This was our hotel room -- in an old, restored convent. Both in the main room and the bathroom, there was a window with a deep ledge. Out the window, we had a view of St. Peter's Church. Also, right below our window, there were typically street performers -- not your run-of-the-mill wannabes, but actual musicians! We'd usually get a string trio below us (unfortunately one of the trios would repeat the same four songs, but at least they were good quality).
The rightmost yellow building is our hotel.
Walking through Old Town. (Note the relative lack of tourists!!!)
A small part of the old fortification wall that remains
Swedish Gate -- also part of the fortification, named after the Swedes who ruled Latvia when the gate was built
The "I Love You" bar, which was *not* built during Swedish rule...
Memorial built for the Barricades that were built against January 1991 Soviet attacks (several Latvians lost their lives). It was then that Latvia became independent.
House of the Blackheads... well, sort of. This is a 1999 remake. The true one got destroyed in the war. This one looks over the top, if you ask me. This was a building for unmarried merchants in Riga.
This is a storefront we had to take a picture of. We had heard there was ice cream nearby, and were wandering in the general direction -- saw this, realized how it would be pronounced in American English, and had to play "bad tourist". But -- this *was* the ice cream place! We went in, and... cheap, and good! We went back the next day.
The next day, we left "safe tourist zone" and ventured away from the old town.
We were told that the typical Latvian makes 15-30 Ls ($30-60) per day, at most.
This is part of the Riga Central Market. These zeppelin hangars were brought in to store food and other sundry/daily items for the locals to buy. There are also rows upon rows of stalls outdoors, too. One hangar alone is for MEAT and poultry -- kind of a shock to see chunks of carcass just hanging, row after row!
Not all of "real" Riga is totally run-down. This is one of the more typical areas. We went on a walking tour of the "real" Riga led by a group called Eat Riga (highly recommended!). This is what you'll typically see in the rest of Riga...
St. Gertrude's Church
Two-story wooden building typical in Riga prior to the Industrial Revolution. Post-revolution, the bigger buildings became prominent.
Such as this one, designed by Eisenstein, the prominent area art nouveau architect. Some love his work and others don't; he has a tendency to fill every little space with detail.
The tour group stopped for a coffee break at a hilarious cafe, Hospitalis. Note the "naughty nurse" outfits on the waitresses. There was a medical drama playing on the TVs.
Part of the bar
And, of course, everyone's favorite hospital fixture -- a bathtub full of goldfish. (???)
An interesting double-layer, new architecture -- the glass layer on the outside is indeed intentional! It's said that the glass on the outside allows the building to "steal" architecture from neighboring buildings via reflection.
Another Eisenstein facade.
In contrast -- a building by Laube, a simpler art nouveau architect. It looks a little more run-down because he doesn't have quite such a big fan club, and therefore his buildings get less attention...
Just outside of Old Town. Interesting fact: it is illegal to walk or sit on park grass in Riga. There are many benches in town.
Another interesting Latvian tradition: married couples etching their names and wedding dates onto locks, and locking them somewhere onto a bridge. This particular park was filled with them, whereas other, more obscure places in town still had one or two locks hanging.
A passageway through the old convent in Old Town, near our hotel
Suspension bridge across the Daugava River
And people playing sports in a park on the other side of the bridge. :)
A "you had to be there" moment: we were sitting at the park waiting for the best shot of the Old Town across the river, but it was cloudy... There was a brief moment that the sun broke through, and Bruce jumped up to take a picture of the sun hitting the spires, but right when he got into position, a large cloud mass shifted in front of the sun again. Here's the best part: on cue, two ferries passed, and both honked. Their horns had the perfect pitches and timing of the "ha-ha" of the annoying kid on the Simpsons. :D :D
Check out the hammer and sickle in the railing. Not every square in the railing contained the infamous Soviet symbol... as I recall, it sneaked into every fourth or so.
Riverfront paddleboat restaurant with the name -- I kid you not -- Misisipi.
Aerial view as we left Riga.
And we returned to this... typical Copenhagen. Below the arrows is the entrance to the escalators leading to transportation options out of the CPH airport. However, blocking the escalators are a whole bunch of abandoned luggage push-carts. We witnessed dozens of people walk along with their carts and just leave them... wherever they wanted. Off to the side was a designated area to stack the carts, but there were very few carts in the area. No, most of the locals left the carts wherever, making everyone maneuver around. A statement about the personality of the citizens, perhaps?
And I'll leave it at that, for now.
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