Riga, Latvia

Thanks to the world wide inter-googles, I was able to find us a really cheap bus between Vilnius and Riga, the capital of Latvia.  This was the brain process behind this:  I have always wanted to go to Russia.  (What?  Where are you going with this, Colleen?) It's difficult and expensive to get a Russian tourist visa for Americans, but you can visit for 72 hours visa free if you travel there on a cruise ship.  So we were really interested in booking a cruise to St. Petersburg - but all of the ones that were affordable didn't include the Baltic states of Lithuania and Latvia.  (They do include Estonia, however.)  So in order for me to visit ALL the countries, this was really the only way for us to visit Latvia.  But really, the Lux Express between the two Baltic capitals is REALLY nice!  It was clean, on time, had air conditioning, served coffee and tea, and even had video players in the back of the seats!  All for a very affordable price.  You can't beat it!

I bought the tickets ahead of time, but that isn't really necessary, even in the summer.  (For me, it's more about not stressing!)

The bus is very nice, comfortable and clean!  (Until my kids ate snacks, that is....)

Sorry.  This pretty windmill was actually in Lithuania but it was on the ride to Riga.  It was in the town of Panevezys.

The border crossing was easy, although I was on the wrong side of the bus for the sign INTO Latvia.  I could only capture the "You are entering Lithuania" sign going the opposite direction!

Entering the capital city of Riga (it's pronounced REE-gah) you can see the famous television tower, which is the highest TV tower in ALL of the European Union!  Two are taller in Europe (one in Moscow, one in Kiev) but this remains the 15th tallest self supporting tower in the world.

Remember when we were in Vilnius and we saw the start of the Baltic Way?  Well here is the location of the Riga portion of the human hand chain.

After a long day of traveling, we needed to stop and get some snacks and drinks.  It was mid afternoon, so too late for a big lunch and too early for a big dinner.

After some snacks and drinks, it began to rain a bit, so we swung into H&M to grab some umbrellas (we only had three with us and one was broken!)  Then we strolled the streets of Riga with it's pretty colored buildings.

Grant made a friend with an armadillo!

The United Buddy Bears display was showing in Riga, with a bear for every country!  We were excited to spot our "home bear" (or home slice?) dressed as Lady Liberty!

"Under this motto, the United Buddy Bears promote tolerance and understanding among nations, cultures and religions.  More than 140 Buddy Bears represent the countries recognized by the United Nations."  (Although I'm pretty certain there are 193 member states of the UN?)

One of our favorites was naturally our original motherland, Ireland!

I really liked the one from China, but it kind of looks like this Winnie the Pooh had a bit too much to drink.

We all agreed that Moldova had one of the best ones!

Natalie found our current home... Germany!

When the rain briefly stopped, we left the Buddy Bears to find the Three Brothers.  One of Riga's most famous landmarks, they represent three very different architectural styles that were popular throughout the years.  The building on the far right (the white building) was built in the late 1400s.  The yellow building was built in the mid 1600s (although the stone around the door was added in the mid 1700s, but originally had been on the white building) and the narrow building on the far left was built in the late 1600s.  The green that it "wears" on it's face is a mask to ward away the evil spirits. 

We passed by our bear friends again on our way to see the House of the Blackheads (true story... that's the name.)  

Riga, like Vilnius has some really pretty buildings!

The House of Blackheads was originally a fraternity for unmarried men of various trades back in the early 1300s.  This though?  This isn't original unfortunately.  The Germans first bombed it, and then the Soviets destroyed what was left of it.  But like a Phoenix, it was rebuilt in the 1990s!  And it's so beautiful!

Holy moley.  In all of my travels, never did I ever think that I would come across the spot where the first decorated Christmas tree stood.  Right here in Riga in 1510!  Interestingly, they actually called this a "New Year's Tree."  Also, Tallin claims they have the first decorated tree as well, but both trees were set up by the Brotherhood of the Blackheads.  It seems as if this all merged and morphed into the tales of the Christmas Tree with the tales of St. Nicholas only a few years later in Germany. 

Natalie and Todd talking about how the Brotherhood of the Blackheads set up the first ever decorated (New Year's) Christmas tree, danced around it and then set it on fire.  Ok, they weren't really talking about this.  

I'm always on the hunt for the bizarre and interesting.   Just around the corner from and behind the Town Hall Square and the House of the Blackheads, you can find a quiet, covered alleyway with many merchants peddling their products.  You can also find the Very Old Oak Tree.  It's about 3500 years old and just hanging out among the shops.  There's a little plaque that reads, "Oak Trunk:  Found during excavation work for Riga new town hall.  It grew on the shore of Daugava 3500 years ago, at about the time when Pharaoh Tutankhamen was the ruler of Egypt."  WHAT????

There's also a really cool and super tall water fall inside of this same enclosed walkway behind the Town Hall.  Weirdly, my kids were more impressed with this!

We love a jolly good pub.  This one happens to be the Colonel (inside joke: not the Captain!) but that fella looks happy!

It looks like a medieval castle, but this is really a concert hall!

Across the street from the pretty concert hall is the famous Cat House.

Grant is attempting to pick the statues nose here, but he is really just poking his cheek.  Meanwhile, Nat is picking her own nose!  This statue is called, "The Head of the Liiv" and the original is on display in the History of Riga and Navigation. Interestingly, the Liiv (or Livonian in English) were a group of people who lived in northern Latvia and southern Estonia, and spoke Livonian.  The last person who spoke it as their first language passed away in 2013, and there are only fewer than 30 people who still speak the language as a second language (which technically makes it an extinct language.)  It always makes me so sad to learn that a language has become extinct!  Meanwhile, my kids are being total jerks....

We went to Rozengrals for dinner, which was really fun!  The entire meal was eaten by candle light (and not very bright candle light, at that.)  There has been a wine cellar on this site since at least 1293.

My bread snack came wrapped in a burlap bag.

Bailey's by candlelight, about to enjoy a meal at Rozengrals in Riga!

We didn't have a reservation (because we're American, who does that?  This isn't the Cheesecake Factory for crying out loud!) but we usually eat dinner fairly early because of the kids and we usually don't have a problem getting a seat (pro tip for European travelers - make a reservation, or go eat dinner at 5:30!)  Anyway, they basically put us in a back room where we were the only people with the only lit table.  (Our fault, we are totally OK with this because this is how we choose to roll!)  But our waitress was so sweet - she told us that they were doing traditional Latvian dance in the next room so we were still able to enjoy it!

The main hall of Rozengrals still contains some of the original city defensive wall from around 1200!

I feel like he was rather surprised it was still light out when we emerged from the dungeon, but... Lativa. In the summer.

After dinner, we walked back to our apartment (not super central, but affordable and still within walking distance) and we passed by this lion sculpture behind the Colonnade restaurant.

Apparently they don't have Stolpersteine's in Latvia.  They had four at one point, but they were removed the very next day by Gunter Demnig, the artist who leads the effort.  Instead, they have this, which says, "Here, people of Latvia sheltered Jews from certain death during Nazi occupation."  Not sure if this is in the same location as the original Stolpersteine's.

The Freedom Monument is a monument to those Latvians who died in World War I.  The honor guard soldiers still march in front of the monument. The three stars above her head symbolize the three original provinces of Latvia.  The inscription says, "For Fatherland and Freedom."

There's a little river to no where (it begins and ends at the Daugava River) in the Bastejkalna park where you can ride little boats or watch ducks passing by.  It it feels like you're in a quiet town rather than in the capital city!

We crossed the city down to the Daugava River just as what appeared to be a terrifying storm was approaching.  Actually, we never really got rained on too bad, but it was SUPER windy (and therefore freezing) down by the river.  But we were on a mission, so we pressed on!

According to legend, there once was a very tall and strong man named Offero who lived on the Daugava riverside.  When people needed help crossing the river, he carried them across the river on his back.  One night, he was approached by a little boy who asked to carry him over the river.  In a storm, the man picked up the child and began carrying him across the river.  As he crossed, the boy became heavier and heavier until he almost couldn't continue crossing.  But he did, and when he crossed the boy introduced himself as Christ and told him the weight he was carrying were the sins of the world. The man was then named Kristaps, the Latvian form of Christopher, or "Christ Bearer."  When he went back to his cave, there was a massive amount of gold, which he used to create the city of Riga.

This statue is from 1997, but the original from the early 1500s is in the Museum of Riga's History and Navigation.

The wind was blowing so hard, but she still finds a moment to be silly. 

My next goal was to find some Rasols to eat.  They're on my scratch off food map (one of two for Latvia).  They're a traditional food, but aren't served in a lot of restaurants.  But there's one restaurant appropriately named Rasols, so we headed there.  On the way, we found the Energy of Time.

The plaque says, "The art installation Energy of Time is dedicated to the Centenary of the Republic of Lativa.  On 18 November 2017, it started a symbolic countdown to Latvia's 100th birthday.  The symbol of the Energy of Time is the 4th dimension - space-time and human energy that creates it.  The installation symbolizes Latvia's past, present and future that cannot exist without people.  The human energy lights it up and makes it shine bright."

When you walk through, the lights will light up with your energy!  Only 97 more days until the 100 year anniversary of Latvia!

The parks in Riga are just really beautiful! We walked through this park which was so quiet and clean and peaceful. Kronvalda Park which I'm pretty sure is a play on words of my family's inability to spell the word Corn - we spell it Cron, is home to the Latvia University School of (or Faculty of) Biology!  Dad, this is where you would have studied if you hadn't gone to Ball State! 

Molecules outside of the School of Biology - science is so much fun!

This was also randomly parked behind the School of Biology! The Brexit Kiosk!  "We want our country back!"  How about THIS quiet little almost completely unknown political statement!?!

James Beckett's "Palace Ruin" complete with "smoke" (or dry ice!) which you can be a piece of the art.  One day, it (capitalism, growth) could all be set on fire.  Hopefully not with my family in it.

You can even take little boats out on the river (the same one that starts and ends at the Daugava River).  

Colorful contemporary art snails are apparently all over the city, but this was the only one we saw.  He was really pretty with his sparkly body and cloud covered shell. 

ALL THE ART NOUVEAU in Riga!  The early 1900s gave us a boom in art nouveau in Riga. And it is still glorious, 100 years later!

We finally made it to Rasols for some... um, well... Rasols!  I like the "Soviet Gourmet Café" that's at the top of their menu.

This place is the most glorious restaurant in ALL of Riga.  I mean that, and not just because it serves Makers Mark.  (And it does!  It really does!)  But because the décor and the food it serves are outstanding!

Rasols is pickled vegetables with potatoes in a mayonnaise setting.  Sounded really gross, but even Natalie actually loved it.  Grant just liked the bread!  Isn't it served so beautifully?

Meanwhile, while we enjoyed our Rasols, Charlie Chaplin played on the white washed brick wall while the record player played old tyme American tunes!

I like this guy and the vibe I was feeling here at Rasols.  I (ok don't judge) wish it had been just me and him at this place because we would have ordered ALL of the Soviet small plates!

I know I already showed you this building but I'm pretty sure this is my favorite building ever.

More cool art nouveau in Riga.

This particular building has a cat on it!  How fun!  (He also doesn't appear as grumpy as the one on the Cat House in the old town area.)

Since Grant would not eat anything at Rasols, and what we ordered wasn't sufficient enough for a meal, we went to an Italian restaurant (I just got a salad- gotta have my greens!) for lunch.  Everywhere we went in Riga and Vilnius, the bill came in a neat little box.  All of the boxes were different.  Some were bedazzled, some were silver, and some were in plain wooden boxes like this one.  Each one was unique!

As we walked after lunch to our next destination (the KGB museum), we passed this.  WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK IS THIS.  When we translated it, it said, "BITE VICTIMS DIE."  Ok, I'm officially terrified.

I thought this picture of the three of us was super funny, not just because Grant is wearing my sweater or because I'm making a funny face.  But because it looks like we have a posse behind us!  Like their our bodyguards or something!

It had been off and on raining (and windy) all day, so I was pleasantly surprised to capture this blue sky behind St. Gertrude church.

The KGB museum was really cool, but MAKE SURE that you book the tour to see the cells in the basement.  We didn't do this and I regret it!  The rest of the museum is a lot of pictures and a lot of reading.   This museum is where the KGB would interrogate and hold people during the post war years.

Like I said, there isn't a whole lot in the museum to take pictures of if you don't take the tour, but it's chock full of information.

Testimony, including video testimony of many of those who were held or interrogated here comprises much of the museum.  There's more than 2,300 testimonies totaling over 4,000 hours of coverage.

There's lots of great photographic testimony as well.  It's a very moving museum.

Our next stop had to be H&M for hoodies for Todd and Grant.  When will I learn that we should always bring umbrellas and hoodies, even in the summertime!  Oh but wait... why hello there manhole cover of Riga!  I like your cross!

A pretty fountain along the waterway.  We will take that blue sky since it was chilly with off and on showers all day!

As we walked back into the old town area, we passed this.  Kind of disturbing ha ha.

Naturally, it was happy hour.  We had walked quite a bit and wanted to just sit for a bit before we went to dinner.  Hey, it's the first Irish pub in Riga!  Wait... it's only been here since 1994?!?  

They're getting crazy drinking all the Sprite!  (The best part of this picture is the reflection of the WWE referee in the picture next to Grant!)

For dinner, we went to Fokklubs ala Pagrabs.  Cool atmosphere with the basement feeling like a cave, and they had good food.  But honestly the LONGEST WAIT FOR FOOD EVER.  I think we were there 2 hours before we got our food.  Above is when we were still happy and not yet starving.

Not much longer after this picture was taken, I actually ran down the street to get some chips and snacks for the kids. This is my "I'm smiling but I'm so angry right now" face.

On my way to get snacks, I snapped this picture of St. Peter's church.  In the late 1600s, it was the tallest wooden structure in all of Europe before it burned down about 30 years after it's construction.  #formersuperlative

Ahhh what a lovely evening in Riga!  These lights (and summer in general) makes my heart happy.

Not too far from the restaurant, we spotted this sign.  Unfortunately, the plaque located at the corner of Peldu and Kungu was purposely damaged in 2011 and hasn't been replaced.  The text used to read:  "In spring and summer of 1944, Anna Alma Pole hid seven people here.  On 24 August 1944 the police discovered the shelter.  Some of the concealed people were killed on the spot.  Others, together with their rescuer Anna Alma Pole were tortured to death in the central prison."  

We strolled back to the apartment after our very lengthy dinner, enjoying the beautiful sunset on our last evening in Riga. 

In the morning, it was back to the bus station to catch our Lux Bus back to Vilnius!  Our AirBnB host actually picked us up in his own car and drove us there himself!  How nice was that!?

I kept seeing this building (this time, on the bus out of town) and it kept reminding me of the building from Ghostbusters!

I mentioned this in the Vilnius blogpost, but it was really strange that the border security got on the bus and checked everyone's passports at the border between Latvia and Lithuania.   It was very strange since they're both EU countries that are members of the Schengen. Oh well!

Despite some crummy weather, we really enjoyed Riga!  Until next time, Latvia!