Today was A Day in the Life in a village about 45 miles from Riga. The village is unique as it was a factory town built nearly 200 years old. The paper mill was the main business and paper for printing money was produced there. The paper mill provided everything for the workers, a small salary, housing, utilities, food. The houses were wooden structures where 3-5 families might live. The factory was in operation until about 2 years ago when they went bankrupt. Ma...

All the roads were closed today because of the marathon. It was a little strange to be walking around this city where half the country's population lives and see no cars or people. We did a very long walking tour this morning first of the art nouveau buildings around our hotel and then the old town. The art nouveau buildings were unique and random in their architecture. The old town has squares surrounded by narrow streets and tall buildings. Much of the city was...

Left Lithuania this morning after visiting the Hill of Crosses. This is a hill in the middle of nowhere that people put crosses to honor the fallen freedom fighters and connect to their Lithuanian roots during soviet occupation. Soviets did try briefly to remove the crosses but they were always replaced. There are too many crosses to count. After bus ride we entered Latvia and our first stop was at an 18th century castle built by the same architects that designed...