31-12-2021 Bong & His Winter Update 4 - Final Chapter of Riga

We came to Elizabetes street, 

where one of the masterpieces of 

Nouveau Architecture art could be found....

Pretty funny to see that

the cars have to park like that on the street...

After that, we went back to old town again,

passed by again the other side of

Latvian National Museum of Art

and

Piemineklis pulkvedim Oskaram Kalpakam

(historical landmark dedicated to Oskar Kalpak,

the commander of the first independent Latvian battalion).

then 

Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly

(A Baltic German Field Marshal

& Minister of War during Napoleon's invasion)

We walked through Bastejkalna Parks

and that feeling of finally could travel,

see something different was really GREAT!

We tried another road

where we walked pass Powder Tower

and a "Circle K" kiosk (without the petrol station part) lol!

We went back to the hotel,

had some rest,

and back on sight-seeing again!

We walked for about 15 minutes

from our hotel to this Riga Central Market!

Some parts of the market was not selling

"necessity" stuffs 

so they were closed during the restrictions period.

Although many shops were closed,

we still managed to spend quite some time there

and even buy something! Hehe!

We knew it was our "final" sight-seeing for this trip

before the curfew started at 8pm...

We managed to buy some (VERY cheap)

local food from the Rimi shop nearby...

and enjoyed the rest of the trip with the nice wine we had....

The next day,

after having breakfast,

we checked out from Rixwell Konventa Seta Design

and headed home,

happily ended our first overseas trip since

the pandemic started.

XOXO

-Bong-

21-12-2021 Bong & His Winter Update 3 - Riga Part 3

After attending my meetings and finishing my work,

(while Arne was taking rest...jealous!),

we continued the sight-seeing around Riga Cathedral area...

And for some reasons,

I must say it was nice to have almost all the shops closed.

(save time, save money lol)

We stayed very near to a shopping center,

named Galerija Centrs

and we could basically find everything we needed

for this trip there,

despite the strict restrictions...

"Basket! basket!"

yes, everyone had to carry one basket

regardless if you were from a same household,

close friends, etc.

The point was to use basket to control

the amount of customers

in the shop....

Finally,

a proper picture of St. John's Church

before having our sunset tour...

We spent the sunset time

at Krastmala, 

walking along the Daugava river,

looking at the Stone Bridge, Vanšu Bridge....

No more canal boats

at that time....

After that,

we went back to our hotel before the curfew at 8pm started,

with this little dessert to celebrate Halloween in the hotel room! lol

Day three in Riga,

we started the sightseeing

with Bastejkalna Park....

Piemineklis Džordžam Armitstedam, 

Fountain Nymph, 

and Laima Clock....

All of a sudden,

we were standing in front of this amazing

Freedrom Monument!

After that,

we continued the sightseeing to other tourist spots...

We came to another side of the city,

totally different from the old town....

We walked across Linden tree alley,

looked through all the modern art & sculptures there...

and then arrived at this

spectacular

Nativity of Christ Orthodox Cathedral.

It was free to visit, but

it was not allowed to take pictures inside.

So, sorry for no pictures to share here...

We then walked a bit around the cathedral,

at this Hare Kingdom park...

From more modern arts to

Raiņa piemineklis...

then the Art Academy of Latvia and

this striking looking

Latvian National Museum of Art...

we suddenly ended up a more...

local restrict....

before reaching the Art Nouveau buildings area....

To be continued....

XOXO

-Bong-