Carpe Viam

14/06/2026

Our final stops in Lithuania were the very bizarre Grūtas Park in Grūtas and the near border town of Druskininkai. The Grūtas park was a park containing soviet statues and other artifacts that had been removed from their prominent display locations when Lithuania regained its independence and were then placed in this privately owned outdoor museum, which is also a play park for kids as well as a little animal park (yeah, you wouldn't think those things would go together, I'm still not sure they do...). It had only a few people visiting on a random somewhat cold, overcast fall day after a rain, with strange soviet era music playing from poor quality speakers, and it all made the experience that much more surreal and bizarre...but certainly an interesting experience. From there though we headed to a more charming location, the spa town of Druskininkai, known for its mineral waters that are said to have therapeutic properties. Unfortunately the spas were a bit spendy so we didn't do those but we did treat ourselves to a hotel stay with a jet bathtub (haha). The town itself was very charming, calm and quiet with a lovely park and very interesting architecture and other things on display. It was a nice little final moment in Lithuania before heading out.

10/06/2026

Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital and largest city, and most-populous city in the Baltic states, "is known for its baroque architecture, seen especially in its medieval Old Town. But the buildings lining this district’s partially cobblestoned streets reflect diverse styles and eras, from the neoclassical Vilnius Cathedral to Gothic St. Anne's Church." (google) Its architecture and old charm charm were indeed lovely, but what stood out a bit more was the artistic side of the city. The district of Užupis is the artistic and bohemian area and has apparently declared itself an independent republic. It added a unique and unexpected edge and charm to this city that we enjoyed exploring. We only had one day and evening there but would imagine it would be a great place to spend more time in to get to know even more about this seemingly fun and interesting place.

10/06/2026

After we left Kaunas, we visited a nearby monument and fort site that had a tragic history (both World War 1 and especially WWII) but we felt was important to visit to learn from and reflect on these events in history. It was back in October of 2025, with events in the US definitely concerning us and mirroring the early days of these tragedies. It was definitely a heavy and emotional visit but we're grateful for monuments, museums and the like that teach about these horrors of history rather than try to hide or erase them.

From there we headed to more peaceful sites to visit, camping in a lovely quiet forest before then heading to an open air museum (free or by donation) to learn about the village, and homesteads, and hill forts of the people in the area during the 13th and 14th centuries. You could go in and out of the homes and see examples of how they once lived and read signs describing what you saw, an impressive and nice exhibition in nature for free/low cost.
Chloé Conroy and Toby Conroy

09/06/2026

Next on our tour of the Baltic was Lithuania. Our first stop after entering country was the Hill of Crosses, a unique landmark to stop and see on our way, a hill featuring over 200,000 crosses and other religious symbols (more about it in the caption of the panoramic photo of this place). From there we continued south, having a lovey lunch in the nearby town of Šiauliai and a nice night camping by the river near Raudondvaris before heading to the second largest city in Lithuania, Kaunas. Kaunas was unexpectedly charming. Not only did it have historical sights and a lovely old town, but it was also full of delightful art, including the Yard Gallery, a historic courtyard that has been turned into a an artistic courtyard to draw attention to it and its history; an incredibly fascinating and unique place to visit. So far, Lithuania was definitely turning out to be both lovely and full of interesting sights to see!

07/06/2026

We were a bit unfair to Latvia, spending so little time there and only barely scratching the surface but we were on a mission to head south before it got to cold, both in the north and in our new destination goal of getting to Greece. On our way through the country we visited Gutman's cave in Sigulda, a cave with inscriptions dating back to the 17th century and many other stories to tell about it (more in captions of the photos). Our main stop though was the city of Riga, "home to approximately 800 Art Nouveau buildings, representing the highest concentration of this architectural style in the world. These structures make up about one-third of all buildings in the city's historic center." It is also a UNESCO world heritage site for this reason as well as the medieval buildings that are also found in the old town area of the city. We took almost 400 photos in our short time there because it really did have some remarkable examples of Art Nouveau with some incredible details (we loved this about Barcelona, but this far exceeded what we saw there). This album has a lot of photos in it but I tried to cull as best as I could and just give the best of the best (a real challenge with so many incredible examples). Plus I had to share a few of the other interesting things we saw while there as well...a great city, highly recommended to visit for your own personal Art Nouveau (and more) touring! (With Chloé Conroy and Toby Conroy

31/05/2026

We arrived in Estonia to lovely but already cooling weather and a cold rain in the upcoming forecast. Not wanting to be in the north for winter, we made the most of our good weather time in Estonia but only stayed a week. It was a lovely week with plenty of free camping and park areas, as well as other beautiful sights to see. The capital city of Tallinn was a wonderful city to visit, with plenty of historic sights to see and visit in the medieval old town, but also had a really vibrant, fun and artistic Telliskivi Creative City with loads of fun street art and with seemingly lots of interesting food options (though the summer really would be best for this area as it's mainly outdoors). There was also the Rotermann Quarter of Tallinn, former mills, factories and warehouses now turned into an interesting urban area. Another area with plenty to see, do and eat. From there we continued south to the border but before leaving visited one of the many marshland parks (Estonia is primarily marshlands) to take in the natural scenery from the wooden walkways they provide. Estonia was a great start to our journey through the Baltic states.

30/05/2026

28/05/2026

Last summer we stopped from our usual continuous road travels for an extended stay on the island of Sandhamn in the Stockholm archipelago. This island is where the Swedish part of our family have a summer home, a home build in 1929 for the family, when my grandmother was just a little girl. It has since been the summer home to 5 generations of growing family. It has been a special gathering place for us all to share (albeit not without its challenges at times). Generally we have made it work though, coming together to enjoy summer activities, generational traditions, family gatherings, cousin bonding, family dinners, etc. Toby and I usually only get a week or so here and there to spend time there but this year we had the time and committed ourselves to something we’d been wanting to do for quite a while: repainting the old house. The family have done builds, repainting, repairs and upkeep over the years, using up their summer time to work on her. Visiting for such short periods usually, we’ve never been able to be of much help with it all. The house was looking dry on some sides and getting a layer of mildew growth on the shady sides; there were some old cracked beams and some rotten wood parts and multiple shades of old peeling paint. She needed some good attention spent on her and we really wanted to do it, our gift to the house and family. The work did take more time than we’d thought initially but we got it done and feel good about what we accomplished. We also spent time with the family when they came out for their summer holiday, spent time with some of the little animals that visited the property, got to know the house and family history better and got to be there from opening at the end of spring to the closing up in the fall. A busy, hardworking summer but full of new memories and a sense of accomplishment! (Plus hearing since that my 101 year old grandmother who doesn't remember too much these days, recall on several occasions now that we repainted her beloved summer home has made me so proud and happy!) Please enjoy this album sharing some of the many photos and videos of our time there...

22/05/2026

Günaydın

02/05/2026

(Rainy days allowing me to do some photo album catch-up! 3 albums in 24 hours! Still a year behind but we stopped for the summer so there won't be many photos from that time...)

After our little visit in England to see Toby's family and do the annual vehicle inspection, we hit the road again, this time heading for our summer destination, my family's summer home on a small island in the Stockholm (Sweden) archipelago to repaint the almost 100 year old house that was long overdue for some small repairs and new paint. We took the ferry back over to mainland Europe and made our way quickly north through all the countries, stopping as usual to visit the family we could along the way. Once we got to Sweden, we decided to change our usual route to Stockholm and this time did some touring of the south-eastern side of Sweden, visiting areas we had never been before. In addition to seeing lots of beautiful Swedish nature, we got to learn some history about Sweden as well my family as well, which turned out to be quite interesting and exciting for me. Finally we arrived in the Stockholm area and visited with some family there before beginning our painting project for the summer...