Pilsrundale and on to Riga

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We drove into Latvia from Vilnius - the border crossing was very easy as both Lithuania and Latvia are signed up to the Schengen Agreement. Our first stop in Latvia was in Rundale, near to the town of Bauska. Here we had a look around Pilsrundale, a baroque palace that was designed by the same person as the Winter Palace in St Petersburg. Whilst we were driving through the countryside in Lithuania and Latvia we saw a lot of storks, but were quite amused to find that some had built their huge nest right on top of the palace at Rundale!

From Rundale, we travelled further north to Riga, the capital. We really liked Riga's old town and the freedom monument, which we had a good view of from our hotel! One thing we weren't quite so keen on though was the local spirit - Riga Balsam doesn't taste very pleasant at all!!

From Riga we took the train to Majori, one of the small towns that make up the seaside resort of Jurmala. We were very excited to dip our feet (well, Lara wouldn't let me get mine too wet!) in the Baltic Sea with all of the other people enjoying the summer sunshine!

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