Back in Riga--just a few more pictures to complete today's postings from my trip.
Here are a few more examples of the amazing, Art Nouveau Architecture that is ALL over Riga.
This is the Russian Embassy. VERY pretty! Never mind the political aspects of anything.....
One has to differentiate between "Russian" and "Soviet". It is two, totally, different things...
Riga is THE tourist mecca nowadays in Europe!!!!! Everyone has an Embassy there.
Another picture of the building....
And here is the fountain in front of the building. Beautiful--no matter WHO owns it!
Here is another building along our walk back to our apartment.
I just LOVE the statues and the ornaments.....
And--in comparison--here is a building that has NOT been renovated. There are, still, many of these kind through out the City of Riga. Hey!!! It takes mega-bucks to renovate a building!
Many of them might be owned by some private company or business that just does NOT have the funds to renovate.
A "renaissance" is more than an affair of the heart! It is also hard reality for the owners of these buildings. SO many residences you see on the outskirts of Riga are just abandoned and left to decay. Sad! These were homes of someone--way back when--who no longer have anyone to claim ownership and to foot the bill for renovations.
Hey! It has ONLY been since 1990 that Latvia got it's independence back. I think they have done an unbelievable job in renovating a neglected, destroyed City in those few years!!!!!
The pride of all the people there is SOOOO evident!
GO LATVIA!!!!!!! You will NEVER succumb to any other powers!!!! YOU will live forever!
oooops....Got a bit emotional there.......
Here is an example of a building NOT renovated!!!! It just takes time.......
Gita Your photos and commentary are so fascinating.
Thank you.
Thanks for your comments--Jill and Starzz.
I think there will be at least 2-3 more postings. Then--I will be done....
In a way, I am so happy that I am doing this for you all, as I intend to send my DG user name and password on to several of my friends and relatives so they can follow this as well. I would have never done this otherwise.
I KNOW neither of my sisters will do this, because they DO NOT have a place like DG to share ALL the pictures with. I am SO blessed to have you all as friends......
Love, Gita
The palace is FANTABULOUS, Gita. Look at the inlays on that furniture. And I love the tiled stove. (It's probably a woodstove fed from the other side because of course they would have had servants to keep it stoked.)
The stork is so cool! I wish we had storks. I'd build a chimney just to have a stork living on it.
The statue at the church, I think that's the patron saint of old gardeners. LOL
What a miraculous story about your uncle. Why on earth were they taking Latvians to Siberia?
Wonderful pictures and commentary, Gita. You could print this thread (print feature minimizer at the top) if you have a ream of paper to spare. :o)
Hart----You have asked a question I cannot answer......
I am NO expert on the Political reasons of "WHY:. I think, Google and Wikipedia exist for the purpose of researching History and the "HOW" and "WHY" of anything.....Try it.....Just Google Latvia--and take it from there.....
I realize, that i am getting WAY too emotionally involved here. I just would like the people of this Country to know what we all have endured--survived--and are OK because of our strength and resolve and commitment to preserve and carry on that which has been "assigned" for us to do. Believe me--this does not end with me nor my parents nor my children. This is generational--NEVER to be forgotten!
OK! Hart--thank you for asking!
Gita
Amen.
....I am sitting here crying......
I am sitting here hugging you.
We'r all hugging you, Gita. And I can't imagine anyone would report this as political or see it as anything other than you letting some of your pain and pride cry out.
My question was rhetorical. Shipping poor, defenseless Latvians to Siberia makes no sense at all, not even in the skewed logic of a crazy and cruel Nazi.
gita - a fascinating walk vica pictures through a fascinating country. thank you so much.
the castle is simply beautiful, but inside and outside. knowing you as i do it was no wonder that you didn't pay to take pictures. LOL
i was really impressed with the railroad car and all the history
and pain it holds to those thousands of people.
when you showed us thep ictures of where you were staying i said to myself that your cousin must have a very important job within the goverenment to have such posh quarters. what exactly does she do. i might have missed you answer is a previous post.
i see you as someone who loves her country of birth and is not afraid to say so.
in your pictures can you tell me if the majority of "extras" in the photos are foreign or are most of them from the u.s.?? my guess is that they are from other countrys.
keep up the good work and awaiting your next batch.
frank
Frank,
I don't understand what you mean by "extras"????
ALL the pictures I took at this time are from my trip to Latvia, I just choose pictures to share with you all that would be of more general interest and show the beauty of this Land. There are none from the US.
There are many more pictures--but they are of us and people and this and that.....not just right, not a good angle, etc.
I have yet pictures of the "Ethnographical Open-Air Museum" and the HUGE opening parade (6 hours!) along with a few pictures of the 13,000 combined choir performance. The last posting will be of flowers only.....Sort od the "Icing on the cake".....
SO! At least 2 more postings--maybe 3.
Thanks for your kind words, Frank.
Gita
Very interesting study of Latvia.
Ruby
Love taking this tour with you Gita, makes me thankful my grandparents got out of Russia when they did.(1917)
Oh such an incredible history Gita.
I am very glad that are sharing the history with us.
All the photo's are fantastic!
...LOL, I am enjoying the "Drigress" moments as well. interesting about the names ending with "s"
Wow, tears sprang to me as I was reading of your Uncle. It's a remarkable journey you all have lived through and have every right to be Proud. You all are Survivors.
Thank you again for sharing with us and your friends.
Gita, I just thought of something. It's probably against the terms of use for this site to share your username and password with other people. Might want to check with Dave.
If it is, you can download your photos here for free for sharing.
http://photobucket.com/
You can also create a group where all of you can download and share photos.
http://photobucket.com/groupalbums/
I am going to "plug away" at posting the next batch of pictures (Part #5) since I have a FREE evening. Can't waste it! Nothing else to do in the "major" category around here....
Besides--I already went through all the pictures for this #5 segment the other day and chose the ones to Post.....SO! I am ready!!!!!
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This next series will be ALL from the same place--"The Ethnographic, Open-Air Museum" of Latvia. It is just outside of Riga--a moderate train-ride --not too far!
A bit of history on this place before I post all the pictures......
The idea to build this Park was conceived in 1924.
In 1932, the "to-be" Park Museum architect (Pauls Kundzins--note the "s" at the end of the name) defined the mission of this Museum this way:
"This Open-Air Museum's goal is to gather our Nation's cultural works in relation to the way they were created and used in times past. Also to preserve the context of the visible, ancient people's lives that is demonstrated in the buildings here, the surrounding areas, and the groupings of these buildings as they were in the every-day lives of these people. Also, to see how the rooms and insides of the buildings were arranged and the tools these people used in their every-day lives."
The ongoing goal of this Museum is to save--save--and protect the Museum's collections and the examples and the context of how life was in Latvia in the ancient times.
This Open-Air Museum covers 86 Hectares (how many acres is that???).
Among the most treasured buildings in this Park are the 2 or 3 ancient, wood construction Churches which were transported and re-positioned in this Park from different areas of Latvia.
During the Summer months, there are masters of the ancient ways (of how things were done/made) demonstrating their skills in the yards surrounding the residential buildings.
It is a lovely Park to walk through and to sit and rest--if you need to. There is a small refreshment type of booth for drinks and also a beautiful Gift Shop.
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Here we go with part #5!
This is a very, very old, wood-construction Church. It is so small--but SO elegant inside. I understand that there are at least one wedding held in here every weekend....
Here is the inside--small, but a very beautiful Altar.
Here is the Pulpit. You cannot see it on this picture, but underneath the floor part of the Pulpit is a BIG clock! Hmmm.....Maybe to keep things on schedule?
There are, maybe, 10 rows of seats in this church on either side of the aisle.
And--there is this one--candle-lit Chandelier in the center of the Church.
86 hectares = 212.510628 acres (If you ever need to calculate anything, farenheit to celcius, dollars to francs, yards to meters and so on, just go to Google and do a search for "86 hectares to acres" and it will calculate it for you.)
Now--on to a residential house in this Park.......
This was very interesting! It shows the bed of the parent (s) and a cradle hanging just next to it. The cradle was hanging from a long beam of wood that almost reached out the length of the room. Kind of--spanning the rafters.....
Thanks, hart!
Next, here is a room where the bread was made (maybe other things as well), but you can see the wooden troth where the bread dough was kneaded.
As an aside----ALL the bread made was mostly rye bread (of course!). I remember my Mom making rye bread here in the US. Each batch needed a "starter" dough to provide the yeast for the following batch. She kept it in a jar in the fridge.
I have heard, that back in "those days"--the "starter dough" was obtained from scraping clean this wooden troth of any remaining bits of dough and it was saved for the next time......
It must have been such hard work--to bake bread every other day--or so! With NO modern conveniences!
There were some examples of how fencing was made in those days. They seemed to differ by regions.
Here is one of the ways----Hey! Cheaper then buying it at HD!!!!
And here is another method--from another part of Latvia.
As odd as it may seem--this small Country had VERY different ways of doing things from region to region.
I think they were ALL WAY ahead of us in recycling......A neat way to use up twigs and branches, don't you think?
It seemed that it was THE season for all the Phlox to be blooming.
Here I am sitting by a small garden of Phlox outside one of the houses.....
Here's a picture of some of the typical Farm buildings.
The roofs were all covered in a thick layer of reeds. Like in the Orient--the roofs are made of Thatch.
Here is a close-up of the edge of the roofing so you can see how thick it is.
Here is another building where the reed-roof has grown a lot of moss on it. I just loved the way this looked!
No doubt--that this part of the roof was facing North!
Do you remember from your Scouting Days how, on field trips, you were taught how to tell where North was??? You just looked at the tree trunks and saw which side of the trunk had moss growing on it. THAT was North!!!!!
Here is a primitive bea-hive we spotted in one of the yards.....Just an old Oak-tree trunk with holes in it!
Here's another......
Here is an old school class room.......Hmmmmmmmmmm????
Next we see a room that was used for thrashing/processing wheat, Rye, Oats or whatever to separate the grain from the shafts.
NOT sure how this worked--as I did not take the time to read all the postings outside the buildings.....One problem when you are traveling with other people! You want to stop and read--and everyone else keeps going. Then--you worry about being separated and NOT finding each other again!
Here is another grain processing apparatus......
I "think" this might have been a wheel where some of the grain was ground?????
And here is an old, clay stove in the corner of this room--maybe to help the grain dry?
Maybe to keep the workers warm? I have NO idea!
