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Baltics trip
Day 7 - 22nd May - Riga, Latvia (Part 4)
Radio Latvia building
Square with crane
Rigas Birza (Stock Exchange)
Silhouetted cathedral
Street
Orientalism! Hurr hurr.
Wok Roll restaurant. We decided to stop here to pack lunch. I love how their mascot is Mr Sum Ting Wong.
Menu. The concept was interesting: choose a meat cooked in a sauce with a carbo item.
View from shop
Kitchen
Wok Roll was surprisingly good.
Jasmine Rice + Salmon + Green Curry
Pork + Soba + Coconut. This was better than the curry.
Beef + BBQ sauce + plain tortilla
House of the Blackheads (late 20th c. reconstruction), a merchant guild dedicated to St Maurice, a dark-skinned Roman soldier (cue: accusations of racism).
For some reason, though it wasn't Monday (the official closing day) it was closed. Oh well.
Rigas Dome: New Town Hall (???? - I think my captioning went wrong somewhere)
Free water fountain!
YC was extremely keen to visit the Occupation museum, although wt and I were lukewarm and predicted it'd be basically like the Lithuanian one, except the word "Lithuania" would be replaced with "Latvia". Luckily, this wasn't quite the case (though it'd have been nice to have visited all 3 countries' Occupation museums and say they were identical). Luckily, too, it was free.
Map of Nazi-Soviet division of Eastern Europe, signed by Stalin and von Ribbentrop (and with Stalin's correction in red). nw.t was very impressed that they had this, and it didn't look like a fascimile.
"Partisan war against the Cheka services and agency: ... The Cheka attempted to eliminate the leaders of the partisan organisations and strongest groups using special agents - combatants. They were mostly captured or legalised former partisans. Their usual assignment was to capture partisans poisoned with sleeping drugs or simply to kill them... Under these circumstances the partisans showed no mercy to Cheka agents and informers. When they killed them they often killed also their family members in an attempt to discourage collaboration with the Cheka"
Translation: When (presumably) the Soviets punished dissidents' families, this was unjust and monstrous.
When we ourselves practised Chinese-style reprisals against traitors' clans, this was justified in the noble cause of Latvian independence.
(to their credit, they didn't condemn former partisans as traitors)
The Soviets recruited former partisans in Lithuania too, but I don't recall the Lithuanian museum talking about this sort of tactics.
Hugeass swing. How partisans got their recreation (I think)
The museum was better organised and presented than Lithuania's, and less politicised too, being quite dispassionate and objective (though nothing can compare to China). Lithuania had more exotic artifacts though.
Independence celebration
A claim that there wasn't anti-Semitism in Latvia.
From the two museums, the Nazis were a bit better than the Soviets in Latvia, but a bit worse in Lithuania.
Notice how many languages the pamphlets are available in - except those of the neighbors! Hoho.
Famous visitors
I don't know why this amused me
"Pull" - the Baltics seem fond of wordless signs, probably because there're so many languages with so few speakers.
Monument to the Red Latvian Riflemen
St Peter's Lutheran Church. It had a lift!
One "disko-bars" we saw was only open 2 days a week. The owners must have a lot of fun.
Mentzendorff House. Unfortunately thanks to the time we'd spent in the Occupation Museum this place was closed, so we couldn't find out about the city's Hanseatic past.
Street
St John's Church
Originally the woman at the door told us the place was closed, but nw.t pulled off his histrionics: "I have been turned away by the House of God!", and then she said: "Please, come in"
Vaulting
Altar
All-seeing eye in Hebrew (?!)
Side of church. The undulating brick was nice.