Day 43: Just park up here, thanks

Although I promised myself that I wouldn't track my house contract on its way to France from Latvia, I got the sudden urge to this morning. It's a good thing I did because it safely reached France this morning. Yay!

Me and the other film intern were quite hesitant about whether to go to the nearby town of Cesis or not today. The torrential downpour of rain wasn't helping at all. As soon as I saw a small glimpse of sun peeking through the clouds, I made the final decision - we were going to Cesis!

Our Latvian production assistant had two main places in mind that we could film. We are indeed very lucky to have her in our team, otherwise who knows where we would end up.

The first thing I saw: another monument tower.

Our first film location was "May Park". When I saw it, I knew exactly why she wanted us to film here. It was beautiful!

There is always a fountain in Latvian parks!

We were capturing some great shots while the sun was still out, but then something caught my eye at the end of the lake...

The first time I've ever seen a black swan.

I was in awe for about 5 minutes; the only swans I've ever seen are the Queen's white swans. Liz, we need to get us some of these, pronto! This was the best park ever... It has everything in it you could ever want.

Including a treehouse!

Our park scenes were slowly coming to an end, but my "typical tourist" photos certainly were not.

Me with flowers.

Oh, there's more.

Me with park.

It was time to walk to our next set, which was conveniently located just across the road from where we were - Cesis castle ruins. On departure, I saw some strange wooden sculptures.

No idea what that is!

I know all too well what this is!

After stopping every minute to take some photos - I'll probably never come back to Cesis so it was acceptable - we finally arrived at the castle.

Built in 1209. Wow.

I still get blown away by the history of this country, particularly buildings that have withstood World Wars. After a spot of lunch, it was time to leave - the rain was bucketing down! As soon as we arrived back in Valmiera, it stopped. I was cycling back to the dorms, trying to ride as fast as I could without getting puddles splashed up my back and spotted this:

One good thing about rain!

I came home to find an email from my university with my travel insurance policy for France attached. Going to study in France is becoming more and more of a reality everyday...

Cloudy or sunny - which is it going to be?

"History is created by people. Each individual is a key protagonist in that endeavor. Instead of relying on others, we must enact our own great drama of creativity. Then we can break through the shell of our limited self, advancing and improving ourselves day after day" - Daisaku Ikeda