So yesterday was a travel day. We got up early to get on the bus to head north. We made one stop at the "Hill of Crosses", where there were a gazillion crosses that people have planted. I'm sorry to say that I wasn't cross-cultural enough to pay attention to why they were there. To paraphrase Caesar, "I came, I saw, I left".
We crossed the border like driving from Maryland into Delaware - there was a sign and we kept going. The European Union is slowly becoming like the United States of Europe as far as border crossings go. The money has not become unified yet, as Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have not yet been accepted into the Euro Zone so we have to deal with differing currencies: 2.5 Lithuanian Litas to the dollar. 0.5 Latvian Lats to the dollar (yes, 1 Lat = $2). Some places quote prices in Euros, but few merchants take them. Of course, plastic is suitable almost everywhere.
Once we were across the border into Latvia, we stopped at the Rundale Palace . This was designed by Rastelli, who was the same guy who eventually designed the Hermitage, and the similarity showed. More on the Hermitage later when we get to St. Petersburg. The palace was originally designed and built in the 1730s for Ernst Johan, the Duke of Courland. Shortly after being finished, the Duke was arrested and exiled for 22 years. When he returned, styles had changed, and he had to renovate it from Baroque to Rococo. The rooms were all fascinating, reminiscent of Versailles. There was Latvian "Delft" on the heaters in the corners. The inlaid floors were fascinating. The wall coverings were elegant. Of course, it all had been reconstructed, but some of it was actually original. Much was contemporary to the time period, however.
The rest of the day was on the road to Riga, where we arrived just before dinner at the hotel.
The city tour of Riga today showed us around the old city. We crossed the Daugava River to take in the sight of the spires of the multiple churches. Riga was established as a Christian city in 1201 by a Prussian bishop, Albert. It flourished as the bishop got the Pope to decree that all commerce to the Baltic coast had to pass through Riga. The German influence persisted throughout the centuries, with an interval of Swedish rule in the 1600s. After the first World War, Latvia became independent until the Germans and Russians came back in 1939 and 1941. Much of the current population is still of Russian descent.
During the independent period of the early 20th century, the art nouveau style became extremely popular, and many buildings were erected. Hopefully I can upload a few pictures eventually. The Russian architect, Mikhail Eisenstein was instrumental in transforming the city. We went through the Art Nouveau museum, which was a restoration of an apartment of the time.
We went to St. Peter's Church and had a small recital by the children of our guide, Sylvia.
We then went to the big market. Sylvia and the kids passed out slips of paper with our "assignments": items of food we had to search out to buy. Of course, the assignments were in Latvian, and we had no idea what we were supposed to get. With a little sleuthing, we were able to come up with the proper foods. My assignment was Kvass, which turned out to be a type of carbonated drink, similar to root beer. The lady poured it for me out of a tap into a 3 liter bottle and screwed on the top. I asked for a glass, and she said no. The guy behind me realized I wanted an additional glass to drink, not just to pour for myself, and explained it to her. She never cracked a smile.
After lunch (I'll let Ann describe that), we went to the synagogue. It was the only one not destroyed by the Germans, as the Lutheran clergyman of the church next door convinced the it would destroy his church also. It had been in ruins, however, but was recently renovated. They had minimal to go on as there were few surviving descriptions or pictures of the interiors. The result is pretty good, however. They have a Chabad rabbi, and have more than enough for morning and evening services, and are overflowing on the High Holidays.
Dinner later tonight at "The Three Chefs", a fancy new place in town.
So I now get to write about food. On our trip to the market, which did not require sleuthing on my part because each of the words in Latvian kind of sound like their English counterparts, I had to buy tomatoes, cucumbers and dill for our lunch tomorrow. Several of us also bought warm delicious Latvian bread which we also shared with the group. After we finished our City tour, Steve and I had lunch at an outdoor cafe with our friends Laurie and Art. Laurie and I shared a vegetarian antipasto and the guys had the meat antipasto. Ours had marinated peppers crusty bread with mozzarella balls, beets and stuffed pepper, all quite good. The meat version was also delicious.
Tonight we ate at a restaurant called Three Chefs, which was recently opened by three celebrity chefs. The restaurant only had about a dozen or so tables. At one point, our table of six along with the other members of our tour group at the restaurant probably made up more than half of the patrons in the restaurant. One of the highlights was the dips and breads they do at the beginning of the meal. The wait staff squirts directly on to each diner's parchment placemat six different sauces including pesto, chili and chocolate, strawberry and others in a pretty swirling design. You then dip the bread into the sauces, which is a lovely beginning to the meal. We then had imported Italian bufallo mozzarella and tomatoes for appetizers and fresh fish for dinner. I had pike perch and Steve had tuna, all of which were quite good. This was one of the more expensive restaurants in Riga and our bill was considerably less than it would have been for a comparable restaurant at home. -AHS
Stephen J. Rockower, MD
Sent from my iPad
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