The LambCutlet Disorganisation

Sunset had been an hour or so ago but it was still very much the 16th of February. Under a fresh starry night sky Inese thought it’d be good time to go grab some dinner at one of the local eateries as we’d spent all afternoon sightseeing in Vecrīga the honest fashion, hopping site to site on foot.

The eatery chosen was an inviting looking traditional Latvian one and if my poor memory serves, was called Dzirnavas owned by the Lido group situated on Dzirnavu Iela. Once inside the old mill house themed restaurant there sprawled a huge buffet which was literally bewildering… Pork and potato dishes dominated but there were plenty other things such as chicken, fish, dumplings, soups, vegetables, salads, fruit, cake, jelly and so on. One could well do with a bib just walking around looking at what was on offer. :D

After quite a bit of deliberation, I settled with some potato pancakes (think sautéed shredded potatoes), some chicken shashlik (née sheesh kebab) and salad in the form of mixed peppers and cucumber. I was curious to try a bit of everything but even if I’d have taken microscopic portion of each, there was so much food laid out I’d still probably have gone to the till with two heaped plates worth.

Oddly, this brought back memories of eating out with my folks at hotels which served Cantonese & European buffets when we were still living in Hong Kong. Buffets were a bit of a new thing for the local Chinese to go and experience and being completely oblivious to Western dining etiquette and more often than not heaped their plates to near breaking point with little regard that king prawns, roast beef with gravy, oysters with fresh lemon, fruit trifle with custard and Swiss chocolate gateaux probably don’t go all that well together.

So with that flash back in mind, I think my decision to be a bit more reserved so as to not make a similar faux pas was a wise one. Inese also opted for a hearty serving of potato pancakes but topped her serving with a generous lashing of mushrooms in a creamy sauce… yummy! Onward to the till we went and between the two of us, dinner each with one glass of fresh orange juice for me and one glass of Kvass for Inese, the final total was under 3 Ls. Bonza!

We grabbed a table for two near the windows and tucked into our food and drink. Apparently, this restaurant we were eating in is especially popular with the locals in Rīga. So much so that sometimes, it’s not unusual to have people with their food waiting at your table for you to finish so they can occupy the seats and gobble everything down so next in line could have a seat. Thankfully, tonight wasn’t like this and we were able to eat at a more leisurely pace and not risk chronic indigestion.

With bellies filled and feeling rather content, there was little bit of time to burn before Inese had to disappear off for her lectures which was to start at 7:30 p.m., so Inese and I headed out of the restaurant for a little walk around the city. Through the streets we weaved but as we walked a place with modern white vaulted walkways with white fairy lights illuminating the area so that it literally had a picture postcard feel, I asked Inese as to where we were. She piped up that the area we were walking through was called Berga Bazārs and is an upmarket shopping area of Rīga. Certainly had its share of designer clothes stores and as we were about to exit and join back on Marijas Iela passed a large Italian restaurant by the name of Fellini. Though the menu looked very inviting, its Londonesque prices meant even during busy times I doubt punters would be rolling through the door, though I may be wrong. :D

As we crossed the junction on Marijas Iela, Inese pointed towards Vērmanes Dārzs up Elizabetes Iela at a tiny wooden tea house called Apsara where we were to meet later in the evening at 9 p.m. give or take a bit once her lectures had finished. So with that, I carried on down Marijas Iela towards Centrālā Stacija as I could see the clock tower at Stacijas Laukums where at the top is the Neo cocktail bar myself and Inese went to the night before.

I decided I could spend some time in the warmth at the two shopping centres Origo and Stockmann as it had been 0°C pretty much all the time I’ve been in Latvia and once the Daystar had gone, things do get a touch nippier. I did have about one and a half hours to spend wondering in a city I’m not familiar with at all after all and didn’t really fancy getting pneumonia quite so soon into my trip.

Origo was the first to be visited and once inside I was greeted with Rimi where we had done some shopping for foodstuffs the night before but I was keen to explore what I hadn’t seen in this complex yet. Near Rimi was a large sushi restaurant which pretty much took up as much ground floor space as the supermarket. Plenty of people were eating and socialising there though I have to say it must be rather surreal as the restaurant was quite like a goldfish bowl as it is completely surrounded by glass, so those eating could see the shoppers going by and vice versa.

It’s of little surprise that most of the stores in Origo dealt with women’s fashion but amongst the four floors of the shopping centre there were also shops with children’s toys, electronics, men’s wear, bathroom accessories and other things I didn’t even know existed. I resisted the temptation to do empty my wallet on impulse purchases, though did see a rather nice IBM, Intel Centrino™ based laptop with a pretty solid specification going for a fair bit less than it would do in good old rip-off Blighty. Made very sure my “Flexible Friend” stayed in my wallet and not brandished about willy-nilly, however much of a bargain it seemed. But, I was keeping an eye out for a universal travel adaptor as silly old me forgot to bring one from home which makes using electrical goods with a British 13 amp plug rather difficult, such as the charger for my digital camera… Bleh!

With Origo well scouted, I braved the cold crossing Stacijas Laukums and headed into the recentish addition to Rīga, Finland’s well renowned department store that is Stockmann. On entering the bottom floor, one is now in Rīga’s largest cosmetics shop and towards the back is a large supermarket with more products than one could shake a stick. Going up the escalators to the first floor, there sprawled a very large designer men’s wear department. Have to say on looking at the price tags on various random garments, my left eyebrow got a fair bit of exercise… The floor above was women’s wear, so quietly moved on to the top floor which was kitchenware and electrical goods, from washing machines through to plasma television panels. How very swank. :D

My hunt for the elusive universal travel adaptor proved rather fruitless as though various models were in stock, they were obviously European centric and adapted those appliances to everything else… Guess I should be looking for an über universal travel adaptor or something?

With just under and hour or keeping myself occupied, I figured I’d go back to Centrālā Stacija itself. The Centrālā Stacija connects both shopping centres and sure enough there were covered avenues inside where lots of little stalls sold a whole host of things such as local snack food, clothing items, accessories for your mobile phone, greeting cards, flowers, et cetera.

Pondering where else I could try and get thoroughly lost in, it dawned on me perhaps I should see if I could actually make my way to the Apsara tea house where I was due to meet Inese in just over half an hours time. So out I went onto Stacijas Laukums and crossed Satekles Iela then walked up Marijas Iela. It’s just a short 200m before I arrived at the junction where Elizabetes Iela crosses it. To the left looking towards Vērmanes Dārzs I could see the quaint little wooden hut in the distance.

I carried on up Marijas Iela which soon gave way to Aleksandra Čaka Iela. Now it was here that I realised I still hadn’t quite got my head round the fact the cars are on the right hand side of the road so when crossings streets, one should in fact be looking left, not right. I figured I’d play it safe and on every road crossing would look both ways even though it took a bit more time and effort. Who knows… after all one of the local drivers might find it highly amusing to drive like a Brit on the roads of Rīga? This chiral conundrum was made worse by the lack of sole to pavement friction given the rather icy conditions which would have made swift footwork needed to avoid oncoming traffic pretty much impossible. Certainly didn’t fancy being another statistic and getting a free ride in an ambulance quite so soon, so I kept my eyes and ears peeled.

From Aleksandra Čaka Iela I made a left up Matīsa Iela then back towards Rīga City centre along Brīvības Bulvāris. The total distance walked probably amounted to just under 3km and managed to pop into a few stores along the way but kept myself to just windows shopping.

By 9:15 p.m., I had met back up with Inese and into the little Apsara wooden tea house we went. Have to say the place looked very inviting and cosy inside with many, many varieties of tea on offer plus cakes and other sweets. The drawback from all this choice was the fact I had an “Attack of the Stupids™” and struggled in answering basic questions such as “what would I like to have?”. After a bit of head scratching and looking towards Inese for guidance, I chose to have the same as what she was drinking, which if memory serves was red tea with blackcurrant? I also quite fancied one of the sweets they had on display and looked quite like a chocolate log with fruit and jelly bits.

Inese and I grabbed a free table with myself sitting on a comfy bench which runs all along one side of the interior wall where the window looks out over Elizabetes Iela. The blackcurrant tea was quite tart, though very refreshing and my sweet proved to be rather chocolate free, not that it was a bad thing as it was quite like a Christmas pudding and the jelly bits had that delicate and subtle rose water taste to it. Worked out quite well as the tart tea would certainly have not gone that well with anything chocolately…

It was quite surprising how quickly time goes when indulges with idle chit-chat but even Einstein had noticed this phenomenon: When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it’s longer than any hour. That’s relativity..

As we chatted, Inese double checked with me of our proposed plans for tomorrow’s activities as she did have in mind that we’d go The Latvijas Etnogrāfiskais Brīvdabas Muzejs but had reservations that I may have found it of no interest at all as it’s just “lots of little wooden huts”. Have to say describing anything like that was underselling it a bit but did manage to convince her (though only just) that I would like to go. Not going to find out if I enjoy or dislike something by avoiding it after all.

The tea house’s 10 p.m. closing time was now looming so we finished our remaining tea and walked to a nearby tram stop and get the tram back home and get a good nights sleep to be ready for tomorrow’s adventure! :D

Bet you didn’t see this one coming… :P But in keeping of my penchant for TLAs, my whole site have been retro updated to support XFN.

What the heck is XFN? you ask… Well, their own page explains it best:

XFN puts a human face on linking. As more people have come online and begun to form social networks, services such as Technorati and Feedster have arisen in an attempt to show how the various nodes are connected. Such services are useful for discovering the mechanical connections between nodes, but they do not uncover the human relationships between the people responsible for the nodes.

XFN outlines the relationships between individuals by defining a small set of values that describe personal relationships. In HTML and XHTML documents, these are given as values for the rel attribute on a hyperlink. XFN allows authors to indicate which of the weblogs they read belong to friends, whom they’ve physically met, and other personal relationships. Using XFN values, which can be listed in any order, people can humanize their blogrolls and links pages, both of which have become a common feature of weblogs.

In sufficiently modern browsers, authors using XFN can easily style all links of a particular type; thus, friends could be boldfaced, co-workers italicized, and so on. It is also the hope of the authors that this practice becomes widespread enough to allow the creation of a service that charts personal (as opposed to purely mechanical) links between weblogs and the people responsible for them.

So another stride had been taken in Internet social networking, even if I’m a comparatively late adopter. One of the coolest tools which support XFN and shows it in action is RubHub which bills itself as an “XFN Relationship Lookup Engine”. Slick isn’t it? :D

You know spring is here when the daffodils are out and there’ll be giant ones in the form of “Daffodil People” going round the streets of Britain today as they fundraise money for “The Daffodil Campaign” which is Marie Curie Cancer Care’s biggest annual event.

The event runs throughout March and it’s easy to get involved:

Last year’s campaign brought in more than £2 million to help fund the Marie Curie Nurses who make it possible for terminally ill people to make the choice to be cared for in their own homes — entirely free of charge.

Our next campaign, which runs throughout March, aims to raise an additional £500,000 – enough to provide an extra 30,000 hours of Marie Curie Nursing.

Donations can also be made online and if you’re a U.K. tax payer, you can reclaim and add an additional 28% to your contribution at no cost to you through the government’s “Gift Aid” scheme. Matters not if you can donate £1 or £100 however, as every little helps. :D

Today’s date was Monday, 16th February… I had actually woken up some time about 6 a.m. but then on realising I was on holiday and didn’t need to go to work, promptly went back to sleep. Myself and Inese eventually rose sometime near 11 a.m. which was a good deal later than planned from yesterday, but considering we got in around midnight and was up for another 2 hours or so thereafter, we took the option of having a longer kip.

Sandwiches were the order of the day again for breakfast, but I plumbed for some black tea with honey to drink. We then got ourselves ready to head into the city centre for the Vecrīga tour by Arta.

The trusty tram once again took us into the centre and on crossing the Daugava at Akmens Tilts saw some people ice fishing… very brave. :D

We got of the tram at 13. Janvāra Iela, just on the edge of Vecrīga and headed towards the Rīgas Starptautiskā Autoosta just off Prāgas Iela for the ticket kiosk. Why? Well… Inese thankfully had the foresight to see that as I would be here till the 22nd and that we’d be using public transport quite extensively in the city, the purchasing of a 5 day travel card for trams and trolley buses was a no-brainer.

Couldn’t complain as it was just 2.80 Ls. However, it was valid only from tomorrow, the 17th of February till the 21st of February… so for today and my last day, I’ll need to make sure I have some pocket change if I actually wanted to go anywhere, less I walked it instead that is.

It was only early afternoon when Inese and I met up with Arta back at the tram stop on 13. Janvāra Iela and so began the tour of Vecrīga…

From 13. Janvāra Iela we crossed Alberta Laukums, then walked down the cobbled roads of Vecpilsētas Iela heading towards Skārņu Iela passing Audēja Iela along the way. At Skārņu Iela was Jāņa Baznīca on the right and Pēterbaznīca to the left with its tall tower where both places of worship are of the Lutheran Church.

Lutheran churches can be distinguished from other denominations of Christian churches as they all have a rooster on their spire… in Latvia anyway. Legend has it that the devil could only do his mischief at night and by day break he would have to end his campaign of terror. However, he was also a rather dim creature and easily fooled so Lutherans, armed with the knowledge that the rooster’s call signified day break, proceeded to place fake roosters on the top of church towers and effectively warded off the evil menace that is the devil.

Then we walked round Konventa Sēta and past the unfortunately closed Rīgas Porcelāna Muzejs, then back on to Skārņu Iela sweeping by Pēterbaznīca. There was a variety of street traders selling their wares but there was one gentleman who made model planes. In his enthusiasm in selling me one he launched one across the square and boy did it fly! This promptly caused him to chase after it dashing across the snow leaving his stall unattended. Have to say I felt rather guilty not purchasing something given his wonderful demonstration! :D

We then crossed Kungu Iela and were now in Rātslaukums where the Rātsnams, Melngalvju Nams and Svētā Rolanda’s statue, patron saint of Riga are situated. Nearby is the Latvijas Okupācijas Muzejs at the Latviešu Strēlnieku Laukums where also stands the controversial Latviešu Strēlnieku Piemineklis.

Next we walked up Krāmu Iela which took us to Doma Laukums where stands Doma Baznīca, the largest place of worship in the Baltics. Pils Iela led us to some of the non-Lutheran churches in Vecrīga which were the Anglikāņu Baznīca and Sāpju Dievmātes Katoļu Baznīca. Emerging at Pils Laukums, we were greeted by Rīgas Pils built in 1330.

Back in amongst the buildings we walked along Mazā Pils Iela, then Klostera Iela and Jēkaba Iela. Along the way we passed the Marijas Magdalēnas Katoļu Baznīca, Trīs Brāļi, Jēkaba Katoļu Baznīca and Latvijas Republikas Saeima. There was also a clever drain cover commemorating Rīga’s 8th Centennial at Klostera Iela.

I was very surprised on looking at my watch that despite having seen so much, only half an hour had elapsed and wondered if I’d be able to recount any of this at a later date… but I digress. Anyhow, from Jēkaba Iela we turned down a narrow little street called Trokšņu Iela. Where it meets Aldaru Iela stands the Zviedru Vārti where for those that passed through it are supposed to still be able to hear the wailing of a maiden that was entombed within it according to one of the many legends surrounding it. The apartment above the Zviedru Vārti belonged to the city executioner, who’d put a red rose on the window ledge on the morning before a head rolled.

Bravely through Zviedru Vārti we went and out upon Torņa Iela we came. Here was the Vecpilsētas Mūris, Jēkaba Kazarmas and Pulvertornis complete with cannonballs embedded into its walls fired at it in the past. The Pulvertornis now houses the Latvijas Kara Muzejs rather than a heck of a lot of gunpowder it once kept safe.

Whilst we were on Torņa Iela, I happened to have spotted the local news crew filming a report and if I’m not mistaken, the lady news reporter is in fact Ilze Jaunalksne of LTV Panorāma?

Anyway… back to the schedule. On reaching Basteja Bulvāris, we had arrived at the edge of Vecrīga marked by Bastejkalns which is now inside a park. Also in the park are the Brīvības Piemineklis on Brīvības Bulvāris and Laimas Pulkstenis on the corner of Aspazijas Bulvāris.

That concluded the early afternoon session in Vecrīga taking in total just a little over an hour though it had actually ended prematurely since it was a Monday, which unknown to us meant most of the places we had visited earlier were closed to visitors. So we strolled through in the park passing by the Latvijas Nacionālā Opera, Pilsētas Kanāls and Latvijas Universitāte.

Arta parted company around 3 p.m. as she had other things to do so Inese and I headed back into Vecrīga to see a few more sights as we still had plenty time. We made our way to 11. Novembra Krastmala and from this point it’s possible to see all four bridges that cross the Daugava in Rīga, namely: Salu Tilts, Dzelzs Tilts, Akmens Tilts and Vanšu Tilts.

We strolled along the embankment parallel to 11. Novembra Krastmala and could see Triangula Bastions and Anglikāņu Baznīca up ahead but first stop was Lielais Kristaps with a document titled “Legend of Riga” which reads in Latvian and English respectively:

Senos laikos, kad Rīgas vēl nav bijis, gara auguma un stiprs vīrs, saukts par Lielo Kristapu, nesis cilvēkus pari Daugavai. Tās labajā krastā Kristaps bija uzcēlis bēdu.

Reiz naktī guļot Kristaps izdzirdis, ka Daugavas kreisajā krastā raud bērns. Viņs tūdaļ devies pēc bērna un nesis to pāri upei. Daugavas vidu bērns palicis tik smags, ka Kristaps tik ar lielām pūlēm varējis to pārnest. Noguldijis savā budā us arī pats aiz noguruma aiznaudies.

Nākosajā rīta, kad Kristaps pamodies, bērns bija pazudis, bet, kur tas bija gulejis, artadās liela kaste ar zelta naudu. Kad Kristaps nomira, par viņa budā atrasto naudu uzcelta Rigas pilsēta.

Once upon a time, long ago, before the city of Riga was founded, a tall strong man named Lielais Kristaps (Big Christopher) carried people across the river Daugava. Kristaps lived in a cabin on right bank of the river.

While sleeping one night, Kristaps heard a small child crying on the other side of the river. He immediately rose to fetch the child, and began to carry it across the river. Half way across, the child became so heavy that Kristaps barely managed to get to the other side of the bank. Exhausted, he laid the child down to sleep in his shack, and fell asleep himself.

The following morning Kristaps awoke to find a large chest of gold coins where the child had been. Upon his death, the money was used to found the city of Riga, the first building was build on the spot where Kristaps cabin had once stood.

The original wooden statue constructed by Miheala Brinkmana in 1683 now lives at the Rīgas Vēstures un Kuģniecības Muzejs. The replica there by the Daugava was made by Gints Upītis in 1997.

From here, we hopped across the road to the Triangula Bastions which is a large glass structure covering the old bastion foundations that previously stood there and also houses a shopping centre otherwise known as the Tirdzniecības Centrs. Anglikāņu Baznīca was the next stop to see if it was open to the public, but alas it was not to be.

Cutting through Vecrīga once again we were soon on Krišjāņa Valdemāra Iela where the Latvijas Nacionālais Teātris is situated but was under going renovations. Our destination was to be the Pareizticīgo Katedrāle and we took the route through the park along Pilsētas Kanāls, past some ducks, the statue of Kārlis Ulmanis and up Brīvības Bulvāris.

Once inside the Pareizticīgo Katedrāle, the unmistakable smell of burning incense struck me and around us were people going through their prayer rituals. The ambiance of the whole place was one of a very austere nature and we slowly walked round in silence looking at the decor and architectural details.

Evening had now arrived and so concluded the Vecrīga tour and had visited a vast number of interesting sites. In summary, the places we had visited today:

Jāņa Baznīca

First documented in 1297 as a Dominican abbey’s chapel it was taken over by Lutherans in 1582 though during the Reformation in 1523 served a little time as the city’s armoury. The two stone faces on it’s facade were put in place to remind that during the building’s construction, two monks were bricked into the southern wall and then lived their lives out in situ, fed through the window grate.

Konventa Sēta

Here at Konventa Sēta is the Rīgas Porcelāna Muzejs which houses the only porcelain collection of its type in the Baltics. Traces the history of porcelain manufacture in Rīga which roughly started in 1841. Jewel of the display is a huge red and gold vase made in 1901 for Rīga’s 700th birthday.

Pēterbaznīca

Ancient chronicles write of Pēterbaznīca first in 1209. Founded as a Catholic church, it remained so till 1523 where it then became Lutheran. Its wooden tower was the highest in Europe till it collapsed in 1666. Rebuilt a year later and out of curiosity the builders hurled a glass vessel from its top. The more pieces it broke into, the longer the tower should stand. A pile of straw unfortunately cushioned the vessel’s fall and low and behold, the tower burnt down one year later. In 1941, the structure was once again destroyed in artillery fire and was finally rebuilt in 1973. The glass ritual was once again repeated and results were literally smashing.

Rātsnams

The old medieval Rātslaukums and Rātsnams were destroyed during WWII but are luckily now mostly restored. The rebuilt Rātsnams resides on the north side of Rātslaukums where its Post-Modern roof and Baroque tower meld to form a coherent whole.

Melngalvju Nams

In Rātslaukums is the Melngalvju Nams. Widely regarded as one of the architectural treasures of Rīga this had only been recently rebuilt in honour of Rīga’s 8th Centennial. The striking Gothic building with Dutch Renaissance facade dates from 1344 but was destroyed in 1941 and the ruins were completely pulled down by the Soviets.

Svētā Rolanda Statuja

Svētā Rolanda is the patron saint of Rīga and his statue was erected in the centre of Rātslaukums in 1897 but was moved to Pēterbaznīca after it was damaged in WWII. As the original considered far too precious to brave the elements, a faithful replica now takes its place.

Doma Baznīca

Situated in Doma Laukums, Doma Baznīca is the largest place of worship in the Baltics measuring 187m × 43m with walls 2m thick. It also boasts to having one of the largest organs in Europe (stop snickering in the background!) with 6,768 pipes! The drop from Doma Laukums to the cathedral’s base shows just how much the level of Rīga has risen since its foundations were laid some 800 years ago.

Sāpju Dievmātes Katoļu Baznīca

Dating from sometime between the 1700’s and 1800’s, Sāpju Dievmātes Katoļu Baznīca is a fine example of medieval architectural heritage in the city of Rīga.

Anglikāņu Baznīca

Literally built on a shipload of British soil in 1857, this small Anglican church was commissioned by British traders living in Rīga at the time. The grounds were consecrated in 1859 though in Soviet times was assigned the new function of a student disco, but is once again a place of worship for Rīga’s English-speaking expatriates.

Rīgas Pils

Aptly situated on Pils Laukums, Rīga’s castle was built in 1330 by the Livonian Order as a base and was destroyed many times by the local townspeople. Though since the Order’s downfall, the various occupiers of the city have since housed their governors inside. Latvia’s first post-Cold War president Guntis Ulmanis, made this his official office continuing a tradition first started by Latvia’s interwar presidents in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

Trīs Brāļi

The Trīs Brāļi are the oldest stone residential buildings in Vecrīga, representing architectural styles from medieval to Baroque. Number 17 is the oldest of the three and dates from the 1400’s. Number 18 and 19 were built in the 1600’s and 1700’s respectively. Number 19 now houses the Latvijas Arhitektūras Muzejs.

Jēkaba Katoļu Baznīca

1225 was the year the church was first mentioned in the ancient chronicles and was the first church in Latvia to hold a Lutheran service in the year 1522. However, 60 years later when the Polish occupied Latvia… the church returned to its Catholic flock which have resided ever since. Jēkaba Katoļu Baznīca is also the only church tower in the city that still has its Gothic spire.

Latvijas Republikas Saeima

The building now occupied by the Latvijas Republikas Saeima was constructed between 1863 and 1867 for the needs of the Vidzeme Knighthood according to the design made by Robert Pflug, a Baltic-German architect, and Jānis Baumanis, the first academically educated Latvian architect. Both the building and its interior have been designed in the style known as Eclecticism.

Zviedru Vārti

This is the only such structure left in Vecrīga and was built in 1698 to celebrate the Scandinavian’s occupation of the city. One of the many legends surrounding the gate includes of one that tells of a maiden whom was entombed within it and for those that pass under the gate to this day are supposed to still be able to hear her wailing cries. Also, the apartment above the Zviedru Vārti belonged to the city executioner, who’d put a red rose on the window ledge on the morning before a head rolled.

Vecpilsētas Mūris

The oldest remaining section of Vecrīga’s fortifications as large parts of it became obsolete with the advent of artillery and thusly pulled down. It was built sometime between the 1200’s and 1500’s though was restored in Soviet times, hence the rather “new” appearance.

Pulvertornis

Dating back to the early 1300’s, only its rock foundations remained after it was destroyed by invading Swedish troops in 1621. In 1650, it was rebuilt with 2.5m thick walls to protect its volatile hold of gunpowder which obviously proved successful as cannonballs are still embedded in its walls. The building is now home to the Latvijas Kara Muzejs.

Bastejkalns

Where Vecrīga meets Rīga City. Bastejkalns was constructed between 1857 and 1859 as a more substantial fortification in comparison to the sand bulwark it superseded.

Brīvības Piemineklis

Designed by Kārlis Zāle and unveiled in 1935 is a national shrine for Latvians. The maiden or “Milda” as she is affectionately known holds the three stars that represent the three historical regions of the country: Kurzeme, Vidzeme and Latgale. The base of the monument depicts Latvians singing, working and fighting for their freedom. Locals are always placing flowers at the monument, an act which people were deported to Siberia in Soviet times. The Honour Guard changes every hour from 09:00 EET till 18:00 EET.

Laimas Pulkstenis

“Satiekamies pie Laimas pulksteņa! - Let’s meet at the Laima Clock!” Put in place in 1924 by the Social Democrats so workers wouldn’t be late for work; it has become a natural meeting place for people and has advertised Laima chocolate for many decades too.

Lielais Kristaps

Lielais Kristaps is the city’s protector from flood and other such natural disasters. First appeared in the 1500’s in a small cave by the bank of the Daugava. Legend says that whilst sleeping, Lielais Kristaps was woken by the cries of a small child on the other side of the river. On rescuing the child and going to sleep exhausted, he woke to a chest of gold coins where the child had slept earlier on. Upon his death the money was used to found the city of Rīga.

Kārlis Ulmanis Statue

In Bastejkalns stands the statue of Latvia’s first Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis who staged a bloodless coup in May 1934 and became the country’s “benevolent” for six years.

Pareizticīgo Katedrāle

Built between 1876 and 1884, this cathedral was turned into a planetarium during the Soviet era and Latvians still often refer to it as the Planetārijs. The church is still asking for donations for the reconstruction of the interior which was destroyed by the Soviets so that comrades might look to the heavens to spot Sputnik in place of god.

Stay tuned for the next edition for the conclusion of February 16th’s events… :D

Hmmm… Mr. Shea is on a roll today. His post from earlier today has resolved a minor layout issue I had with the footer with the theme “Pastel Domo”.

Two quick CSS tricks that I’ve been relying on more and more lately:

1. Applying positioning to a parent element, to allow absolute positioning of a child element within the parent.
2. Context-sensitive elements. Chaining classes by applying two or three or more to the highest parent element possible allows cascading down to deep child elements.

So what did I have to do? Just applied positioning to the parent of the element I was having problems with, i.e. this:

body	{
	position: relative;
	/* other style rules for body */
}
#pageFooter	{
	position: absolute;
	bottom: 0;
	/* other style rules for #pageFooter */
}

Ta-da… Bob’s your mothers brother! :D

A List Apart delivers some choice CSS Kung-Fu courtesy of Dave Shea. Say good-bye to evil practice that is image slicing…

Dave Shea says:

My first article for A List Apart was published this morning. “CSS Sprites: Image Slicing’s Kiss of Death” is an investigation of a new technique that has been formulating for the last six months or so.

The CSS Sprite method enables rollovers, buttons, and dynamic image maps on a simple HTML unordered list. By dropping all :link and :hover state images into a single image file, IE flicker can be avoided and download times should be quicker. Not to mention the time saved by not exporting a few dozen sliced images. Have a look, and feel free to discuss the article in the ALA forum.

Originally saw the A List Apart article when I was browsing Zeldman’s site:

Say goodbye to old-school slicing and dicing when creating image maps, buttons, and navigation menus. Instead, say hello to a deceptively simple yet powerful sprite-based CSS solution.

This article combines several of the freshest CSS and markup methods the web design community has devised over the past two years, blending them into something shiny, smart, useful, and new.

I have to say it truly rocks… Go read and learn! :D

I’ve been meaning to put an RSS feed for the site quite some time now so I have pulled my finger out and have hand-rolled one for your pleasure. :D