Historically, it seems Latvia has been like a football, tossed around between the surrounding countries and at various times being dominated by Germany, Russia, Poland and Sweden. It is hard to imagine the suffering that some of the people, especially the Jews, endured at various times. The day we arrived in Riga was the country's Independence Day, a public holiday. Independence only came to Latvia in 1991, so the celebrations are very relevant to much of the population. Under the Soviet regime there had been many shortages of goods. One of Bob's work colleagues used to take needles and old knitted jumpers which could be unravelled back to Latvia when she visited relatives.That was not so long ago.

The Freedom Monument is where the formal ceremonies took place. There were many performances by bands and dance groups and also laying of flowers etc. At this type of ceremony I look at the faces of old people and wonder at the thoughts that are going through their head. Here they must have lived through so much.

There was of course a lighter side to the celebrations, with performances in the squares of the old town. The old town is quite large, with lots of historic buildings. Many are in excellent condition, having been rebuilt after bombing during the World Wars. For the first time we came across many tour groups being led to various sites, and so commentary in various languages was going on around us. Riga is obviously popular on the tour routes.

Like many European towns, there is a church on every street. Of particular splendour is the gold domed Russian Orthodox Cathedral. Enjoyed delicious mushroom soup at a cafe near here while we rested our feet. 

There are endless historic buildings and squares to see and parks to wander and we had time to do a few circuits to catch as many as possible. We were disappointed that the Art Museum is still undergoing renovation as it has some wonderful works.

Our second day in Riga saw us walk to an area that is famous for its large number of buildings designed in Art Nouveau style. a very grand area where the detail in decoration is quite admirable.

As a last note for today, I must say that we are managing with the language but yesterday's shop brought a number of surprises. When Bob was opening a carton of milk this morning he found we had bought buttermilk instead of milk. Not the best for coffee! And the fish fillets turned out to be pickled. Still tasty but not what I expected. Errors we could easily cope with. Tomorrow we get more serious.