Laurie Klyce Gordon update
Hi David,
(Spouse) Bruce (Gordon) and I had a great trip to the Baltics and Scandinavia. We stayed in Riga, Latvia for a few days, then Vilnius, Lithuania. We took an overnight cruise ship from Riga to Stockholm, Sweden and back. The weather was a perfect - sunny and low 70's the whole time. Riga is still trying to recover from the Russian occupation that ended in the early 90's as evidenced by some of the cracked and abandoned buildings. We went to the occupation museum and learned a lot about that. We went to a ropes course outside of town that was a blast. A ropes course is a series of ladders and tight ropes strung across very tall trees and you navigate yourself across. We saw a castle from the 1600's - it was a stark red brick building and we saw another one of these in Lithuania - that was kinda boring! BTW, there is not a good train system (thanks to the Russians) between the Baltic States, so we took the bus from Riga to Vilnius which was OK. Other highlights from Riga was a sky bar, shopping for Amber, and walking in the main park. A couple of interesting features in the park was a foot bridge with arches made of metal poles. The poles were covered with combination and key locks that were inscribed with the names and wedding dates of various couples. Apparently, there is a tradition of "locking in your love" on the bridge. Another feature was the 2-story high freedom monument. There were two men sculpted back-to-back at the top of the monument. The man facing the East (Russia) was in chains and the man facing the West (Western Europe) was free. Surprisingly, all the menus had English subtitles and most of the people under the age of 30 spoke English.
Vilnius seemed to be in better economic condition than Riga. We went to the National Museum. I saw maybe 6 other adults and two classes of students - the place was practically vacant, but the employees (or volunteers) made sure we followed the exact path for going from room to room and from downstairs to upstairs. And, unlike all the museums I have ever visited in the U.S., there was not any gift shop or one souvenir for sale. I thought that was really weird. There were some magnificent churches in this town and we visited a holocaust museum. The Holocaust museum was on the first floor of a cottage off one of the main roads and was extremely difficult to locate. Again, we were the only visitors at the time of our visit. And, just like the holocaust museum here in DC, it was a sobering experience.
The ferry ride from Riga to Stockholm was fun because of the all you can eat buffet! Yahoo! I will always remember Stockholm as having "endless charm." I mean someone planned the entire city - if a city can be a piece of art - this one is it. The National Museum was the most amazing I have ever been to. There was endless gold, silver, finely carved chests, hand woven tapestries, chandeliers, tables and chairs from previous eras. The curator planned everything from the flooring to the ceilings to replicate the feel of how the royalty lived.
I am still completing the prerequisites needed to apply to the doctoral physical therapy program at the University of Maryland. If I get in, the start date is June 2011. We are finishing the lower level of our house which will include an exercise studio for me to work with my Personal Training clients and future Physical Therapy clients.
Best,
Laurie
(Spouse) Bruce (Gordon) and I had a great trip to the Baltics and Scandinavia. We stayed in Riga, Latvia for a few days, then Vilnius, Lithuania. We took an overnight cruise ship from Riga to Stockholm, Sweden and back. The weather was a perfect - sunny and low 70's the whole time. Riga is still trying to recover from the Russian occupation that ended in the early 90's as evidenced by some of the cracked and abandoned buildings. We went to the occupation museum and learned a lot about that. We went to a ropes course outside of town that was a blast. A ropes course is a series of ladders and tight ropes strung across very tall trees and you navigate yourself across. We saw a castle from the 1600's - it was a stark red brick building and we saw another one of these in Lithuania - that was kinda boring! BTW, there is not a good train system (thanks to the Russians) between the Baltic States, so we took the bus from Riga to Vilnius which was OK. Other highlights from Riga was a sky bar, shopping for Amber, and walking in the main park. A couple of interesting features in the park was a foot bridge with arches made of metal poles. The poles were covered with combination and key locks that were inscribed with the names and wedding dates of various couples. Apparently, there is a tradition of "locking in your love" on the bridge. Another feature was the 2-story high freedom monument. There were two men sculpted back-to-back at the top of the monument. The man facing the East (Russia) was in chains and the man facing the West (Western Europe) was free. Surprisingly, all the menus had English subtitles and most of the people under the age of 30 spoke English.
Vilnius seemed to be in better economic condition than Riga. We went to the National Museum. I saw maybe 6 other adults and two classes of students - the place was practically vacant, but the employees (or volunteers) made sure we followed the exact path for going from room to room and from downstairs to upstairs. And, unlike all the museums I have ever visited in the U.S., there was not any gift shop or one souvenir for sale. I thought that was really weird. There were some magnificent churches in this town and we visited a holocaust museum. The Holocaust museum was on the first floor of a cottage off one of the main roads and was extremely difficult to locate. Again, we were the only visitors at the time of our visit. And, just like the holocaust museum here in DC, it was a sobering experience.
The ferry ride from Riga to Stockholm was fun because of the all you can eat buffet! Yahoo! I will always remember Stockholm as having "endless charm." I mean someone planned the entire city - if a city can be a piece of art - this one is it. The National Museum was the most amazing I have ever been to. There was endless gold, silver, finely carved chests, hand woven tapestries, chandeliers, tables and chairs from previous eras. The curator planned everything from the flooring to the ceilings to replicate the feel of how the royalty lived.
I am still completing the prerequisites needed to apply to the doctoral physical therapy program at the University of Maryland. If I get in, the start date is June 2011. We are finishing the lower level of our house which will include an exercise studio for me to work with my Personal Training clients and future Physical Therapy clients.
Best,
Laurie
posted by Meck at 5:43 AM
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