Latvia

Back over in Europe, we're headed to the meat of the Baltic sandwich, Latvia! (Estonia and Lithuania would be the bun in this scenario.) 

Now, our book says (and I quote) "Latvia is a country beautiful country with enough weird and wonderful features to keep you enthralled for hours." That's hours people, not days. I mean, to be fair it is just under 25,000 square miles. That's like just over half the size of Ohio, and that only has enough features to keep me busy for 'hours' too. 

Two million people call Latvia home, so it can't be all that terrible. In fact, Riga (the capital) is said to be the largest and most exciting metropolis in the Baltics. There's the 'old quarter', full of cobblestone streets, steeples (the country is 79% Christian),  and some pretty awesome architecture. The city is famous for it's Art Nouveau architecture, which is inspired by nature. 

But, Riga also a modern city  with a vibrant nightlife. And, you can take part in some adventure sports like cycling in the summer and skiing and bobsledding in the winter. 

As a Floridian, I can appreciate the low population density of Latvia. I sure wish we had a lower population density here. (I get it, I moved here, I'm part of the problem). Anyway, large parts of Latvia are covered by forests and wetlands so there's no shortage of national parks and nature preserves. 

Our landmark goes to one of those: Gauja National Park. It has impressive sandstone rock, cliffs, and caves. The colorful sandstone formations were formed 350-370 million years ago. You can ride horses through the rivers, and might even stumble across some old Soviet bunkers. 

Speaking of those Soviet Bunkers, we also could have used the Freedom monument as our landmark. It's their most famous monument. It honors 3,000 soldiers that were killed during the 1918-1920 Latvian War of Independence from Russia. 

Some other fun Latvia facts for you: 

Want to eat a Latvian delicacy? That's going to be the River Lampreys, a long eel like fish with no jaws who suck blood from other fish for food. Latvia is the only country to eat them, usually after marinating them in coffee (gross!) 

Every five years they host the Latvia Song and Dance Fest, which is the largest amateur choral tradition in the world. They're expecting 30,000 people next year, who will sing Latvian folk songs a cappella. 

In Latvia, children are given brightly colored woven Lielvarde belts, unique to them. These belts will be used at special occasions and festivals for the person's entire life. 

And, if you're looking for a famous resident, look no further than Crocodile Dundee, or at least the real life inspiration for him. Arvids Blumentals was born in Latvia and moved to Australia after WWII, reportedly killing more than 40,000 crocodiles there. 

The boys made their postcards. 

Calib's featured colorful architecture and secret soviet bunkers. 

Peyton's featured the crocodile hunter and a guy who caught the river lampreys. 

Hayden's featured lots of trees for all the green space. 

Ok, so Latvia dinner started out as kind of a disaster. On Latvia day, Asa wanted to slow cook the pork, but he forgot. So, he decided to do the Dutch oven. But then he had to take some kids to the dentist for their checkups, and I didn't check it before it was burnt to the bottom. By the time he got home, we had to scrap dinner all together. 

So, we had to pick it up another night. That meant our strawberries and blueberries were long gone, and the bacon had been used when it burnt to the bottom of the Dutch oven. The second go around he did remember to slow cook the pork though. 

After all the drama, Latvia dinner happened a few days late. We had Latvian Apple Cake, Latvian Salad, and Kurzeme Stronganoff. 

This meal earned three (maybe 3.5) spoons up. 

I mean, it's basically french fries on top of stroganoff, so you know I was on board. Asa and Calib were also fans. 

Peyton ate it, but deconstructed.  He was put off by radishes in the salad though. 

Hayden said he enjoyed it. But, he mostly picked the french fries from underneath, leaving a whole lot of the stroganoff. 

We colored Latvia in light blue between dark red Estonia and dark green Lithuania. 

That's 144 countries down, 52 to go! 

Next Up: Macedonia