Part One- Riga and Vilnius

We have been scheming about this trip for over a year and it finally happened! I wanted remember every detail of the trip so I kept a journal that I will be kind of transferring over to the blog so I won't ever loose it! Here is a brief overview;
We visited Latvia, Lithuania, Switzerland, Venice, Rome, Sicily, and Germany (in that order) and we traveled by just about every means possible! We had a Eurorail pass that we used to get most places and we booked all of the placed we stayed via AirBnb

After almost 25 strait hours of travel, we landed in Riga, Latvia. Lina, a sister that Lewis taught on his mission in Lithuania, let us stay with her and her family. The next morning we got up and ate museli and yogurt and Lina showed us around Riga Old Town. Her two year old son cracked us up! His mom speaks Lithuanian, English, and Latvian, His dad speaks Latvian, English and Russian, and we heard Sebastian speak Lithuanian, Latvian, English, and Russian! We were laughing at how many languages he was speaking when he surprised us by yelling Hola! Hola! Hola! Spanish?! That kid is going to be a genius.

Riga was unbelievably beautiful. The winding cobblestone streets and old colorful buildings were like something from a movie. I wish we had more time there, because after a few short hours we had to hop on a bus to Vilnius, Lithuania. It was incredible to experience getting on a bus in one country, driving for three hours and getting off in an entirely new country where everyone looked different and spoke a different language! The Lithuanian countryside was beautiful, with green and yellow rolling hills and aspen and pine forests. On our trip I talked to a couple locals who told me that Lithuanians are "close to the earth." They have a culture of gardening, farming, mushroom hunting, and are just generally very close to nature. I noticed in most of the homes we visited they had incorporated plants into their decor and almost all of them had fresh cut flowers on the table. On the bus to Vilnius we saw a man and a wife tilling their farm with a horse drawn plow. I never thought I would see that in my life and it made me happy :)

Part of the reason we timed our trip the way we did was so that we could attend the LDS churches 20 year celebration of the country being open for missionary work. After getting into Vilnius, finding the apartment we were staying in, and relearning the bus system, we got to the church a little late but just in time for Lewis to bear his testimony along with others who have served their missions in Lithuania. Though I didn't understand most of what was said, the Spirit was almost overpowering and the warmth and love from the members there is something that I won't ever forget.
It was really fun to be in a country where American's weren't considered "stupid tourists." Everyone we met was super excited to meet us and LOVED that Lewis was an American who could speak Lithuanian! On the bus ride back from the church activity a bunch of girls on a field trip from Belarus got so excited when they found out we were American they took a picture of us and asked us to speak English for them :)
That night we ate Lithuanian pizza and kepta duona, which is black bread that has been fried and you dip it in cheese. It was very different, but good.
Stay tuned for more about our trip :)