Dubrovnik - You Gotta See This Place

Late in November we took advantage of a long weekend and drove to Dubrovnik, Croatia, about 4 1/2 hours from Sarajevo. We'd seen photos, had the guide book, heard the good word of mouth about the place, but all that didn't seem to prepare us for the amazing sight that is the walled city of Dubrovnik. Naturally, we first witnessed it driving around it on less than a one-lane road looking for a place to park. Amazingly, the parking "dudes" had little patience for a caravan of three cars blocking traffic, asking for directions in English, and generally disrupting the calm, non touristy, non cruise season, late fall Dubrovnik.

Alas, we did find a place to store the autos, and entered the walled city where we would be staying for the next three days. The idea to stay at a small pension inside the city proved a good decision, and we would highly recommend to anyone thinking of a visit.

We spent our first evening dining at a waterside pizza place, looking back over the city as the sun went down. The kids had a plaza to run around, and the adults had copious amounts of red wine to enjoy.

We spent most of our weekend exploring the many plazas, courtyards, alleys, and nooks that make up the walled city. There was a noticeable absence of kids, and guessing that when the six we had engaged in a light-saber battle in one of the squares, a few locals may have noticed.

We'll be back for another look, in the meantime, enjoy the photos.





OUR PIZZA PLACE

Riga - It's Dark Here

In November 2009, the adult version of the Tyvand family attended an AP conference in Riga, Latvia. Highlights included a 5 hour layover in Vienna without children, a hotel with an extensive sauna complex (reminded us of Russian banya experience) in the basement, good restaurants and an evening in downtown Riga.

Given the time of year, the latitude of Latvia, and the fact that we spent our days locked up in meetings, we really only got to see Riga at night. Another way of saying that if you dropped us off there in the daytime we may not recognize the place. Theme of the trip, "Riga, it's dark here".

We spent our first night in the hotel utilizing the extensive sauna system in the basement. One had their choice of sauna rooms based upon temperature. Small pools were available for the inevitable cool down.

Our last evening we explored the historic cobblestone downtown area and celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary.

The daytime picture you see is taken in Jarmala, location of our hotel, approximately 20 km from Riga. Beach resort town, and judging from the photos posted in local restaurants, quite the place to be during the summer months.