Not all who wander are lost. Some are just trying to see all of Ventspils on foot. “Ah!” you say. “You have a car.” True. And it sat in its spot all day today. Why drive when you can walk to destinations a mere mile-and-a-half away?

We actually do prefer walking in large towns and cities because you see so much more. We got a long look at beautiful homes with bright colors and carved woodwork. We got to see window displays and shop signs. We got to see impressive churches. And if we had driven, we would have zoomed right past the Soviet-era apartment blocks that were stunning in their total lack of architectural beauty. There were a dozen or more of them, and based on the blocks we saw housing the two thousand people at the spy center, these must hold five thousand or more people. I can understand why the apartments still exist. What I can’t understand is why they were built in a soulless design. What architect goes to school to draw up that?

Anyway, we started the day off with a building on the completely other end of the beauty spectrum – the Russian Orthodox church in town. The outside has been recently renovated, and the domes shine from blocks away. The steeple is brightly tiled, and the paint on the outside is a cheerful yellow and white. The inside of the church still has some renovation to be done up near the roof, but the main eye-level area looked fresh, and there were icons everywhere. Several were interesting to us for their artistry or story; one showed saints being ordered around by men with guns. Our best guess was it was some story from World War I, but we’re not sure. Most of the icons were very colorful, and many had multiple saints in the icon. We spent a fair time looking around the church.

Continuing the church theme, we went on to the Lutheran church on the main (but small) square. There were city workers putting up a pole that is to be lit on fire on the solstice in a few days. Sadly, the Lutheran church was closed, but they did have an exhibit running around the fence of the church. It told the story of about two dozen women who had come in for counseling after having abortions. The issues around abortion are complex, and I’m not going to pretend to solve them here, but the stories did confirm for me that even with legal choice, women still sometimes end up with no choice. Two thirds (or more) of the stories were of women basically forced to have abortions by boyfriends/husbands or their families or even in a couple of cases by their doctor saying it was for the best. Obviously, women coming into a church for counseling are not a fully representative segment of the population, but their stories are still legitimate. It was a thought-provoking display.

We headed off south and west to a park Mer wanted to see. We just strolled along, enjoying seeing things and the nice day. We were walking along a well-shaded path, and so the sun wasn’t an issue. The park itself was great, in the way we had seen in Lithuania. There was a kids’ area, and an exercise area. What was different was that there were quirky sculptures all over – a hat, some buttons, some rock sheep and bulls, a lobster, a shoe with a tongue you could climb. It also had a very impressive bike/skate/scooter park. It wasn’t just a concrete wall to do tricks off of. It was paved with multiple tracks going over bumps and hills and corners and valleys. It seemed very popular, and I can see why. We strolled the park and sat and people watched.

From the park, we walked a long ways southwest to an “adventure park” that had kids’ rides, a disc golf course, an innertube slide, and, most importantly for us, an alpine slide. We had found and ridden one two years ago in Lithuania, and so now we’ve covered slides in two thirds of the Baltic states (you’re on notice, Estonia!). The slide was short (only eight hundred meters long, including the ascent hill), but it was kicky. Slide designers can do some wonderful things with tight turns when they lack overall hill size. We both rode it twice, and had a great time.

We grabbed a light lunch on the way back to the apartment, where I got to relax for about thirty minutes while Meredith planned some stuff. What I didn’t see was Mer was sneaking my swimsuit into her backpack. Since the forecast was for rain in the evening, I assumed I was carrying umbrellas, which I was. But I was also hauling our towels and swimsuits to go to the indoor Water Adventure Park. It was a surprise to me since Mer had been so clever, but it was a nice one. In addition to two waterslides, a rapids slide (super fast), a wave pool, and a warm pool to relax in, there was a spa wing with hot tubs, saunas, an aromatherapy room (where I almost imagined I could smell something in the steam), a cold pool (that Mer tried, the nut), and a Himalayan salt room to relax in.

We spent a couple of hours there, trying everything except the hot saunas. My biggest issues were with the slides. I don’t know if my shorts have weird material, but about halfway down my first run, I pretty much came to a stop. I shoved/paddled myself along, but at the bottom I was still struck from behind by a fun-seeking supersonic tourism torpedo shouting, “I can’t stop!” Happily, she hit me with the heels of her feet to the small of my back, thereby saving any cushy and padded spot on her from being harmed.

The second slide was much the same, with regard to my slowness, and my third trip down was my last one on the waterslides. I figured someone was going to get hurt, and that someone could be me. So I tried the rapids slide. It was a much shorter slide with a bunch of sharp curves in the slide, and all the while, you are swept along by a ton of rapidly moving water. I was thinking, “THIS is more like it!” when I hit the first corner feet-first, legs extended. As my feet hit the wall and were suddenly forced right, the rest of my body weight, aided by a small tsunami of water, crushed into them. It hurt. And it happened again on the next corner. When I got to the bottom, I was left sprawling around in a shallow pool while being shoved by a lot of moving water with the sure conviction that someone else might be coming soon. I did try the slide one more time later on with the idea that I would pull my legs closer to my body. That saved my ankles. At the cost of my butt. And more floundering in the shallow pool after ramming my foot into the bottom.

I went to the spa. That was nice.

After regrouping back at the room, we walked in another direction for a mile or so to go have a nice supper. While we were walking, we got sprinkled on, and we walked home in a steady rain. But we had hats and umbrellas, and we were okay.

So we saw a lot of Ventspils today. It’s a lovely little city on the whole, and easy to get around with wide pedestrian and bike paths, and tons of parking everywhere for those driving. We’re here until Wednesday morning, so we’ll see what tomorrow brings.