Some People Go to Disney to See Castles...

Some people travel to Disney to see castles but we have been traveling through the Baltics viewing real castles! We've been on a bit of a mad dash to check off some sights on our "to see" list before we leave. In late September we took a day trip to Kaunas, which is the 2nd largest city in Lithuania. We had a great day which included a tour of a castle!

 

 

We stopped for lunch at this great restaurant... The name Antis means duck - the restaurant was below street level down the pictured stairs. It was a quaint little restaurant.

 

 

In a local church we found this statue of a "Pensive Christ" or "Man of Sorrows." We've come across these statues quite frequently in our travels here. I find the image to be haunting. Ken found a carved, wooden statue that he gave me for my birthday last year. I will always remember Lithuania when I see it.

 

 

Mid October didn't bring us to any castles but it was our 17th anniversary. We had a busy day. Ken and the kids had been training to run a race on the Curonian Spit. So in the mid-morning we hopped on the ferry for the race. It was fun watching Ken and the kids run. In this picture we were on the ferry heading back to Klaipeda.

 

 

Ken cleaned up and we headed out for an anniversary dinner.

 

 

We went to a local restaurant, Stora Antis (Fat Duck). We had an amazing meal. We ordered beef for two. The plate was beautiful and the food was fabulous. While we were eating the owner was cleaning menus with some kind of strong smelling solvent (we think it was diesel fuel). He was profusely apologetic for the strong smell and brought us some homemade blueberry vodka to sample!

 

In late October/early November we headed out for a little road trip during fall break. We traveled north to Tallin, Estonia. We were interested in visiting Tallinn not only because of the good things we heard about the city but also because it completed our Baltic State trifecta... We have now visited the capital cities of all three Baltic States; Vilnius, Lithuania, Riga, Latvia and Tallinn, Estonia!

 

Tallinn did not disappoint! It was full of quaint little streets and alleys...

 

 

Towers and Castles...

 

Amazing views...

 

 

 And medieval and Knightly moments...

 

 

For those of you who have seen The Singing Revolution, we also visited the song bowl. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

 

 

After our visit to Tallinn we headed to Cēsis, Latvia to visit another castle. This castle was partly in ruins but was so fun to visit. We were able to climb to the top of the tower. At times the stairway was so dark that we had to use the flashlight on our phones to see. It felt kind of crazy that we were allowed to wander all through the ruins. We had an amazing time. 

 

 

 

After our time in Cēsis we headed to nearby Sigulda for another castle or two. We had to ride a cable car across the Gauja River to hike to the castles we wanted to see. We had a bit of a damper after discovering our car had the beginnings of a flat tire right after we bought our tickets. We went ahead with our plans to view the castle and decided to deal with the tire when we were done. The first castle we came to on our hike was in ruins.

 

 

We hiked on to Turaida Castle. This castle had extensive renovations. It was interesting in this trip seeing the variety of conditions of all of the castles. I think we all found the castle in Cēsis to be our favorite, but had fun at the others as well!

  

 

So, here we are, with less than 1 week until we return to the U.S. We are starting to discuss as a family how we say goodbye to this place, this country that has been home to us. We recently hiked along the Baltic Sea at one of our favorite places, Olandu Kepurė. This is a national park that borders the Baltic Sea. There is forest, the beach and amazing cliffs. While we were there we spotted amber catchers out wading in the sea searching for amber.

 

 

Please keep us in your prayers in our final week:

• for our endings at LCC
• for our goodbyes to our friends here
• for the kids (and us) as we transition to a new place
• as we search for a house to buy in Alabama.

To our friends in Lithuania - we will miss you. We have treasured our time here. We thank you for the many ways that you made Klaipeda home for us.

 

To our friends in the US - we look forward to seeing many of you at Christmas. Thank you for your support while we have lived overseas.

 

And to everyone... Merry Christmas.