January was cold here in Riga. You can build a snowman here and it will last for many months.

From the top of the watchtower you can see a long way. This castle was built to protect this waterway from Sweden,that leads to Riga in the 1300

We went into one of the towers. Kelly led the way. We went up and up and up. There were five floors. Here is an old chandeleir on one of the floors. This castle was built for Brandenburg Wilhelm in 1212.

We visited a second castle that we saw in the distance from the first castle. This one had more of the structure in tact.

This is one of the entrances and a gate to the castle. From this castle you can see another castle off in the distance.

We visited a castle and a Palace garden about an hour outside of Riga in Latvia.

In Estonia we went to the beach and as you can see the Baltic Sea was frozen over for about a 1/2 mile out. I am standing on the Baltic Sea about 100 yards out on the Ice.

On New Years day we went to a small town in Estonia. Even though the sun was out, it was a very cold day. Well below 0.

New years day was a nice sunny day outside of Riga. This is the gulf of Riga.

This is a very holy place to the Baltic states for their fallen loved ones during the wars. The Pope have even dedicated this place as a holy place. During the Russian occupation the Russians bulldosed it down several times over many years, only to have the local people replace them. Kelly is making it several million and one.

We came across the hill of crosses. WOW, lots of crosses. Several million is what they say. I wouldn't want the job of counting them all.

We crossed over into Lithuania. Even though they are part of the European union they also have there own money and language. So time to change over some money so we can have lunch.

This Latvian castle was built in the mid 15th century and under the rule in the mid 1500's of Brandenburg Wilhelm, During the war agents sent Sweden to protect the waterways to Riga. The Swedish army occupied it in 1625 and destroyed a lot of it.

During the New years break we went for a drive to Lithuania. We came across the ruins of an old castle before we got to the border. Yes Kelly that is an old cannon.

Lots of places to ice skate. What else would you be doing when it gets this cold.

Every time you look across the water you are looking at another island. There is lots of outdoor shopping also.

More pictures off the cruse ship.