The LambCutlet Disorganisation

The 19th February was the day of Thor, however he appeared to have left his thunder & lightning at home prefering to bring some rather chilly weather instead as upon waking and greeting Inese, I was told I’d be wise to make sure I appropiately dressed as the temperature outside was a rather brisk -15°C… Sleepy headedness had got the better of me though oversleeping a tad as Michael was due to come round soon so I promptly dived into the bathroom to get wash, changed and ready.

Michael arrived sometime after 10:30 a.m. looking very frozen, despite having been dressed for the weather with a thick coat, scarf, gloves and woolly hat. He joined us for breakfast today as he wanted to go through Inese’s photographs from the time they were studying in Denmark, so that he could pick out the ones he wanted for extra prints to be done. Quickly realised there would be a rather large number of photos wanting to be reprinted; he offered, as any gentleman would to cover the cost of the bill only for Inese to politely decline and that he’d only need pay for the number of photos he wished to have.

Over the next half an hour or so as we munched breakfast which Inese had made for all of us consisting of various sandwiches and those yummy apple, cream and cinnamon toasties, Michael managed to finalise all the photos he wanted reprinting and soon needed to brave the elements once again to meet up with Kristīne for engagements later on in their day. So as he left, Inese and I needed to make headway too if we were to visit the numerous places that had been penciled in, so with a little bit of tidying up and collecting things we needed, we headed out a little while later to catch the tram towards Vecrīga.

We alighted at 11. Novembra Krastmala going down through the subway that passes under it emerging out upon the Latviešu Strēlnieku Laukums, then from there headed towards the Latvijas Okupācijas Muzejs to confirm it’s opening times to make sure we had enough time to visit it after our first port of call of the day; Pēterbaznīca.

Pēterbaznīca’s tower is the tallest structure in Verīga and only recently bettered with the advent of skyscrapers which are only just starting to pop up in the Latvian capital. It certainly has a much richer history if only for the very fact it, the church, was first mentioned in 1209 as a Catholic place of worship and lasted until 1523, when it turned Lutheran.

The wooden tower, built in 1491 stood as the highest in Europe but ultimately collapsed in 1666 taking till 1677 to rebuild it. The builders did the customary thing of hurling a glass vessel from the top, as the more piece it broke into, the longer the tower shall stand. Alas, the vessel was cushioned by a bale of straw and Sod’s Law would have it, the tower burned down in the same year, 1677… In 1690 it was rebuilt again and the 64.5m high steeple was the highest wooden structure in the world.

Lightning got the better of the tower in 1721, destroying it for the third time and reportedly Tsar Peter the Great (Пётр Вели́кий), whom was in Rīga at the time, helped out in trying to put out the fire. The renewed tower stood until 1746… In 1941 as the World was in the vice like grip of WWII, the structure was destroyed yet again on June 29th, this time as a casualty of artillery fire. 1973 saw the birth of the tower’s sixth incarnation and the ritual with the glass vessel was repeated once again with quite literally smashing results!

Admission fee for the tower was a very palatable 1.60 Ls and as far as I gather, just 1.00 Ls for students making very good value since the view from a height of 72m is really rather special. Pēterbaznīca’s interior was of much interest to me as well as it reminded me greatly of works by Dennis Creffield, an artist whom I studied when I took Art for one of my A-Levels, where his fantastic works in charcoals and oils of various English catherdrals in capturing the impression of elements such as the vaulting and play of light and shadow. Also, the real Saint Roland’s statue lives within Pēterbaznīca protected from the elements unlike it’s replica on Rātslaukums which has to brave whatever Mother Nature throws at it. Do note that there is a small fee of 0.70 Ls for the privledge of taking photographs within the church!

Time was now around 1:30 p.m. and we head back to the big wide world having spent about one and a half hours at Pēterbaznīca and I took the opportunity to get a few more photographs of the area that is Vecrīga, which included a few of the building who’s exterior decor Arta rated as one of her favourites during our tour of Vecrīga from 3 days ago situated on the junction of Mazā Monētu Iela and Mazā Jaunavu Iela which not only keeps to Latvian leaning towards using of the word “mazā” which means “little”, but the fact the street names were pretty quirky with a little transliteration applied… “Little Coin Street” and “Little Virgin Street” respectively!

Our next place of visit was the Latvijas Okupācijas Muzejs and it’s entry fee is gratis, though donations are welcome but do remember that it is closed on Mondays! The building within which the museum is housed used to be the Latviešu Sarkano Strēlnieku Muzejs, which honoured the Latvian Red Riflemen and the square in front of the museum facing the Daugava River is still called Latviešu Strēlnieku Laukums. It’s now a fascinating, though very solemn museum dedicated to the Nazi and Soviet occupations of Latvia, opening it’s doors for the first time on the 1st of July, 1993… roughly two years after Latvia regained it’s independance with the collapsing of the Soviet Union.

The museum is deceptively small with many, many exhibits displaying the various atrocities commited against the Latvian people and systematic destruction of their nation’s sovereignty. Visitors can walk into a reconstructed gulag barracks and catch a glimpse of the extremely harsh living conditions within the Siberian labour camps. There are also actual artifacts such as clothing, utensils, personal letters and so on from people whom lived under both oppressive regimes, plus details of the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact otherwise known as the Hitler-Stalin Pact. Lastly, there is also a room dedicated to the struggle for independance from the Soviet Union, known as the “Third awakening” with Latvia declaring it’s de facto independance on the 21st of August, 1991 and concluding, with international recognition and end of hostilities from Soviet forces by September that very year.

It’s definately a must see though unfortunately I never got to take any photographs of the exhibits as I personally felt it would have been rather disrepectful to those for which this museum is dedicated in the rememberance of… but life, in it’s strange way may bring me back to it some time in the future.

Having spent a good two hours in the Latvijas Okupācijas Muzejs, the time was nearly 4:00 p.m. with just enough time to squeeze in a bit more sightseeing and getting some dinner before Inese had to head off for her evening lectures. So now it was time to sample some Art Nouveau Architecture by Russian architect Mikhail Eisenstein and his works grace Alberta Iela 2, 2a, 4, 6, 8, 13; Elizabetes Iela 10b; Strēlnieku Iela 4a and I have photographs to prove it too! :D

Heading back to the city centre to find some place to eat, we passed the Latvijas Valsts Mākslas Muzejs on Krišjāņa Valdemāra Iela and one of two Rīga 8th Centennial Sculptures with the Latvijas Republikas Ministru Kabinets building in the background on Brīvības Bulvāris. However, having been a bitterly cold day and dusk approaching meaning it’ll only get colder, I asked Inese if we could make a swift detour to a clothing shop so that I may purchase a woolly hat to keep my poor head warm and salvation came in the form of a store by the name of Cubus, located on Tērbatas Iela and then without much ado, soon procured an item of suitable woolly-hatted-ness for a nominal sum of 5.99 Ls which though cheaper than what I’d expect in Blighty, seemed quite pricey having gotten used to general Latvian prices… I suspect being right in amongst the touristy area doesn’t help!

Anyhow! With the detour out the way… now it was time to get back to getting some food! The establishment chosen this time is one of Inese’s and Arta’s favourite to eat at with decent food and good value so off myself and Inese headed on to Raiņa Bulvāris for Pizza Jazz arriving there sometime just after 5:30 p.m. and didn’t waste any time in getting our orders in with the waitress as Inese needed to be on her way to lectures in just over half an hour. Our dinner took a little longer than we would have liked with what I ordered not coming till Inese had practically finished hers, so I tried my best in scoffing down my meal when it finally arrived without burning my tongue as we want to do somethig silly like that now would we?

With the little ritual of feeding and watering out of the way, not to mention the settling of the bill, both of us headed back out with Inese advising that we’ll meet back up at Coffee Nation on Krišjāņa Barona Iela at 8:00 p.m. or there abouts, so with that off we parted our ways for now. Armed with my “In Your Pocket” guide for Rīga I looked at options for keeping myself entertained for the next two hours…

Never one for getting homesick, I still figured it’d be neat to go and visit some British sovereign soil in the shape of the British Embassy in Rīga which I recall being next to the Swedish one and on consulting my trusty pocket guide found that is was located on Alunāna Iela and not that far to walk. Have to say, I did feel rather nervous as I took this photograph of the British Embassy in Rīga as I was expecting any second for SAS men armed to the teeth burst out from nowhere demanding why I was acting suspiciously and taking photographs… eeek! Alas, such a confrontation didn’t occur and I didn’t need to some spare underwear anytime soon, though I do think the picture I took the building looks more like posh nightclub than embassy? :D

7:30 p.m. came and went with myself having got a good number of miles (kilometers?) under foot wondering around, I figured I had better get in the direction of the meet up place, Coffee Nation. Luckily, on the opposite side of the street on Krišjāņa Barona Iela was Jāņa Rozes, the bookstore from which I brought my “In Your Pocket” guide for Rīga and make a welcome break from the cold, cold night till 8:00 p.m. when I just need to hop across the road and meet back up with Inese.

Turned out that 8:00 p.m. was also turfing out time for the bookstore so I had little choice but to make my way out along with the other late night bookworms. With that, I crossed the road and waited outside Coffee Nation having not seen any sign of Inese and being in that position it’s far easier to spot her and if there was a sudden change of meeting place, I wouldn’t be stuck with having to finish off whatever I ordered, plus paying the bill and then needing to scarper off. Also, having been experienced in trying to meet up with groups of people at busy bar and nightclubs and spend literally hours looking for each other when in fact you’ve been separated by mere metres I still say my choice was wisest, even though rather cold, since there’s just the one door meaning it’d be imposible to miss them right?

20 minutes passed with an unreplied SMS I guessed Inese had probably been held up with her lectures, but just as I was about to write another message, Inese popped out from Coffee Nation looking rather disapprovingly, asking why I was waiting outside… blah! Once inside, I was greeted by Arta and Kristīne, then took the opportunity to ask if any of the three girls wanted anything as I went to the counter to get a much needed hot drink, though they politely declined as they had got what they wanted already.

Chit chat of our group’s various plans for the rest of the week and beyond were talked about and mulled over which very quickly took us to about 9:30 p.m. give or take a bit so yet again, it was time for each of us to head homewards for to get some rest in, ready for a new day in the morning so after gathering our belonging, we all headed back out on to the streets of Rīga. Inese, Arta and myself walked with Kristīne to the stop where she’d catch the tram from back to her house and the wait for it was not long at all with the public transportation system in Rīga working efficiently, even if a lot of the rolling stock is of Soviet vintage… At least it exists and it works, something which can’t be said about most of Blighty.

Once Kristīne was off on her way on the tram, the three of us went to board a different tram heading in more or less the opposite direction to take us back across the Daugava River, with Arta living a few stops further than Inese. We soon reached our first stop so myself and Inese said our goodbyes to Arta as we alighted from the tram and made the short walk back to Inese’s aunt’s flat.

Back inside, some tea was made and Inese asked if I was still wanting to go to Jurmala as the temperatures were forcasted to still be the nippy -15°C like today and the fact it’ll feel colder as one is on the exposed sea side. The lure of getting to see some sea ice got the better of me and just couldn’t turn down a chance like that now can we? Then, having decided the plan for tomorrow, we then resumed my Salsa lessons from Inese for tomorrow night and my limbs which were slightly bemused as to what I was asking of them to do earlier in the week was finally embedding itself into my muscles and was able to do the basics without too much effort, which is a good thing before you ask! The evening was rounded off with Inese going through some more albums of photos which I’d yet to see which of her extensive set of photographs of those fleeting instances of time of herself, her family and friends.

With a long day now over, it was time to turn out the lights and get some well deserve sleep ready for frolicking by the seaside in near Artic conditions when the daystar returns, banishing darkness once again…