tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-1620818 2008-07-08T17:24:39-07:00 A memoir of my sabbatical travels including my first trip to Latvia. TypePad tag:typepad.com,2003:post-52429518 2008-07-08T17:24:39-07:00 2008-07-08T17:24:39-07:00

I know it's been a while since I last posted. It feels like time has zoomed by since I returned. Meanwhile today I found a slideshow online (from Reuters) of the 2008 Latvian Song Festival. I felt a catch in...

Mara57 http://mara57.typepad.com/daughteroflatvia/2008/07/latvian-song-fe.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-51740214 2008-06-23T10:17:37-07:00 2008-06-23T10:17:37-07:00

It's interesting to use three different currencies on a trip, and then to make some comparisons as to how far the dollar goes these days. Although we'd been told that all three cities we were visiting were "expensive" we soon...

Mara57 http://mara57.typepad.com/daughteroflatvia/2008/06/a-tale-of-three.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-51433872 2008-06-16T18:10:24-07:00 2008-06-16T18:10:24-07:00

Two times a year, the herring run is on, and the Dutch love to make the most of it by eating raw herring from street stalls. I'd read about it in the guide books but didn't realize we'd be there...

Mara57 http://mara57.typepad.com/daughteroflatvia/2008/06/holland-the-her.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-51335098 2008-06-14T07:04:26-07:00 2008-06-14T07:04:26-07:00

Susan and I just ducked into an internet cafe while walking around the neighborhood. It's our last day here and we're just roaming and people watching, after a lunch of Dutch pancakes (hers with lemon, sugar and bacon, mine with...

Mara57 http://mara57.typepad.com/daughteroflatvia/2008/06/amsterdam-part.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-51330466 2008-06-14T01:30:37-07:00 2008-06-14T01:30:37-07:00

We have not gotten lost in one of Amsterdam's coffeehouses; there's not an internet connection on our houseboat. We LOVE Amsterdam and will post more as soon as possible.

Mara57 http://mara57.typepad.com/daughteroflatvia/2008/06/amsterdam.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-51129314 2008-06-10T02:48:25-07:00 2008-06-10T02:48:25-07:00

Susan and I have been in Stockholm more than a day now and we're using the analogy that after Riga, Stockholm is kind of like the "second child." You take fewer pictures; you're more relaxed, but also more tired; and...

Mara57 http://mara57.typepad.com/daughteroflatvia/2008/06/stockholm-the-s.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-51029380 2008-06-08T01:47:39-07:00 2008-06-08T01:47:39-07:00

Since Latvia's independence from the Soviets in the early 1990s, the food scene has evolved. Even more than I imagined, there are all types of international cuisines represented: Irish, Chinese, Lebanese, lots of sushi, American. We have had a lot...

Mara57 http://mara57.typepad.com/daughteroflatvia/2008/06/eating-american.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-50957146 2008-06-07T04:11:11-07:00 2008-06-07T04:11:11-07:00

There is so much rattling around in my brain about yesterdays' trip to the western part of Latvia (Kurzeme) but the main purpose of the trip was to see the town my mother lived in until she fled Latvia during...

Mara57 http://mara57.typepad.com/daughteroflatvia/2008/06/ventspils.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-50956494 2008-06-07T03:17:03-07:00 2008-06-07T03:17:03-07:00

I'll mostly let Kuldiga speak for itself in pictures. On Friday we visited my cousin in Saldus in the morning, then headed up to Ventspils. On the way, we stopped in Kuldiga, mostly on the suggestion of several articles in...

Mara57 http://mara57.typepad.com/daughteroflatvia/2008/06/kuldiga-in-pict.html tag:typepad.com,2003:post-50903656 2008-06-05T20:51:50-07:00 2008-06-05T20:51:50-07:00

Much of yesterday was consumed by a trip a bit out of town to the Latvian Open Air Ethnographic Museum, then getting our rental car for today's adventures. I have many photos and thoughts, just no time to post. It's...

Mara57 http://mara57.typepad.com/daughteroflatvia/2008/06/on-the-road.html