Riga Highlights

Saturday afternoon we loaded up with Slingshot to take the bus to Riga. Five hours later, we were there in time for dinner and exploring the city by night. After some Turkish fast food, riding in a bicycle taxi and getting lost too many times to count, we went to bed.

Sunday morning, Palm Sunday, we went to an english-speaking Anglican Church. Dream come true. I had forgotten how much I missed the Anglican service, which to me blends so well tradition and scripture and beauty and mystery of the faith.

We wandered more that day but mainly just spend time in a tea shop drinking the best tea of my life. Anyways, on to the highlights reel: 

Probably the worst picture of the trip, but captured so much of the night. Lots of lights. Crazy bike taxi. Just a blur.

The next morning was rainy, but we still had fun walking around. This is just some random street.

Hunter, Joel and Jonathan saw a tree hanging out over the water. They had to climb it.

Lori introduced us to this place. We loved it.

Danica eating her chocolate cake and me drinking the  b e s t  tea of my life.

This isn't the Anglican Church we went to - but isn't she beautiful? Walking down many of the side streets you could peak up through the breaks in the buildings and see the spire. Incredible. Favorite picture of the trip.

Thankful to have these experiences with such an awesome group of people. So many things seen and heard, taught and learned. Cannot imagine this time spent any other way. Filled with gratitude.

Almost a Play-by-Play, Moscow Edition

Past two days + some pretty rad iPhone pics. 

After taking a bus from Klaipeda, Lithuania to Riga, Latvia, we hopped on a night train to Moscow. We talked, we ate, we slept, we made it through the border check and before we knew it woke up to snow covered Russian countryside. Twenty-four hours in total.

We took a minute to drop off our bags, but quickly got right to seeing the city. It began with taking the Metro (a post in itself, the metro system) to the RED SQUARE. What. 

There, we saw the Museum of Russian History, the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral, a huge mall (I forget the name - there have been so many things to remember!). We've been back there since, and every time I get this feeling of awe and amazement. 

From there we made our way around to the main entrance of the Kremlin to tour the Armory and a couple churches within the walls. Everything, incredible. The riches that are in that place...and we were told we only saw 4%. The rest is hidden away. 

Anyways, to today. The first stop on our list was a string of many stops. We explored the underground, the spidery system of trains that traverse the city. They're beautiful, covered almost entirely with white, black, red, or green marble. One even looked like it had gold in the mosaic tiles. These undergrounds also served as shelter durning the Cold War - when you go down the escalator, you go dowwwnnnnnn. Far. 

After exploring we came back up to the Red Square where we toured St. Basil's. If you saw the picture I posted on IG/Facebook, that's the place. Walking in, I imagined it to open up to a huge all-encompassing view to the tops of the domes. Not the case. It's actually broken up into rooms and hallways, most of which are intricately painted of saints, church fathers and other designs. At the highest point we could go, three men stood and chanted. Amazing experience.

The next church was just as incredible. Words can't describe, and pictures weren't allowed. Dangit. But it was so meticulously created, with each piece and painting done in a way that reflected the glory and power of God. That's my take, anyways.

Arabat Street was next. In its day, it was the place to live. Rich, influential, movers and shakers of the day lived here. What day? I forget, exactly, but maybe in a future post you'll get more details.

Quick trip to Gorky Park to see the biggest ice rink I've ever seen (feet were just too tired at this point to do anything but hold me upright). This was then followed by seeing the Red Square at night, all lit up. After being those Americans we came back to the hostel. Day two, done & done. 

Tomorrow afternoon we go by train to St. Petersburg, where we walk walk walk and see all the things.

I'm so doggone tired. But cannot believe this experience. When we have little breaks, I find myself wondering how the heck I ended up here. I am in RUSSIA. Also - all of the stories that surround us - how events twisted and turned and shaped the lives of those who lived then and now. Are we products of our culture, or is our culture a product of us? How are we defined by the events and decisions happening around us?

McDonald's burger. We'll call it a cultural experience. 

To: Kaunas

Lauren, Danica, Gracie and I made a little weekend trip to a nearby city - Kaunas. It's just a three(ish) hour bus ride from Klaipeda and offers the little change of scenery we were craving.

After classes on the 14th, we got to the bus station, hopped on and were headed to Kaunas. We got to our hostel, The Monk's Bunk and crashed. I don't think the guy there knew what to do with us - he kept asking what kind of bar we wanted to go to...or maybe a concert? We wanted girl time and sleep. Typical.

The next two days consisted of walking around Old Town, exploring old churches and cobbled side streets. We spent way to much time inside of coffee shops, but I don't think any of us would complain. It was just nice go get away for a little bit. 

I think even my unedited, iPhone pictures will capture the few days better than my words will at this point. So here ya go:

Big church? Impressive.

Four girls, just adventurin' to find the hostel late at night. Finally found it in a back alley. Our parents love this, I'm sure.

Breakfast the next morning. Best pastry I've had to date. Had to document.

Books on books on books on the main street.

We couldn't go in this church, but it was massive. And goregeous.

Remaining section of the fortress(?) in Kaunas. There's a river to the right, and the Old Town sits to the left. If you look far left, you'll see part of the church that's captured in the photo below.

Imagine that behind where I'm standing as I'm taking the picture, that there's a huge, sad looking sanctuary. Except, pews line the aisle and colored pictures are hung on the walls. 

We saw a WEDDING. For those of you who have been following my Pinterest board, you'll know I've been into those lately. Ring-by-spring am-I-rite.

Cookie shop. Those chocolate ones, front and center left? Yum.

The main walking path, which we spent 99% of our time walking, was great to the directionally challenged (me). Took us straight from this beautiful church to our hostel directly down to Old Town. Dream.

Danica - Me - Lauren - Gracie

The cutest old man took this picture. No English, but big smiles all around.

File Under: My Bad

For the five or six of you who regularly check in, you might have recently noticed a lack of regular posts. File under: My Bad.

So many incredible things are happening. Incredible in the great-big-awesome kind of sense of the word. And when these incredible things happen, I just want to write and write and write about them - sharing the little details with you in an attempt to let you see what's going on through my eyes.

Except, when I finally sit down to write it all out, the stories and thoughts just seem long-winded and flat. And I HATE that because that's not how they are at all.

Take Valentines Day. I've sat down to write that at least three times and it still doesn't feel like I've really captured it. Not to mention I only took one picture, so I can't even speak through those.

Take Kaunas. Great weekend of exploring another Lithuanian city, or just kind of hopping from coffee shop to cookie shop back to coffee shop. Except, we did wander through Old Town and we did step into the most beat up old church only to see pews still lining the sanctuary and crayon-colored pictures strung up on the walls. Incredible.

Take my 'merican night. Dropping 21 litas on one meal never felt so good. I hadn't eaten beef in 6 weeks, and I cannot express how delicious that thick burger and fries tasted. Chalk that one up to simple things in life.

Take volunteering at the Baby House. How can my heart feel so beat up but so full of love at the same time? I can go from near tears to gut-busting laughter with those littles...stories to come.

Or take today. Going into Old Town to do homework only to spend at least half of the time if not more in an incredible conversation. A conversation that made me feel about 100 different ways and challenged and gave hope and food for thought. Top tenner for sure.

Take that last thing, today, and bring it back to that first thing I talked about...how it's so difficult to make these things come alive for you as they are for me but how badly I want that to happen. I try and type like I see and talk, but lately it seems like a different language. A roommate of a friend remarked that when she speaks English, she doesn't feel like she can be herself. That's how I feel with this little space...at least recently.

I wish I could sit with you and just talk about it. Have my pictures all lined up in a cute little Prezi and flip through them like I did with my church after coming back from Nepal. Or better yet, lay them all out on the coffee table with hot mugs and have all afternoon to catch up. Some day.

While writing, this song and this song and this song played.