It's snowing here

It has been snowing here yesterday and today (and it's not even December yet!!)

Here's how the roof terrace at my work looks at the moment - brrrr

Alli xxx

Largest city of the Baltic states

Considering that Latvia was formerly one of the republics of the USSR, Riga is surprisingly un-communist looking. I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of soviet architecture and the typical grey, blocklike housing estates normally found in old eastern block countries. That's not to say it doesn't exist at all, it is still there but just doesn't dominate the city on the Daugava river.

Even though most of our time was spent gazing upwards at the beauties of the countless art nouveau buildings, Riga has much more to offer.

The historic centre of the city is filled with charming cobblestoned little streets, imposing churches, groovy bars and modern shopping malls, and is jam packed with pastry/cake shops :-) Seems the favourite past time of the locals is drinking coffee and eating delicious pastries.

Latvia was formerly annexed by Russia and became part of the USSR in 1940. Just a year later it was conquered by Nazi Germany (with the Latvians initially embracing the Nazis as rescuing them from the grip of communism), before being retaken by Russia in 1944-1945. It was not until 1991 that the independent Republic of Latvia was reborn. A visit to the Musuem of Occupation clearly showed the horrors the Latvians were forced to endure at the hands of both the communists and Nazis.

Tens of thousands of "kulaks" (farmers) and Latvian patriots were deported to gulags in Siberia; rural areas were collectivised, with farmers forced to give up all of their produce to the state; Russian was introduced as the main language; and the proportion of ethnic Latvians within the general population dropped dramatically. Even today there are still laws in place to ensure favourable treatment and employment opportunities for Latvians, with many ethnic Russians not even having the right to vote and their children, even though born in Latvia, having no right to a Latvian passport.

The Riga of today is a city with an atmosphere of youth. There seem to be lots of students in the city, and they are catered to by a myriad of funky bars, restaurants and coffeehouses. And with darkness descending at about 4.15pm what better way to end our day of sightseeing than a hot apple cider with rum in one of the grooviest bars ("I Love You"), or a cocktail with a view at the Skyline Bar (on the 26th floor of the Radisson Blue Hotel Latvija) :-)

Another highlight was a visit to the central market, the biggest of its kind in the Baltic. The market can be found in 5 strange looking half cylindrical buildings that actually began life as German zeppelin hangars in the 1920s! Each of the hangars specialises in a different product - meat, fish, vegetables, dairy products, or general groceries, and was bustling with locals looking for a bargain. A bit like the goold old Vic Market but way bigger!

Our hotel was also a bit of an experience. Seems the owners have just bought a couple of old apartment buldings and divided them up into hotel rooms! The rate was inclusive of breakfast, but in reality that was a voucher that you could use at the bakery across the road. There seemed to be some sort of maximum price that was available with the voucher because the woman at the bakery was adding everything up on a calculator and was pretty clear about what you could and couldn't have!

Another successful and fun city trip added to our list. Coming up : Oslo in December.

Alli xxx

Sigulda

Before leaving home, and again on arrival in Riga, we read rave reviews of Sigulda - "most beautiful and romantic village of Latvia", the "Switzerland of Latvia" etc etc. This was more than enough to convince us to get on the train on Sunday and make our way out there.

However, the village of Sigulda, about 50kms east of Riga, has earned the dubious title of THE most disappointing place ever!

Walking from the station through the "suburbs" of Sigulda I quickly realised this was not the romantic village filled with charming wooden cottages that I had been expecting. Instead we were greeeted with miserable looking public housing blocks clad in corrugated iron, not a cosy cafe in sight and not even a souvenir shop where at least the purchase of a snow dome would make up for it all !!

We did manage to stumble across a picturesque church and the famous Sigulda "castle", but after walking around for at least an hour trying to find the historic centre of town, and another 1/2 an hour looking for the tourist information office (only to be told there was no historic centre!), we decided to eat something at the one and only eatery we could find (surprisingly delicious soup, potato pancakes and lentil stew with bacon), and then hopped on the next train outta town.

The train journey was actually more interesting than Sigulda itself! Fascinating to see the train stop in what seemed the middle of the forest, watch people get on/off and wander off in the direction of nowhere, with not a village in sight. Some people were even getting on with wagons full of wood they had just collected in the forest, stocking up for the coming winter I guess. Luckily we were back in Riga with enough daylight left to discover more of those beautiful art nouveau buildings and visit the art nouveau museum, so all was not lost :-)

Alli xxx

Art nouveau in Riga

The historic centre of Riga boasts the largest collection of art nouveau buildings in Europe. UNESCO actually considers it to be unparalleled in the world! The best thing I can suggest to take on your visit to Riga is a good pair of shoes because you're gonna do A LOT of walking !! The streets are paved with giant cobblestones and are pretty uneven so I don't recommend stilettos. And don't forget to look up - most of the beautiful details are up high.

Between 1896 and 1913, the city expanded and a housing boom followed. The style which developed in Riga was influenced mainly by German, Austrian and Finnish architects. Mikhail Eisenstein is one of the most famous proponents of the style in Riga.

After the revolution of 1905 a distinctively Latvian variation of art nouveau developed, known as national romanticism. Architects started to use traditional Latvian folk elements and natural building materials. Typical elements were steep roofs, heavy structures and the use of ethnographic ornamental motifs. There are LOADS of lovely flower, plant and animal details, actually way too many to represent here in photos but you get the idea.

Alli xxx

And here he is in Arnhem last night

Was another amazing, funky and energetic show, but not as good as the one in Antwerp in my opinion. Sadly we didn't have very good seats, but have now learned our lesson and will just buy floor (standing room) tickets from now on!

Crappy view aside, the show was still awesome with the set list largely different from that in Antwerp. Prince was again in fine form, really enjoying himself and even playing percussion/drums a couple of times.

The night was (almost) topped off by a "surprise" aftershow in Paradiso, Amsterdam. But in the car driving on the way out of Nijmegen heading towards Amsterdam at 1.00am we got the confirmation that the aftershow was not going ahead after all. A real bummer, but better to find out then than when we were already in Amsterdam.

Hope we don't have to wait another 8 years before the Purple One comes back to NL ! Although just about any Ryan Air destination, or anywhere within a driving range of 500kms for that matter, are also fine with us ;-)

Alli xxx

Its starting to feel a lot like ...

... xmas (in Riga at least!!). The past weekend was spent in the capital of Latvia and on Sunday evening we paid a visit to the winter wonderland that is the Lido restaurant.

It is (apparently) the biggest log cabin in Europe and is currently totally decorated for the xmas period. At the self serve buffet you can sample up to 5,000 Latvian dishes, drink beer from THE biggest glasses we have ever seen (1 1/2 litres we reckoned!), and the female staff are dressed in traditional costume complete with (plastic) flowers in their hair. This restaurant chain is the Latvian answer to "western" fastfood chains such as McDonalds and is incredibly popular with the locals.

Super tacky but at the same time fantastic ;-))

Alli xxx