Latvia

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Latvia, our last European country before we head to Russia. We have had a fantastic time exploring Europe, and although there is a lot more to see on our travelling, it is sad that this part of our trip is coming to an end.

Rain hung over the streets of Riga, but still the city showed its beauty, fantastic and interesting buildings were everywhere, all with lovely detailing and facades. We made a quick stop to the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, which gave us a good breakdown of the Russian and German occupations of the Baltic states. It is nice to see that finally these states have their independence, and can flourish without the shadow of their larger neighbours.

The rest of our time in Riga was taken up with wandering the streets (as we love to do in every city), and going out in the evening. We managed to act quite responsibly throughout europe, but both Latvia and Lithuania have a great nightlife, so we made the most of it.

So it was with a sore head that we boarded the train to Moscow, and where we proceeded to drink a lot of whiskey with a Russian man who spoke no english, but that didn't seem like much of an issue.

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Photos

Riga
Riga seemed to have more than its fair share of beautiful buildings and monuments.

Contrasting Architecture
A beautiful old square. Notice the Grey Soviet style building amongst the old beautiful ones.

Guarding the war memorial
How boring would this job be?

Riga Buildings
It is the details that really make a building.

Riga Square
One of the many beautiful squares of the old city.

Bondage
Often couples bolt a padlock to a bridge when they get married, some kind of bondage ritual I guess.

More Bondage
The keys to the padlock are usually thrown in the river. Some enterprising lads make money by diving for keys and selling them back to the men.