***
Baltics trip
Day 7 - 22nd May - Riga, Museum of War, Latvia (Part 1)
European women are generally more sensual than East Asian women.
HWMNBN using the computer in the home stay
The mess we made
Sara the Dog
The house
Dog we saw on the sidewalk
A run down house. Perhaps a remnant of a more prosperous time.
Disgusting stockings are not confined to Lithuania
Fountain in river
Sculpture of a family
Duck
Freedom monument commemmorating their War of Independence. It was coopted by the Soviets but most people didn't buy it.
Base of monument
Tree-lined avenue beside monument
A manifestation of the vibrancy of the Baltics
Crests of Latvia
Powder Tower, and Museum of War
There are 9 cannon balls in the tower - on the side facing the city (and not away from it). Play Medieval Where's Wally - can you find all 9? We couldn't.
The Museum of War was free, so we went in. Unfortunately English was non-existent.
First was the Medieval section.
Polearms
Musket and dagger (?) set
Member of Livonian Order, 13th-16th century
Town (?) guard, 9th-12th century.
Next was the World War I section.
nw.t looking into a cannon
Clogs
German (?) postcard: "Gott strafe England". This was probably from WWI
Eastern Front model. You usually hear about the Western Front of the Great War so this was a refreshing change. Though there doesn't seem to be much difference.
Then there was stuff from the Russian Civil War.
Cock-looking pistol - attached to what looks like a rifle butt
Poster
Posters and grafitti mockup
Poster
Postcard
Drawing
Naturally, they had stuff from the Latvian War of Independence.
Fit-inducing flashes. Probably to distract people from their editorialising (not that I could read Latvian).
Pistols
Her Majesty's Artillery Shell
One curator asked if we were from Japan (chiefly by repeating, 'Japan?') After a while he recognised 'Malaysia', but not 'Singapore' (when I said 'Singapore' he said 'Philippines'). Hah.
Printed material from 1920-40 hearkening back to the past, and (presumably) conflating the present with legends
The Latvian Village People (a Theatre Troupe)
We Love Stalin
Nazi Medallion (?)
Rifle
There was a special exhibtion on guns.
Musketmen through the ages
Assorted guns ("rata atslega")
Another disproportionately-shaped pistol. Maybe the long stocks are meant to counter the momentum of the bullet.
Complete pistol box, 19th century
A very burdened-looking modern soldier. No wonder he looks so sad.
Golden (?) Gun
Kids' Drawings
Portraits of Stalin
All in all, it was a nice museum. Too bad there was no English but hey, it was free. And they let us use our camera flashes too!
Quotes:
[On Tim the Great hooking up] I don't think so. He strikes me more as the fine foods sort of person than the fine girls sort of person.
Where do all these museum jaga aunties... endless supply
