Rachelle's Recent Adventures

I have been taking a couple of adventures without Linz and the kids as of late. I have been hanging out with Karen (the mom of the "Other Americans"), who loves gardens and plants. A few weeks ago, we drove through the charming Wiltshire countryside to look at the Courts Garden and the Great Chalfield Manor. This is a truly impressive medieval (15th century)home where The Other Boleyn Girl was filmed.
Karen and I also took a tour of Hampstead and the Kenwood House in London a few days later. Hampstead, once a suburb of London, is a planned community that was built for all people, regardless of social class, income or age to live side by side. It seems the utopian community didn't exactly work as dreamed, but it is still a beautiful neighborhood. Kenwood House was once the home of a Guinness (as in the Irish beer)family member and was filled with wonderful art, including a Rembrandt and a Vermeer.
I also ventured to Latvia for a short trip. I stayed both with my cousin, Gita and her daughter (and my god daughter) Anta. We had a great time soaking up the Baltic sun whilst (use of a new British word) exploring Riga's medievial streets. We went to the opera in the evening. The National Opera House is spectacular and the opera wasn't bad either (a Russian tragedy). The next day we went to Cesis to see my other cousin, Gatis, and his family. We walked around the old city and had a fabulous lunch at his house. I also went to the Jurmala (beach) with Gita. The weather was incredible, much warmer than England, and I had a wonderful relaxing time. My cousins, however, were sweating the credit crunch, which has had a profound impact on their well being. It seems the Latvians have been living high on the hog on borrowed money (gosh, that sounds familiar) and now the government is likely to go bankrupt. The cousins say that their pensions are not safe. I guess all we can do is wait with our fingers crossed, or as they say in Latvian, holding our thumb!