Yes, Riga.
It has been a very busy week and I haven't been able to find the time (until today) to write about our trip.
Last night, at our apartment, we had a dinner party ... for
twelve people! Robert and I decided to make "American" food as a lot of our friends here have a very bad impression of the average American's diet-
we wanted to show that we are no exception!
We made home-made black bean burgers with red, orange and yellow bell peppers, onion, garlic, chili powder and fresh cumin. We also made french fries (from russet potatoes) with fresh garlic, onion powder, chili powder, olive oil and salt. To accompany both I made a "chipotle mayonnaise".
We don't have a large enough kitchen table so we put together side tables and sat on pillows; it was cute to see people from France, Poland, Finland, Prague, America and South Africa sitting on the floor eating burgers and fries! Most people stayed until 1:00 a.m talking, it was a really nice time.
Our next dinner will be at Lada's house, we are having a "pancake" night.
As for Riga,
It is a very short and cheap flight from Tampere, Finland to Riga, Latvia. It feels so unusual to be using an airplane as if it were a car! Flying twice in a three day period is very unsettling, and even more so when I remember that Isaac Asimov (a science fiction writer, scientist, and fact collector) was afraid to fly. Someone as educated and interested in physics as he was must have some information that I do not..!
Flying on Ryanair is also very
dramatic because you have to walk outside and across the runway to enter your plane. It reminds me of videos of John and Jackie Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, etc. It makes you feel very important and exciting, when in actuality they are just too
cheap to allow people to board from a gate.
We arrived in Riga at 11:00 p.m and were met at the airport by Anita and Ivars:
They took us straight into the "old town" part of the city, where we were amazed by the tight winding streets and tall architecture. At the ends of most streets you can see one of their many different church towers silhouetted against the night sky.
The roads are made of cobblestone and were covered in a deep wet snow; it was late but people were everywhere, exiting from bars and disappearing into little alleyways. We had a late dinner at a restaurant in the center then headed to their apartment:
Their building is 150 years old with a winding staircase that takes up a large portion of the front hall; all of the rooms are heated by wood burning furnaces that have to be lit every morning and evening. Everything they own is practical and treasured. The apartment was literally a place to live, not a place to decorate. It was unlike any home I've ever been in that was occupied by two young people in their twenties. They did not have many decorations, aside from a few homemade things and plants.
Their home was humbling and incredibly impressive to me. They care for their things so much!
The next morning we awoke to a delicious breakfast made by Ivars:
After breakfast he took us into the city while Anita stayed home to practice playing her flute. We went to a large open market with hundreds of street vendors selling food, clothing, and anything else they could put a price tag on. It was a hectic and strange place, unlike anything I've ever experienced. The vendors shacks were so ramshackle, it was as if they had been constructed during an earthquake! Stray cats were everywhere, searching for fallen food and warmth. If you looked on the rooftops of some of the shacks you could see a half a dozen cats laying in the sun (Jackie, you would have loved this)!
Anita met us in the city and we all boarded a bus headed to a town 40 miles outside of Riga. Ivars took us to his childhood home to meet his family, they live in a small farming village. It was an amazing experience to see that part of Latvia and to meet his kind and generous relatives.
Their house is really interesting and beautiful, it is surrounded by a great deal of land and a large black-treed forest. The bathroom is located in an outhouse (freeezing!), as well as the shower. If you want to take a hot shower you have to build a fire to heat the water!
Ivars and his brother helped to rebuild their parents house and are currently building a home of their own on the same property.
After spending the day with his family, we went back to Riga and had dinner at their apartment. They made us a dish with potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers from their garden and wild mushrooms that they had picked during the summer. We also had a traditional Latvian liquor that is very thick and black (I cannot remember the name of it), but it was really tasty.
The next day Robert and I said our goodbyes and went in to the city to explore it on our own. We went to the occupation museum, which was overwhelmingly sad, and spent a lot of time admiring all of the architecture. For lunch we went into a "medieval" restaurant that was fantastic! It is located underground and lit by candles, all of the tables are made of uneven wood and even the bathrooms have draw-chains for the doors. We shared a pumpkin and mushroom dish and I had an apple cider made with mint and honey!
I didn't want to leave, it was so warm and the food was so delicious! We really appreciated the atmosphere, as it was not gaudy or cheesy like the themed restaurants we've been to in America. No fake candles, no post cards. It was well thought out and perfectly executed!
The art school in Riga is heart-breakingly beautiful and I will be kicking myself for the rest of my life for not attending it. It is a huge, old Gothic building, with large windows and high ceilings. When I think of VCU with it's classrooms above a parking garage... 'ah, damit!'
(that tiny little speck in front of the school is me!)
After a long exciting day admiring the city we hopped on a plane back to Tampere. From the plane we shared a cab with some very generous Finnish people, then took a train. The train arrived in Jyväskylä at 11:30 p.m. and we walked the 3 kilometers to our apartment! It was a long journey and we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to go.
Latvia has been extremely poor since they gained their Independence from the Soviet Union (in 1991). They used to be an industrial society but this ended when they began to refuse to sell their products to Russia. It is very hard to find work in Latvia and there are many homeless people.
Latvia was occupied by Russia, then occupied by Germany, then occupied again by Russia- so they have a long and troubled history. This history is partially why they have such amazing and diverse architecture (German Art Nouveau, Swedish, and Byzantine).
It is a beautiful beautiful country!
