Walking back through the little park we came across this giant snail outside the Port Administration Building.
National Theatre Building.
A few street scenes back in the Old Town (possibly duplicates).
Inside St James's/St Jacob's Cathedral.
Sorry about the hideous sky but I had to use my phone to get these 3 Maza Pils Street buildings in the same shot. Known as the Three Brothers, they are the oldest complex of dwelling houses in Riga and each house represents various periods of development of dwelling house construction.
From L-R: No.21 is a narrow Baroque building which gained its present look probably during the late 17th century.
The middle house, No.19, has an exterior dating from 1646, with a stone portal added in 1746. The style of the building shows influences from Dutch Mannerism.
No.17 is the oldest, dating from the late 15th century. The exterior of the building is characterised by crow-stepped gables, Gothic decorations, and a few early Renaissance details. Originally the building consisted internally of one large room.
And next door conveniently houses a pub.
With a rather different type pub bar stool.
Another bar down the road had these old motorcycles as decoration.
Back in the Old Town main square.
We picked up savoury pastries from a mini supermarket and sat outside the cathedral eating them. Mine was spinach and ricotta and delicious and I had the privilege to share it with this rather brave sparrow.
This apparently is an old stable building that's been converted into a garage.
St Peter's Church spire again (it's quite impressive).
This frieze is on the side of one of the Old Town buildings.
Back almost now to our hotel and a slightly different angle on the Riflemen Statue.
Also in Riflemen's Square is the Memorial to the Victims of the Soviet Occupation during which tens of thousands of Latvians were deported (presumably to somewhere not very nice like Siberia).
A better shot of the Town Hall and its clock tower.
We then carried on past our hotel and onto the riverside walkway. About 1km along is a wooden statue encased in a glass cabinet and bearing this story.
Once upon a time, long ago before the city of Riga was founded, a tall strong man name Big Christopher carried people across the river. He lived in a cabin on the right bank of the river. Whilst sleeping one night, Christopher heard a small child crying on the other side of the river. He immediately rose to fetch the child and began to carry it across the river. Half way across, the child became so heavy that Christopher barely managed to get to the other bank. Exhausted he laid the child down to sleep in his shack and fell asleep himself. The following morning Christopher awoke to find a large chest of gold coins where the child had been. Upon his death, the money was used to found the city of Riga; the first building was built on the spot where Christopher's cabin once stood.
It's a lovely story but I can't help feeling that it deserves a better statue that the one currently displayed which is rather basic to say the least.
A Latvian public toilet and no, I didn't try it
A little further along was a group of soldiers about to board a coach, something suggested to me they might be musicians and therefore friendly as I was keen to photograph a hat. I plucked up courage to speak to them and one guy was singled out as English speaking. I gave my usual spiel of "please may I take a photo of your hat, I won't include you face" as so many people - me included - don't like being photographed. But he immediately looked crestfallen and replied "but why?, what is wrong with my face?". He then translated to his fellow servicemen and everyone fell about laughing. So here is my lovely officer's face.
And his rather peculiarly shaped hat.
Walking past the old castle once again.
Where it was obvious that a bit of a "do" had been going on (probably why the army musicians were here).
We'd missed all the action and they were rolling up, rather than rolling out, the red carpet.
Built in 1330 as part of the town's defensive system the Powder Tower was used to store gunpowder in the 17th century.
This is known as the Cat House and the story behind this unique architecture tells of its Latvia owner who was denied membership to the powerful Great Guild; to show his displeasure, he built two cat sculptures on his roof with their backsides facing the Guild and their tails straight up to finish the insult (not entirely sure where the other one is)
I'm sure these ladies put an awful lot of hard work into their hand-knitted products but, really, does anyone buy them, especially in June?
Located between 3 of Riga's major churches, The Town Musicians of Bremen sculpture is based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale which tells the story of four aging domestic animals - a donkey, a dog, a cat, and a rooster - who escape their masters and set out to become musicians in the city of Bremen.
It was a gift from Bremen to its sister city Riga. A few more random street pictures.
It turns out that Riga is now a popular destination for stag and hen do's although goodness knows why given the price of everything, but we've seen quite a few of these "Beer Bikes" going around the old town.
We had dinner in the left hand restaurant; the food was delicious and the waitress really sweet and helpful.
Phew, that was quite a full on day and so although it won't get dark for another couple of hours we're done in and need sleep as we have an early start for our day trip into Lithuania tomorrow. Incidentally I must just mention our hotel lift, it's so fast it feels like you're heading into orbit and the operating buttons are designed like a mobile phone key pad - neat eh?
