Art Nouveau in Riga

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There is a sun above the clouds

May 23, 2009, Friday, Riga City, Latvia. The day is cloudy and windy as we start our walk over the bridge to the Old Town and on to the central market. The Baltic’s largest market place has occupied the converted Zeppelin hangars since 1930. Each of the hangars, or pavilions, has a specialty, meat, fish, groceries, and dairy products. But as we walked around the many booths, one can find anything… from sunglasses to mittens, from DVD’s to baskets. It was quite a cultural experience.
Rain began as we walked back to the Old Town in search of the History Museum of Navigation. However, after walking for the past 5 hours, we opted to go to the movie, “Angels and Demons” in English with Latvian subtitles. The Latvian cinema experience was different. One must purchase a ticket, choose an available seat, then climb to the appropriate floor, get the ticket electronically scanned, take the proper seat, then exit after the movie through another door, back downstairs and exit the building with the door locking behind. Very structured.
Time for dinner with friends and then we took a cab “home” at almost 9PM.

Papillon
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May 24, Sunday 2009, Riga, Latvia. Today was a treat, we connected with Ed and Selga, family of our hiking friend, Mara, in Pittsburgh. The day was comfortable and bright sunshine, as we had a PRIVATE walking tour of Riga. One mystery, Ed solved for us, was New Town’s Art Nouveau district. The architectural facades of the buildings include nymphs, lordly lions, ghastly goblins, etc., typical features of 19th century German Art Nouveau. It included some very fanciful buildings, next to some very plain, simple buildings. While most German Art Nouveau buildings were destroyed in WWII; Riga’s Art Nouveau buildings survived the war, and is credited by Unesco as being the finest in Europe. We stopped at an Art Nouveau Museum, which just opened in late April. At present it is not complete but within a year or so it will all be ready. They are taking pains to restore it properly. The splendid spiral staircase, the wonderful details of the rooms, the furnishings, dress, pottery, etc. provided us a glimpse backwards in time.
Both Ed and Selga were wonderfully gracious, we enjoyed a coffee and treat at a quaint “café”.

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Photos

What happens to all this food??
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