It's been more 'ordinary' scenery. Lot's of forests, meadows and not to many towns. Good roads, courteous drivers. Each day there are a few diversions, views of the baltic sea, a Manor house ( these were built for German VIPS when the country was occupied by them) quiet little streams.

One morning it rained but that was my 54K day and by the time I got out on the road it had pretty much stopped raining. :-)

As we enter Latvia they are having the biggest holiday of the year. The celebrations last for 3 days and they decorate their cars with 'greens'. fern leaves, cedar leaves, green branches of any kind! They have huge bonfires ( illegal now- but like our firecrackers I think) and drink a lot.

When we do go through a small town it's stange to see people walking around with big bottles- looks like beer. All through the country side there are bus stops even though you may not see a house for many many miles.

One more memory from Russia. In the morning our coffee was served in a huge pot- like we would make a stew in. They used a dipper to put it in our cups.

Also some thing very different is that the top sheet on the bed (everywhere so far) is a duvet and contains a comforter. Needless to say it's very hot in a room that is already in the low 80's! It took me a whole week before I figured out I could pull the 'stuffing' out and then you just have a double thickness of regular sheet material.

Today was our day off and 3 of us went to a concentration camp memorial in another town. This meant using public transportation. We found a train that left at the right time and we thiought it was to the right destination.

When we showed the name of the town to a lady she shook her head 'no' So I started down the isle asking if someone spoke English. Fear of being on an international train easily overcoming any shyness. I found a lady and she was willing to help.

When we got to our destination we had a 15 min. walk through the woods with no signs. It was very sobering but mostly a memorial and not full of recreations of life in a concentration camp. Back at the dropping off spot the only train that went by was a freight train. Ours should have been there. We checked a schedule (on a wall) and it said we had 2 hours to wait!!

We are out in the middle of a forest in the hot sun, not to happy about the latetess mix up when we see a lady in a beautiful dress (?) picking up garbage. She has just enough English to tell us a 'bus - 1K away' So now we cut through the forest on the other side of the tracks and there is a town we could neither see or hear from the railroad tracks! We got directions and made it back to town just fine.

The food here is fantastic. I'm sure I have gained 5lbs already. Not the meat and potatoes type fare most of us were thinking we would get. The Latvia beaches are beautiful. Golden sand, clean, and trees nearby so you could be in the shade if you wanted.

Riga is the largest city in the Baltics. I happened to be riding in by myself. I think I was more nervous then when I was on the pothole stretch of EURO VELO#1. I didn't know the name of our hotel ( I'm following chalk arrows on the road) and no cell phone. But I made it fine.

This is a fun , congenial group and I'm having a great time! Love Helen/Mom