Trips

          We entered Latvia at 2:10 PM and drove on to the 18th c. Summer Palace of the Duke of Courland and the Rundale Palace Museum.  The palace was presented to the Prussian dukes by Tsarina Anna and later Catherine the Great.  The same architect who built Peterof, the Catherine Palace, and the Hermitage in Russia built it.  It is huge and elaborate with formal gardens with fountains and an amphitheater and 10,000 rosebushes including 3,000 varieties.  We entered the palace with a museum guide and walked through the Reception Halls and Ballroom then through the duke’s residence wing and last, through the wing of the duchess’s residence (no photos allowed).     
            We arrived in Riga at 6:15, found our rooms (we had a shower with a full curtain, yay!) and then ate an included dinner at our Hotel, PK Riga.

Welcome to Latvia	Flag of Latvia
Pre- and Post- EU plates	Rundale Palace
Rundale Palace - front	Rundale Palace - garden side
Rundale Palace Gardens	Rundale Palace - Gardens
Rundale Palace Gardens	Welcome to Riga
Mon., 9/14/15 – Riga, Latvia         A foreign affairs minister from the Latvian government gave us a lecture at 8 AM at our hotel.  He was very good at answering our questions in a way we could understand.  From all of the changes people here had to go through because of occupation by Russia, Sweden, Russia, Nazi Germany, Soviet Union, the transition to the EU was just another set of laws, rules, currency, and ownership for them.   Latvian citizens have learned to adapt well to swiftly changing systems.          We then had a walking tour of Riga. Riga is known as the Capital of Art Nouveau.  We walked around a neighborhood with the “crazy, beautiful” façades.  Each building seemed to try to outdo their neighbor.  The architect, Mikhail Eisenstein, designed many of the houses before WWI. We looked at five in a row of these houses.  Each had modern and expensive five or six bedroom apartments.          We walked along a peaceful park, past the Hill of Kisses and on to the Monument to Freedom.  It was erected in 1935.  The inscription at the base reads, “Fatherland and Freedom” and has friezes of Latvians singing and fighting for their freedom.  The copper Lady Liberty at the top holds three stars.
Art Nouveau style architecture	Art Nouveau style architecture
Art Nouveau style architecture	Art Nouveau style architecture
Freedom Monument
Marker in the cobblestones indicating where the Baltic Way (the human chain from Vilnius to Tallinn) crossed through Riga in 1989	Path of the Baltic Way
Powder Tower where gunpowder was stored	Swedish Gate
Latvian Parliament Building	Second of the Three Brothers - three stone houses with narrow front walls and each an example of a different architectural style
Lovely sign	US chains are everywhere
St. John’s Church	St. Peter’s Church
Blackhead’ House (guild) - built in 1344 as a fraternity house for unmarried German merchants	Blackhead’ House (guild)

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