a roadside bar we have often seen a few miles outside of Pinki.
After the talent show, we headed home and ate our lunch, welcomed the kids home, and had dinner, worked on the puzzle, and watched Kubo and the Two Strings.
Saturday morning we decided to explore a place we haven't been before, and headed to the old medieval city of Sigulda. Sigulda is about 1.5 hours out from us, and has become a sort of playground with hikes, mountain biking, and various high adventure sports and parks. We made our way to the city center, had a few false starts on places for lunch, and finally found a buffet in a cozy hotel in the middle of town that also had a bakery.
Seems like the favorite Latvian side salads are either fermented or smothered in mayo. Trying to get used to the selection. ;)
As far as we could tell, the name of the restaurant and theme had to do with cats. They had cat decor everywhere, including the staircase. So cute!
Beautiful city full of fall!
Walking from the car to the castle...
I saw the pond, the leaves, the RED leaves, and the old brick and had to stop for a family pic. Thanks to Grandma for working the camera!
Thomas and Rhea asked me to get pics of them with the leaves. :)
Had to get the father-son picture.
Sigulda straddles a deep valley (for Latvia -- about 400 feet) through which the Gauja river runs, and in the middle ages Sigulda was an important seat of power. In order to placate the warrior monks of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword (part of the teutonic knights, organized towards the end of the crusades in the holy lands) -- and to gain the order's help against the pagan Latvians (Livonians), in 1207 the Catholic bishop ceded the land on the east side of the Gauja to the Livonian Order and kept the land on the west side for himself. The Livonian Order built the Sigulda Castle, and the bishop built what became the Turaida castle. The Poles took over in 1500s, and then the Swedes in the 1600s, and the castles have had various owners ever since. Sigulda Castle was a favorite destination of Russians throughout the twentieth century, and we found several russian names and messages carved in old beams in the Sigulda Tower dating back to the fifties.
We had fun exploring the medieval-ness of the castle!
Besides the fall leaves, I just couldn't get enough of the old rock walls!
Looking out the windows at the entrance where we came in.
Grandpa, the fierce medieval warrior. :)
And of course, I had to capture some cute pics of my kids while they were happy and not fighting. ;)
There was a stage in between the main castle and the lookout tower. The kids of course couldn't resist dancing around on it!
Next, we went into the tower and enjoyed the views! It even had an elevator which the kids and Grandma enjoyed.
Leaving now. Had to get a pic of this girl and her outfit. I want it on the record that Rhea has enjoyed a lot of freedoms in her life, one of which has been choosing her daily attire, against my better judgement. ;) Side note: She's obsessed with emoji-s, so of course they're on her leggings!
I love this church! It was drizzling when I took the picture, but the canopy of trees helped cover me. I did have to tuck my camera in my coat on my way back to the car though.
Our next stop was Turaida Castle. On the way past the parking, we saw the vendors selling their handmade wares that Latvians are famous for. They are so talented!
At Turaida, we stopped at the grave of the Rose of Turaida, Latvia's Romeo and Juliet story. As the story goes, in the 1600s a beautiful maiden and a gardner at the Turaida castle fell in love and planned to elope together. A jealous Swedish knight in service at Turaida castle tricked the maiden into meeting him at a cave on the sandy shore of the Gauja, where he then seized her and made to take off with her. The maiden then told the knight she had a magic ring that would protect her from all injury, and invited the knight to try it with his sword. The knight was tricked into stabbing the maiden, who died in the cave. The knight fled, the gardner found his Rose of Turaida dead on the cave floor, and was then discovered with her body and acused of her murder. During the trial, one of the Swedish knight's friends who knew the truth confessed that it was the knight and not the gardner who killed the maiden. The gardner was spared but mourned the loss of his love. She was called the Rose of Turaida, and is buried near a churchyard built by Catherine II a few hundred feet from the entrance to Turaida castle. We visited her grave.
We also had the opportunity to try our hand at archery. Outside the castle, we each paid to shoot a half dozen arrows at the target and had fun reliving the medieval sport.
Rhea let Thomas wear her coat because he was so cold. Nice little sister!
Now for exploring the castle:
View from up top. Again, magnificent leaves!
Around the lookout windows, people had carved their names and dates in the brick. I saw dates going back to the 1950's.
After a long day, we made our way back to the car, across the bridge, and headed home to eat dinner, play games and watch a movie.
Sunday we had a chance to take Bri's parents to church. They enjoyed meeting our friends and some of their friends; Bri's dad used to work in scouting with one of the senior missionary couples that are assigned to Riga, and they enjoyed catching up. Come to find out, the B couple are friends with my dad's business partner too! It's a small world!
We also enjoyed a quiet Sunday walk into "our forest."
Here's Bri looking happy, calm, cool (with his sunglasses), and collected with our somewhat tired, ornery children.
After our walk, we headed back to the car, back to Pinki and loaded up, and headed into Riga for the next stage of our adventure: Stockholm.
0 comments: