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 In 2007, the Lavaux Vineyards, Switzerland’s largest wine-producing area, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. Evidence suggests that vines were cultivated in the area in Roman times, while the present vine terraces have been traced to the 11th century. At that time, Benedictine and Cistercian Monasteries controlled the land. Currently, the Lavaux vineyards stretch about 30 kilometers along the northern shores of Lake Geneva in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Many of them have been run by the same families for generations. According to UNESCO, the vines, buildings and surrounding villages reflect how production of wine has changed over the past 10 centuries. For us, it was Sunday and the vineyards were closed, but it didn’t stop us from driving around the UNESCO site and enjoying the beauty of the views.
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 Today, we enjoyed a slow-moving morning with Krista, complete with good conversation, the best caffe au lait Judy has ever had, and chocolate croissants for Ken and Krista. We then flew to Riga, Latvia, where we received a warm welcome, lots of hugs and kisses, and a traditional flower bouquet from Lasma, Madara, Imants, and Ingrida. This photo was taken in the airport shortly after we arrived.
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 Today we visited Rundāle Palace, one of the major tourist destinations in Latvia. It is one of the two major baroque palaces built in the 18th century for the Dukes of Courland in what is now Latvia. It was constructed in the 1730s to a design by Bartolomeo Rastrelli as a summer residence of Ernst Johann von Biron, the Duke of Courland. After Courland was absorbed by the Russian Empire in 1795, Catherine the Great presented the palace to her lover, Prince Zubov, who spent his declining years there. His young widow remarried Count Shuvalov, thus bringing the palace to the Shuvalov family, with whom it remained until the German occupation in World War I when the German army established a hospital and a commandant’s office there. The palace suffered serious damage in 1919 during the Latvian War of Independence. In 1920, part of the premises were occupied by the local school. In 1933, Rundāle Palace was taken over by the State History Museum of Latvia. It was dealt a serious blow after the World War II, when a grain storehouse was set up in the premises and later the former duke’s dining room was transformed into the school’s gymnasium. Only in 1972 was a permanent Rundāle Palace Museum established. Today, the palace is visited by thousands of guests each year and is also used for the accommodation of notable guests, such as the leaders of foreign nations. The palace and the surrounding gardens are now a museum and both continue to be renovated.
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 From Wikipedia: "After a battle at the foot of Turaida Castle in 1601, the castle clerk, while searching for survivors, found a baby in the arms of its dead mother. He called the child Maija and brought her up as his own. She grew up to be very beautiful and so was known as the "Rose of Turaida". She fell in love with Viktor, the gardener at the castle of Sigulda (opposite Turaida over the Gauja River) and in the autumn of 1620 they prepared to be married. Shortly before the wedding Maija received a letter from Viktor asking her to meet him at the Gutmanis Cave, their usual meeting place. She went to the cave with Lenta, the young daughter of her adoptive father. When she reached it, however, it was not Viktor she encountered but a Polish nobleman or soldier called Adam Jakubowski who was lying in wait for her with the intention of forcing her to be his wife. Maija promised to give him her magic scarf, that had the power to make the wearer immune from injury (in some versions the scarf is impossible to cut through), if he would let her go, and persuaded him to test its power on her. He struck her with an axe and she died, having thus saved her honor. In the evening Viktor came to the cave and found the body of his betrothed and was accused of the murder. But in court there appeared a witness called Peteris Skudritis, who testified that he had been commissioned by Jakubowski to deliver the fatal letter. The girl Lenta confirmed the course of events. Viktor buried his betrothed near the castle, planted a linden tree on the grave and left the country for ever. According to documents in Sigulda’s archives the soldier was later caught, tried and hanged for his crime. From then on it has been customary for newlyweds to leave flowers on the grave of the Rose of Turaida in hopes of knowing the same eternal love and devotion."
This is the grave of Maija at Turaida Castle. She died in 1620.
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