Latvia

Wednesday night at 9 pm I got on a bus and rode through the night to arrive in Riga, Latvia the following morning at 6 am. Somehow having to stop twice at the border to have our passports checked and being in a sitting position all night led to a not so restful sleep. Yet, here I am ready for a fun day in Riga, rubbing the noses on this statue outside of St. Peter's Cathedral for luck.

My first glimpse of Riga was the area near the Cathedral and I have to say I loved it already. The old town has small cobblestone streets with beautiful architecture.

We wandered around until we found the Freedom Monument:

Then we strolled through the beautiful green parks. I must admit I was astounded to see so much green.

Lock you love. Apparently this is a huge thing everywhere in Europe. Why don't I ever see it in the states?

Just imitating a statue:

Me and Pushkin:

Gotta love this disco ball version of Venus of Willendorf. Not to mention my hugely failed attempt at imitating it. Not entirely my fault though. 

The largest cathedral in Riga:

From there we made our way over to Turkebab for lunch. 

So happy.

After lunch we ran back to St. Peter's Cathedral where a free walking tour started at noon. The tour was really fun. It took us mostly outside of old town to see other parts of Riga. Our first stop was the indoor markets, which were fun to see, but less fun to smell.

This is our tour guide. I don't know if you can tel from the photo, but part of her hair matched the color of her pants. 

This building is called either Stalin's Birthday Cake of Stalin's Finger, depending on who talks about it:

We saw the remains of a Jewish Synagogue that was destroyed and then turned into part of a Jewish ghetto. It was really interesting to learn more about Latvia's history from the walking tour. 

A memorial that was right next to the synagogue ruins:

We saw the KGB headquarters in Riga, though it is now an abandoned building. The guide said they are trying to turn it into a museum, but nothing has moved forward yet. This is the memorial built onto one of the walls of the building:

After the walking tour, some of us headed to the museum of occupation.

Of course, it was closed for renovation. Samantha and I were not happy about that. 

The House of Blackheads in the town square (but mostly look at that epic sky):

The middle spire in this picture belongs to St. Peter's Cathedral. We went to the top of the dome for a view of the city.

But first, the interior of the church:

The dome had an incredible view of the city:

I absolutely loved seeing the city from so high up!

There are roosters on lots of the spires in Riga. I have no idea why, but I felt it necessary to take my photo with this one:

After the cathedral, we took the train to the beach. It was about a 25 minute ride and it only cost 1 Lat to get there. That's like $2. It was money well spent because the beach was incredible. 

Since I wouldn't be able to wash my feet off until sometime the next afternoon, I opted to stay in my boots despite the appealing sand. 

So happy to be in a t-shirt.

The beach was seriously so beautiful.

Of course we took a series of jumping shots on the beach. Some of us were better at it than others. 

Things got a little windy.

I love Latvia.

We stopped for dinner just a little ways from the beach at this double-decker bus turned pizza restaurant. We went on the recommendation of one of Megan's friends who had been to Latvia and eaten there. 

The kitchen was downstairs and we ate upstairs in the bus. Too cool. 

And the pizza was sooooo good. 

The sun was setting by the time we finished eating, so we of course had to stop at the beach for one last look.

We rode the train back to Riga and headed to the bus station around midnight to await our bus that left for Lithuania at 3 am. Needless to say it was an incredibly long night. Here are the other girls passed out in the station:

Gotta love overnight traveling!

Yusupov Palace

It has been warming up a little in St. Petersburg, though I wouldn't call it warm yet. The awkward in between weather led me to wear this lovely outfit on Sunday:

After church today I went with Samantha, Paige and Laura to the Yusupov palace. The Yusupov family was an incredibly rich family, so rich that they rivaled the Tzars with their palace and art collection. Their palace is a little smaller than The Hermitage, but just as beautiful, which is saying something. The palace is also famous because it is the location of Rasputin's murder. He was first poisoned, then shot, then thrown into the river and it was discovered the next day that he died by drowning. There is an exhibit about his murder in the basement of the palace, but we couldn't see it because the tour was already full when we got there, so we just saw the palace. 

Here I am in the entryway at the top of the stairs. Talk about a nice chandelier! 

The tapestry parlor:

The Princess's bedroom:

This was one of my favorite rooms. I thought the colors were very striking together.

The Great Rotunda:

These next few colored rooms reminded me of the White House in DC. Here is the blue parlor: 

The red parlor:

The green parlor:

The Dance Hall:

We of course did just a little dancing here.

The banquet hall:

There was a group of acapella singers who performed in the hall while we were passing through, so we stayed to watch. Here is a snippet of their performance:

The Nicholas Hall, where they have several rare books and other things from the family collection on display:

The Antique Hall:

The Roman Hall:

The Theater: 

Yes, the family had their own personal home theater. This may sound common nowadays, but back then this meant a small stage for ballet and opera performances with seating for maybe 60 people or so.

Oh, and of course your own box to sit in. Too fancy. 

But I loved it. 

I think this is the ceiling of the Museum Hallways, but I can't be sure. There were just so many cool ceilings and so many halls.

The floor in the Oak Dining room. Love it. 

The Parlor of Henry II:

I loved the fireplace mantel:

The prince's study:

He had quite the book collection:

Not to mention a lovely statue of Don Quixote:

The Billiard Room. It turns out pool is older than I thought it was.

The Moresque Parlor. One of my personal favorite rooms:

This is a close up of the leather walls in the dining room:

This palace was definitely one of my favorite things I have seen in St. Pete thus far. All of the rooms were so gorgeous! 

We walked along the canal on our way back to the metro. I love that all of the ice is officially gone and now boats can use the rivers and canals!

We stopped at the Kazan Cathedral on our way to the metro because we hadn't been inside yet.

It is a massive cathedral with a green dome on top and a beautiful colonnade on either side.

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The interior was lovely. Apparently the Sunday before Easter is also a holiday in Russia because the church was packed with people waiting in line to bow at one specific altar. 

Me with the Cathedral:

Just down the canal from the Kazan Cathedral is the Church on Spilled blood.

Gotta love St. Pete!