Latvia Day 2: Sigulda

Uncle Igor was telling us about this place called Sigulda that had a castle, and he laid out the program that we were supposed to follow on our 2nd day in Latvia.  We checked out our Lonely Planet guide, found Sigulda there, and compared notes.  Turned out Uncle Igor’s version of the plan was word for word identical to the one suggested by the guide.  Without any doubts we settled on that plan.  That is until the morning of the day when we were supposed to set out on our (mostly) outdoor adventure.  The thing was it was raining cats and dogs (extra points to whoever can tell where this expression comes from).   All night long.  And then in the morning.  We were woken up by the sound of the rain hitting the trees outside not to mention the thunder and lightnining.  After some consideration we decided to proceed, and settled on a slogan for the trip “Tourists don’t chose the weather”.  To date, our rain jackets are the most useful piece of equipment we brought with us.
Sigulda is about an hour away from Riga.  It’s a nice little town with a castle, and a bunch of other very old buildings.  One of the ways to get to the castle is via a cable car (“funikuler”), which is what we did.  It runs about 150 feet above the ground, and the ride is picturesque (see videos, we’ll eventually upload it there).  As we were riding the train, and the cable car the weather was calm, as it was during the first hour of our walk.  However as we were making way from Krimulda (one small town) to the castle with a stop for lunch at a cave, we got caught in a storm.  As we’re writing this on the next day, we can tell you that’s not the last time we got caught in a storm.  More on this subject in the next post.
By the time we got to the castle, and climbed up and down the tower, the weather improved, and we were able to explore, and enjoy the castle with its museums, and the surroundings.  Again, the whole thing is best described in pictures rather than words.
We brought some apples with us, but instead ate those that we knocked down from the trees using Uncle Ugor’s umbrella. 

By now we owe you write ups about 2 more places we’ve visited, but we gotta go fetch the next bus. 
Till next free wifi,

Lev & Julie

2011.08.14 Sigulda