LATVIA: Riga II – Baltic Beauty

The Lux Express Bus provided an exceptional way to journey to Riga. Comfortable seating combined with a personal entertainment system like the ones provided by the better airlines rounded out the experience. A coffee machine was an appreciated, added perk. I watched the Freddy Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, and followed it up with The Meg which was a frivolous romp with Jason Statham about a very hungry, prehistoric shark. It always pleases me to see another follicle challenged gent kicking ass in a film. Rock and Roll and giant sharks easily consumed the 4+ hour trip to Riga.

The Bus station was five minutes from the hostel, and after unpacking and getting organized Riga was just as I remembered it in all of its sunny day splendor. I made a beeline for the shady, central park with a river running through it and soaked up the greenery and serenity as electric boats silently plied its waters. Riga, although larger, is less crowded and more laid back than the bustling Medieval Old Town of Tallinn.

FREEDOM MONUMENT

VERMANES GARDEN

LOVE POLLUTION – Is being shackled to someone an idea to be promoted?

HOUSE OF THE BLACK HEADS

                                  DAY TRIP TO JURMALA

JURMALA MUSIC FESTIVAL – I got off the train in Dzintari and headed for the beach on what I assumed was the road that divided Majori and Dzintari.

A BALTIC GENEVA BY THE SEA – This place is so clean you can eat off the sidewalk.

OCEAN GLORY – The street lights were inspired and lined the boulevard all the way to the beach. They look like they were designed in Scandinavia.

BEACH LOVERS FLAG

PEDESTRIAN STREET CONNECTING DZINTARI AND MAJORI

NICELY RESTORED OLDER BUILDINGS ARE JUXTAPOZED WITH TASTEFUL MODERN ONES

The city planners clearly take great care to make sure that any new construction integrates well into the overall scheme of things.

CLASSIC OLD STRUCTURES

PEDESTRIAN ZONE – Lined with quality restaurants and retail spaces.

The parks landscaping is well executed with inviting trellis seating in the shade.

A STATELY BUILDING DOMINATES MAJORI

ANOTHER MODERN ACCENT

MORE BEAUTIFULLY MANICURED GARDENS

No visit to the Baltics in the Summer is complete without serious berry indulgence. If you’re from the United States, you won’t believe the difference between European, properly ripened, berries and the substandard stuff they toss at us in the US.

WILD STRAWBERRIES

BEACH ON ONE SIDE AND SKULLING ON THE OTHER

AWAITING THE TRAIN BACK TO RIGA

MŪS MĀJA – Real Latvian handicrafts.

   ART NOUVEAU SPLENDOR

This is probably the most memorable and photogenic building on Albert Street. It is also the former home of two friends, one of whom died suddenly due to complications from pneumonia. Tamara was one of those people that everyone liked, and her loss was especially devastating to her friends and family, given how abruptly she was taken from us. I was not in-country at the time of her passing so I was absent from the memorial service. In Riga, my thoughts always turn to Tamara and Albert Street so I decided to create a makeshift memorial in front of a place in which she was very happy.

Everyone knows the building by the two sphinx out front.

TAMARA, YOU ARE MISSED – The flowers looked like they belonged nestled in the bosom of the Sphinx of her former home. No doubt, they were unwittingly included in the photos of hundreds of tourists. I returned the next day and the flowers were gone so I decided to put the memorial on the blog to be preserved for while longer.

I’ll even have provisions in my will to maintain the blog well into the 21st century. In fact, I think it will be my own memorial where people can come and visit me at my snarky best.

THE BEST PART OF THE WALK TO ALBERT STREET IS TRAVERSING THE CENTRAL PARK

                          RIGA MOTOR CAR MUSEUM

BENZ – Patent Motorwagen Nr. 1 (replica) Germany – 1886

ENGINE

F/N – 1 Cylinder – 1909

REO – Model B USA – 1905

KRASTIN – USA – 1903

This is the only known surviving Krastin in the world and was bought in the US by a Latvian vintage car collector.

HEADLIGHT

STEERING AND INSTRUMENTATION

FN – 2400 – 1912

FORD – Model T – USA

OVERLAND -Model 45 – USA – 1911

HEADLIGHT AND HORN

RENAULT – 10 CV – FRANCE – 1928

BMW- 3/15PS typ DA4 – Germany

LINCOLN – V12 series 277B model KB – USA – 1934

CADILLAC – V8 series 353 – USA – 1930

HOOD ORNAMENT AND GRILL

REARVIEW MIRROR

BMW – 327/328 – Germany

STEYR – 220 Gläser Sport Cabrio – Austria – 1939

SIDEVIEW

REARVIEW

 SPECIAL HEADLIGHT DETAIL

INDIAN – SCOUT model 37 – USA

BMW – R35 – Germany – 1943

SHELL OIL GAS PUMP

GAZ – M20 – Pobeda Soviet Union – 1951

MOSKVIČ – 408 Soviet Union- 1968

SMZ – S3A M Soviet Union – 1967

INTERIOR

ZAZ – 966V ZAPOROŽEC – Soviet Union – 1969

TRABANT – P 50 East Germany – 1960

CITROEN – 2CV FRANCE – 1969

AUTO UNION – typ C/D Germany – 1938

EXHAUST DETAIL

ESTONIA – 15 Soviet Union – 1975

ZIL – 112S Soviet Union – 1963

ARVW – Germany – 1980

EKE – 1 Soviet Union – 1952

RUSSO-BALT – D 24/40 Russia – 1913

RENAULT – FU France – 1919

RENAULT – FU France – 1919

PAZ – 672M – Soviet Union – 1989

RAF – 977E Latvija – Soviet Union – 1963

PANNA COTTA IN THE MUSEUM CAFÉ

LEVER MAGIC – Tug on a rope and lift a car all by yourself.

FOOD FESTIVAL IN THE PARK

GREAT VENISON BURGERS – See you in Lithuania.