Jūrmala

Our third day we took a train to Jūrmala, which is a long stretch of beach not too far outside of Riga.  Once there, we found our hotel, which was a small and cozy bed and breakfast sort of place, we dropped off our stuff, and headed straight to the beach!  Now, the Baltic sea was beautiful, but certainly not warm enough for swimming! I can say that I stuck my toes in, but thats about it.  We had a lovey afternoon of relaxing in the sand and sun.  Later we had a nice lunch on the beach of calamari... Yum!!! 

We took some time to walk around the town we were staying in, and guess what?! We saw even more knitted socks, linen, and of course, amber. But it was such a beautiful afternoon that the walk was lovely.  

After the walk we went back to the hotel to check into our room... Mama's hotel was very quaint and cozy, but also a little weird... There was puffy padding all over the walls, mixed with zebra print furniture, and even a fake garden growing upside down out of the bathroom ceiling.  But our actual bedroom was the strangest of all.  Because we were on the top floor we were directly under the roof, which angled down into the floor directly above the bed... That means that everything you tried to get in or out of bed you got a nice WACK to the head!  Also, the same puffy, princess padding was used all over the doors... It made me feel like I was in one of those solitary confinement rooms, but made for a girly girl.  But despite the strange aspects it had a lot of charm, and was certainly unique.  There was even a lovely roof terrace to spend time on, which we all did before dinner.

Dinner was delicious but simple, although it was dampened by the news of the terrible fires back at home... As the evening progressed we heard more and more about the largest fire Colorado has seen in years... And it's been almost impossible to control! Here's to praying that some of this wet weather that has been following me goes in that direction, and that everyone stays safe!!