Here, there and everywhere

But home now. So. This has been the longest I've stepped away. Unintentional, but I'm back, settling in from a crazy few months that included numerous out-of-state jaunts for family events, several visits from faraway friends/family and a long-planned trip.

I went to Latvia!

I soaked in the incredible and varied city scenes in Riga.

An interior court behind a shop in Old Town Riga.

A fun roof line against a clear August sky.

The gorgeous ceiling of St. John's Church.

House of the Blackheads

I sampled as many Latvian and Russian dishes as I could and took full advantage of the opportunity to indulge in the cafe and beer garden culture of late summer in eastern Europe.

Cold beetroot soup ~ as delicious as it is pretty.

So many beautiful, fresh-from-the-garden dishes.

Our favorite beer garden, Egle, practically obscured by overflowing flowerpots.

I lingered over gorgeous Latvian mittens at craft fairs, street stalls and shops at every turn. (More about these in a separate post.)

I strolled in the Baltic Sea.

The beach at Jurmala with Ms.Ferreting Out the Fun, aka Heather, my DIL

I went to Finland!

Helsinki harbor

I spent a day in Helsinki, a smaller than expected but beautiful port city. 

I ate lots and lots of licorice. Who knew that licorice is so popular in Finland, especially the 'salty' kind, salmiakki? An afternoon stop included two kinds of licorice ice cream on the menu, one vanilla dotted with licorice, the other, salty version, resembling cement. Looks can be deceiving ~ delicious! 

I shopped, a bit. The Finnish design aesthetic is obvious everywhere. Finland is home to both Marimekko and Ittala and it was fun to stop by their flagship stores.

I spent a day out on Suomenlinna, an island fortress a short ferry ride from Helsinki, so important to Finland's defense through the ages.  

A small population still lives on the island in distinctive, charming cottages.

Some views reminded me of my childhood in Maine.

We brought picnic food and lunched on reindeer, sea buckthorn jam, fresh bread and my new summer favorite, pear cider.

And then I went to Estonia.

I'll be honest. I knew little about Estonia before we made the two-hour ferry trip across the Baltic from Helsinki. From a distance, Tallinn looked like a fairytale.

Up close it did, too.

 

Most of the buildings in Tallinn's Old Town date to the 13th-16th centuries. On our last night there, we took a stroll around the interior of the city walls. It felt like a Disney set.

I returned to Riga for a few more lovely days. 

After two wonderful, late summer weeks in a location that was not on my radar until recently, I came home, unpacked my suitcases and put my feet up. Then I booked a flight and went back to Latvia!

Really. I went back to Latvia. 

For two more weeks in October. But that's another post. With mittens. Don't forget the mittens.

Comments

[audrey]

Very fun! You are quite the world traveler and obviously not just to the popular places on earth.:) My great grandparents were from Estonia so we grew up hearing stories about that country. I've always wanted to go!

[Anita Zobens]

Oh I am so glad you enjoyed Latvia. Now you know why I spend every summer there! Was the quilt show still on while you were in Riga?

[Gale Zucker (she shoots sheep shots)]

Great travelogue. I never knew I wanted to go to Finland but now I do!

[Linda in NC]

I've been missing you while you were off having a wonderful time. Thanks for the taste of some beautiful countries. And the mittens!!! So looking forward to them! I knit a pair once upon a time; the pictures in today's post are inspiration to knit another.

[Thimbleanna]

At last -- you've been missed! Your pictures are beautiful -- you lucky, lucky girl! Latvia looks wonderful -- and perfect in the summer. I'll bet you had an amazing time. Thanks for sharing your photos and making us drool. I can't wait to hear about your second trip. And I'm thinking it would be fun to do a mitten-along during our freezing cold January. And, of course, you're the queen, so I nominate you to lead it LOL!!!

[janet]

Do I ever love those mittens!! Wow they are all gorgeous! Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures :0) It sounds like you had a wonderful trip.

[Diane]

Wonderful to see the world Totally love the mittens.

[Tonya Ricucci]

gorgeous and what beautiful weather

[Jenny M]

Great photos ~ what an exciting time for you. Our daughter meet an Estonian girl working here in Australia for a year, and she invited our daughter to visit her in Estonia. Our daughter visited her and had a wonderful time there and she loved Tallinn's Old Town.

[blackbird]

This is a lovely post! All those wonderful photos...and, damnit, I want some of those mittens.
I had sort of figured that you went to Latvia and then some other places and then home???AND THEN LATVIA AGAIN???
So I'm looking forward to further explanations. And photos of mittens.

xo

[Meredithe]

How wonderful! Such colourful pics - it all looks so beautiful. Liquorice Icecream? Hmmm, sounds delicious.

[Molly]

Great post--catching up here too. Shopping, "a bit," huh? If I could like Blackbird's comment, I would. Ha!

[Pip]

Amazing photos! and those mittens.

[Kay]

There's got to be a story there! I wanted to book a return flight to Iceland as soon as we got back--but I didn't!

Can't wait. Might need to borrow some mitten pictures. Yours are outstanding.

Xo

[Wendy]

Now that is the perfect story for what I did on my summer ( and longer) vacation! Loved the many pictures. I enjoyed following you all around/ Always great photos and adventures! Can't wait to read the mittens post. It's that time of year!