July 18, 2012 Estonia

We arrived back in Yerevan on Mon., July 16.  The cities we traveled to in Estonia were Tartu, Parnu, and Narva where the branches were located.  Carl has been taking pictures of the unique statues in some of the cities.  The pig was in Tartu.  The "flower trees" are circular planters stacked on top of each other.  The little green building is the church in Parnu.  The fountain with the children sitting under the umbrella in the rain was in Tallinn.  The woman resting was a favorite and looked similar to someone being partially covered with sand at the beach.  Carl sat by the cow to rest for a few minutes.  I really enjoy the colorful flower markets.  We used a hotel in Tallinn as our base and took buses to the branches.  The rides were 3 hours each way for one branch and the others were about 2 1/2 hours each way so the bus travel and teaching took most of the day.

July 13, 2012 Latvia

Winters in the Baltic countries is very harsh so the people really enjoy the flowers in the summer.  They use planters along the streets with graduated layers of bright flowers.  The city of Daugavpils had the bright begonias.  The locks were along a bridge in Riga.  The locks are placed there by couples in love!  The building is called Blackheads and is in Riga.  The Freedom Monument is in the main square in Riga.  The church that reminds me of a wedding cake is in Liapija.  The girls in native costumes were performing in Riga.

July 8, 2012 Lithuania

We were asked to travel to the Baltic countries so flew to Vilnius, Lithuania on Friday, June 29th.  The first picture is St. Anne's in the old city.  The white cathedral is one of the Catholic churches.  After the training on Saturday we took a train to Traika to see the castle/fort.  Carl tried out the box punishment treatment in the courtyard of the castle.  The fort is on the hill overlooking the city.  The McDonald's was decorated with balloons.  I asked why they had the decorations and they said it was for the grand opening.  I asked them when the store opened and they said, "Today is the first day!"