Sigulda!

We arrived in Sigulda on Monday morning. Relaxing was the objective for the day. Late that afternoon, we found a grocery store and made dinner.
The next morning we awoke to lighting, thunder, and rain. Was the storm raining on our parade? Yes, it was! We eventually got up enough courage to venture out in the rain. First, we walked through the city to the cable cars. The cable car took you over the Gauja Valley to the Krimulda Castle ruins. The view from the cable car was foggy yet stunning, but one of the other passengers had a gun straped to his side. That was a bit sketchy since one of the street vendors sais that was definetly not legal, but we lived through it. We took a wooden path to the ruins. The castle was built between 1255 and 1273 and once used as a guesthouse for visting dignitares. We climbed on top and around the ruins. Then, we headed east down 410 wooden steps and followed a wooden riverside path leading to Gutmanis Cave. On our way, we ran into a Japanese girl named, Miharu, who is studying Lativan culture. Miharu joined us for the remainder of the day to see the sites of Sigulda. The cave was covered in graffiti dating back to the 16th century. Legend says that the water flowing out of the cave is supposed to remove facial wrinkles. Jay immediately dipped in and asked "Did it work?" Back on the wooden path, we made our way to the Turaida Musem Reserve. Here we saw the Turaida Castle. This red-brick archbishop's castle was founded in 1214. It was blown up when lightning hit its gunpowder store in the 18th century. The word Turaida means "Gods Garden" in ancient Lativan. We climbed up the Donjon tower to see a panaromic view of the Gauja Valley. This view was breathtaking as you viewed the greenest trees and the Gauja River winding. We climbed down the tower and back through the wooden path to the Sigulda castle. When you approach the castle is looks newly built with rows of flowers on each side of the walkway. Here we had dinner in the castle's resturant. Then, we walked our new friend to the train station and said our goodbyes.
Today, we took an hour train ride to Riga and hopped on a 3 hour bus ride to Ventspils. We plan on taking a ferry to the Estonia island, Saaremaa. Here we will stay for three days, with last day being at a Spa hotel where we will get two Spa treatments. We're STOKED! Kacee's screaming PEDICURE!
We had no luck in finding an internet cafe to post our blog. Photos will be uploaded at the next place we find. Sorry, Ventspills has no Internet!
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