Day 48, July 29, 2014 (Vilnius, Lithuania)
Serendipity Strikes!
We made arrangements yesterday, for an early 9:00 am tour of the Universities library. Once a religious monastery, later turned secular, it is home to an old ceiling fresco and early 16th century books and manuscripts. When we arrived, there was some confusion as there were no tours that day, certainly none in English. Russ expressed our disappointment to the lady at the desk who was finally able to round up an English speaking woman who offered to open up the doors of the main library for us to take a look. Once Russ told here he was a retired professor from University of California, Berkeley, she decided to take us on a personal tour. So the three of us walked through the empty halls and galleries. It was lovely, without an over abundance of scripted history and overwhelming information.
Our guide took us to the top floors where the first observatory in Lithuania was built. It was a leather incased telescope that had been built by the same optics company that made Sir Issac Newton's telescope.
We walked backed to our little attic apartment which had been a wonderfully located AirBnB complete with fresh vegetables from the backyard garden, expressed our appreciation and thanks to our kind host, Nina, and were on the road to Latvia by 11:00 a.m. and across thae border into Latvia.
On our way we stopped at another lovely castle Rundale built by a Russian duke married to a Latvian duchess. It was designed by the same architect Dark clouds were forming and by the time we had our little walk about, raindrops were falling. It continued to rain throughout the afternoon. We took the scenic route along the Baltic beaches of Jurmala to Riga, but because of the thunder, lightning, poring rain, we didn,t see much and had no desire to walk in the rain with the lightening strikes and flooding streets.
RIGA
We are staying in a flat above the trolly line that runs directly to old town Riga. Our host Laura welcomes us at 7:30 pm. We have a nice chat with Laura and her boyfriend over our dinner before they retire for the evening. When we inquired, Laura showed us where we could go for haircuts in Riga. After two months, we are looking shaggy. As both of them work, this turns out to be our only contact with them during our stay.
We are staying in a flat above the trolly line that runs directly to old town Riga. Our host Laura welcomes us at 7:30 pm. We have a nice chat with Laura and her boyfriend over our dinner before they retire for the evening. When we inquired, Laura showed us where we could go for haircuts in Riga. After two months, we are looking shaggy. As both of them work, this turns out to be our only contact with them during our stay.
Day 49, July 30, 2014
After breakfast, Russ and I take the trolley into Riga where once again we suck up the old town atmosphere. I think one of things I love about all these old cities is how they build the outside walls of their homes right up to the sidewalks or streets and along the perimeters of their property, with only heavy gates on the street. When the gates are left open,, one can peer inside to lovely open courtyards that are private and once very protected from medieval invaders.
As other cities, there are an abundance of churches, cobbled streets, remnants of city walls, and open squares where outdoor entertainment is predominant. We enjoy lunch in a street cafe, Pelligrino with lemon later in the day, along with some Latvian ice cream, and take a canal ride on an old Art Deco boat that ABBA had once ridden in. Their music played as we wound our way through the canal and surrounding river. Between our late afternoon cruise and haircuts, we layed on the shady slope of the river bank and took a delightful little nap.
We went to a nearby MacDonalds for a wrap and ice tea for dinner. As I was ascending the stairs to the water closet, a MacDonalds employee climbing the steps behind me brushed against my back. I felt the brush, but didn't pay much attention, until it happened a second time and I turned around and looked at her questioningly. She smiled and showed me the remnants of my park nap (grass on my back) that she couldn't resist brushing off for me. Haha!
We had made appointments at 7:00 pm for haircuts, and after a relaxing clip, we head back to our flat.
Day 50, July 31, 2014 Thursday
HEADING For POLAND
Our plane for Warsaw does not leave until 2:50, so we spend a leisurely morning repacking liquids for flight, eating breakfast, blogging, etc. We will leave here shortly for the airport.
All is well with the Worrall Travel R's
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