Latvia!

We made it to Latvia yesterday and found our way easily into town. Our hotel is *right* in the center of everything. Such a beautiful city! It's pretty much what everyone would think a European town to be - cobble stone streets lined with cafes and shops. I'll need to try to make this one short but in case people were wondering what we've been up to I thought I would write in a couple of highlights.

Since our last post in Berlin we went on another bike tour - this one around Potsdam the Prussian palace from days gone by. Huge, old, and beautiful.

Once in Riga we went straight to meet up with the group for dinner. I was surprised to see the Deloitte office just a few blocks down the street. Dinner was at this Disneyland-like place. Games and rides for the kids. Restaurants and live music everywhere. We were up in the second floor of the windmill for a very civilized meal complete with a string quartet providing ambiance. After dinner we made our way to the beer cellar for some dancing and then walked around the grounds.

This morning we went for a trolley ride in a trolley that has been restored from the turn of the century. Ausma our Latvian/American host says that it was brought out of commission just for us! We then had a tour of the Art Neuveou (sp?) architecture by a Latvian student. She brought us up to speed on the style of architecture we were looking at. Afterward we found ourselves at a bread and honey market and stopped for a drink before making our way back to the Old Town for a very leisurely lunch. There is soooooo much live music in the city right now! All for this song festival that happens only once every 5 years. We are so lucky to have entertainment around every corner!

This evening Ausma was able to get very special tickets to a concert in a church that was originally built in the 13th century. Musicians come from all over the world to play here because of the acoustics. There were nearly as many musicians playing as there were audience members! We left the concert at 11:00 pm and walked out to a sky that was lit like it was dusk. We're so far north I'm not sure that it will ever get completely dark tonight!