Going Back

I was looking forward to meeting my relative, Arturs Tocups. That's my grandmother's sister's family. More on them later. The two sister's families originally lived close to each other, up in the north-east corner of Latvia, near Aluksne. My mom had visited Arturs and his wife Lena on our previous two trips, after I had already left for home. Today would be my first visit to a lot of places.

First we had to get there. It's a long drive. Above, our road-side ammenities! (I'm not sure what you do in winter, though!) And travel is strictly BYOB: bring your own biscuits and coffee, that is.

Our first stop is Velena. This is the church where my grand-parents married. It's now a national historic monument.