Greettings from Latvia!!!

Next--in the 360* circle....

Next--
That modern, tall building is a new Radison Hotel. I sure wish they won't start building these tall, skyscraper-like buildings all throughout Riga! There are 2 already. Really does NOT fit in at all!

There is a large "Square" outside St, Peter's Church (same as many others).

These odd buildings are called the "Blackheads House". It is built in a Renaissance style and was named after the alcohol manufacturer and merchant by the name of Svabe.

These are the ornate gates to the Riga Castle. This building houses all the government offices and the President's as well.
Riga is FULL of all kinds of interesting, ornate gates. That would be a study in itself...

Here's a crumbling wall to a series of like arches down a narrow walkway.

I am taking the picture--so, here are my sisters and my Nephew, Karlis.

And--ME as well, of course!

The following shots will be from the different Embassies all along one beautiful street! It is called "Embassy Row" and was only a block away from where we stayed. I do not know the names of the different Embassies--just wanted you to see some gorgeous architecture...

The dark building on the right is where we stayed. It was built in 1930 and is a huge, "u"-shaped Apartment Co-Op with a beautiful courtyard in the middle (in back of the building). Our apt. was on the 4th floor.
See how all the cars are parked? Partially on the sidewalk....

Our cousin's daughter, Anna, drove us to the resort area along the Riga Beach. It is THE prime and $$$$ resort in the whole country. Of course, it was all neglected and dirty after the 50 years of Soviet occupation, but is now refurbished and thriving.

This is Anna and my Nephew, Karlis by one of these unique plantings you see everywhere.

Last photo in this series.....This takes care of what I wanted to show you from my Folder #1.

Here I am standing on the Riga Beach--wind in my hair--and many, many emotions going through my mind. Kind of like--I am REALLY here!

Will continue another day. I think this is probably the longest posting i will do.

OOps...
Forgot this one building on the Embassy Row...Sorry....

Fabulous photos and a fabulous travelogue, Gita. You're bringing us right there with you.

I especially love that photo of you with the monster flower tower. And my first thought too was, "What a clean city."

I really enjoyed your info on amber. I just love amber and have wanted an amber necklace for the longest time. I remember when the prices went sky high after the movie came out. I do have an amber chip necklace but one of these days I want a nice one.

I think that Hart said everything that I wanted to say. Yep, I felt as though I were there. Everything so beautiful.

Ruby

those are fantastic pictures gita. can't wait to see the rest.

on my way to9 the wedding. will check tomorrow.

Great pics, I love seeing all the old architecture.

Gita, what a wonderful guided tour you are providing. I am really enjoying it. Great pictures!

Hart,

IF by chance you have any organized Lithuanian community in your neck of the woods, and IF they hold any kind of an ethnic Festival or X-mas bazaar, go there, and you will be able to buy any kind of Amber you want. Plus--imbibe in some of that Hooch called "Vyrita".....I brought it to Becky's Swap--remember? Not sure if you tasted it.....
The Lithuanians always hold a pretty big Festival here in Baltimore sometime in mid-late May. If you care to come this way, i will go with you. I go to it about every 3 years, as all my old "Pals" are now "distant" pals.

Polish and Russian people would also have all kinds of Amber for sale. Perhaps you have an organized Community of them around your area?
There is a cataloge called (I think) "The Baltic Shop". Try that also. Maybe thebalticshop.com (?). You could always Google "Latvian jewelery" ......

To everyone else---Thanks for your support in all the pictures i chose to share. There will be a lot more. Will give people a few days to view these and then post the next bunch.

Gita

OH WOW Gita!!! What a wonderful trip to visit homeland and family. Sounds like you had a marvelous time. I really love your Fruit Salad description such a wonderful way to describe your trip and memories. The city is beautiful and your history interesting. I will be looking forward to the next installment of pictures and descriptions. I'm glad you are home you were missed. Holly

Beautiful buildings Gita..such character in your homeland.
Thank you for all the interesting stories you share with us.
I really like the photos of you and family at the airport with the bouquets of flowers.
Lovely tradition. I grinned to myself when you said Aunt Marija had a bottle of beer for you in her purse.

Strong proud family..

Thanks so much, Gita. Great idea for where to find amber jewelry. Actually, it's not the inability to find it so much as the prices that have kept me from getting a good amber necklace.

The bazaars sound like fun with or without amber.

I got a big kick out of the bottle of beer in Gita's aunt's pocketbook too. LOL

Good morning.

Gita I am really enjoying the slide show.

I love the architecture!! Wow just beautiful.
...I so agree with you on the Holtel, not belonging, Seems so out of place.
Too bad they didn't keep with rest of the buildings.

The upright gardens are splendid, too.

...Well, I have a question.
Did your cousins like the plaque you painted for them at the Beach??

Judy,

It was a rock--not a plaque....No matter...
I did it for the cousin who went to Alaska to visit with my sister. I also went to visit with them all--kind of a reason to go. Since I took photos of them at the Beach, that is what I painted on the rock. She loved it! her husband was surprised that I actually did it! He said--"You were talking about doing it, but I did not think you would actually DO IT!"
It now sits on her memorabilia shelf next to all her other AK souvenirs.

While you all wait for me posting the next bunch of pictures, please Google: Latvia-Song Festival 2008. Up will come a lot of links to see "slide shows" of photos from the parade and the big choir gathering as well as the humongous Folk Dance performances.

About 8 links down is on that will say "You Tube...Parade...etc. Go there and you can watch the Big Opening parade that took 6 hrs to pass. Then, on the right, there are many "Related Links". Click on any and all of them, and you can watch short videos of many of these events. Make a bit of time for this, though.

Gita

Here's the rock I painted--one more time:

And here's is the actual picture I used to paint from. The background was a separate picture.

The background cliffs....Pretty close--NO?

Gita, that's amazing! You're very talented.

I have a brick from my mom's old homeplace that has the old house painted on one side, the house where I grew up on the other side. My mom paid a professional artist to do this and it isn't anywhere near as good as yours.

Thank you, Hart....
I am of the artistic kind.....uneducated in--but pretty good at what I decide to do. Crafts too.....

Back in 1974-1978 I did a lot of oil painting too. Did about 35 beautiful oils in those years. I have posted most of them on the "Best and Worst, etc..." Post . They are probably buried in the past, as this Post acquires about 250 new posts a week and it moves on...and on...and on.....
That is my "other Home"....except you guys are more special and I have actually met most of you....:o)

Here's the painting EVERYONE wants!

This one is pretty good too......Don't get me started, or I will hijack my own Thread!

edited to add-----Please don't ask for more! I will gladly share photos of my paintings with you all, but not here and not now. This is for my trip and pictures from it.....Thanks.

This message was edited Jul 26, 2008 2:36 PM

Gita - welcome back - looks like you had a fabulous time! Love, love the pictures and narratives :-)

S0 many people have said they love the narratives---maybe I will do a bit more of that in the next postings. I am just SO afraid that I will bore people......

G.

Never boring with you around Gita. Won't happen. Maybe for those who would like to see more of your paintings, you can figure out which part # they are posted on in the BWL thread and post it here and if they are interested they can go there to take a peek. I have seen them all and they are excellent.

Ruby

Gita, ....I want that wolf painting too :)))
You are quite the artist! I didn't know your were an artist. Have you ever done a show in a gallery? I'll have to get Harry to come look at it. He loves wolves. Thanks for sharing photos of your trip too. Welcome home!
~Diana

ok-------------
I went back to see what part of "Best and Worst...." (General Discussion and Chat)I posted my paintings on. There are a few on Part #28 (on page 6) and a few more on Part #29 (page #5). Then there are a bunch on Part #30 (the first one--there are two part #30's...)--also on page #5 of this Post.

If you feel like digging.......Go for it!

Will start posting the second batch of pictures now. First of all, I wanted you all to see the map of Latvia--maybe it would help you relate to some comments I may post. I checked this link by e-mailing it to myself, and it did work.

http://geology.com/world/latvia-satellite-image.shtml

I realize some of you are anxious to see the Festival pictures, but there really are not that many to see. I am trying to stay a bit "chronological" as to what we did when.

Because my sister's son, Karlis, could only be in Latvia for ONE week, we had some priorities to go and see. After all, this was the Homeland of his Mother.
We borrowed our cousin's husband's car and went for an all-day, almost 13 hr. trip to the region where our City of birth is--The city of Ventspils. That is on the far-upper left of the map. One of our goals was to visit 3 different cemeteries where our Grandfather, our father, and our Father's parents are buried.
My two sisters had already been there, so we knew (almost....) where to look.

Before we went to Ventspils, we just had to drive by the "Kolka Rags"--which is the sharp point at the top left . Look for the name! What is so important here????
Well--in the Sea just above this point, the calm waters of the Bay of Riga meet the stormier waters of the Baltic Sea. It is a very dangerous place to go into the sea--as you could get caught in a conflicting water current. Obviously, some people have been sucked out and drowned. Much like a Rip Tide--I imagine.....

OK! So the first couple of pictures will be of this Point......My Nephew and my Sister, Valda--the one who lives in Alaska.
There is ALWAYS a big sign--of course! This one is made of a huge stone and, if you can make it out on the right side, there is an engraved figure of a person on it. This stone is dedicated to all the people lost in the currents of the Baltic Sea in this area.

Here's the sign as you walk up the trail to the beach. It is both in Latvian and in Livonian--an almost extinct, ancient language and group of people. There has been an effort in the recent past to revive this language and the culture and traditions of these people.
The Livonians lived in the upper region of this part of Latvia and also in the Western part of Estonia--the country just above Latvia.

The three of us standing by the sign.

At the very tip of this point, there is a pile of rocks--kind of the ruins of something. Maybe an old Lighthouse? Makes sense--NO?
Karlis scampered up to sit on top. My Sister--his Mom--wanted to CAUTIOUSLY join him...

Kind of a "Lands End"......See WAAAAY in the distance??? That is another Lighthouse.

This message was edited Jul 27, 2008 6:53 PM

Being how stormy this Point is, there was a HUGE pile of toppled trees just piled up on the beach. Looked like they blew over on the beach and just fell into the water.

Now--from here on, we drove a good hour and a half to our city of birth--Ventspils.
We all left there when we were 9--7--and 5 in age. Now we are 73--71--and 69.
Kind of a meaningful event--don't you think? At least to have ALL three of us there!

So--here is the sign announcing that we are entering the city of Ventspils. HAD TO stop at this one!

One of the main reasons to come here was to visit the graves of our elders--as I mentioned.

The first Cemetery we went to was where our Father is buried. He died at a very early age of 36 (in 1939) of a Lymphoma cancer making our Mother a widow at 33. I have NO memory of my dad! None! I was 2 1/2 yrs. old. My youngest sister was 9 months old.
Then came the bad years of fleeing our country to escape the imminent Soviet occupation in 1944. It was VERY hard on our Mom and Grandmother--with 3 young children......etc.....Not going to get into THOSE years! You can Google all this information.

Anyway! I LOVE--totally LOVE old Cemeteries! Maybe because in this country there are really No monuments allowed in today's cemeteries and people walk all over the graves--as you cannot tell where they are.
Maybe because there is something very serene about all the tall trees and and loving monuments in the old cemeteries. The overgrown look of everything.
Maybe also because so many gravesites are just gone to moss and have succumbed to "Time".....They seem so "timeless"......
Most of all-NO ONE, EVER, walks over a grave site in Latvia! It would be most disrespectful! The graves are defined by a raised "bed" and, often, Ivy or Sedums are planted over it. There are family Plots--intended for everyone in the family--as the plot our Father is buried in is. Often, they are surrounded by a small fence of wrought iron or some such barrier.
Of course--many, many lives were interrupted by the oncoming occupation, and so, many grave sites were just left to Nature. No one to tend them. Maybe people died. Maybe they were deported to Siberia and never returned (June 14, 1941 and again in 1945). Maybe the older people that stayed behind died--and there was no one left to tend the grave sites. SO sad!

Our cousins mother's husband--himself now in the 80's, sometimes drives from Riga to Ventspils and tends to our father's and Grandfather's grave site. That is almost a 3 hr. trip!
That is also respect and love.....
And so--I could not help but photograph some of these abandoned sites. SO poignant! To me--SO emotional!
Here is one of the old grave sites. The inscriptions on the stones are long gone. No one even knows WHO is buried here.

Here is another site....
I took photos of several--but I am sure you all get the meaning......

Here we are--the 3 of us by our father's grave site. His is the small stone at our feet. The bigger one belongs to a preacher, who was distantly related to us, and who asked permission to have his stone put in out family's site. We said, OK.
The Pompous a-- that he must have been--he totally obliterated our Father's grave site with this humongous stone. Oh, well----They all rest in peace anyway. No need for me to get my dander up!