Slept until 8 a.m.! The tour was in the afternoon so we went up to Horizons for English Breakfast tea and a muffin and stayed to read. It was cold and windy when we left at 12:30 so we layered on warmer clothes. Riga is the capital & largest city in Latvia, founded by German traders in the 12th century. The country was taken over by the Soviet Union in 1944 and the majority of Riga citizen are Russian speaking which has created tensions with native Latvians.
Our choice of buying a small painting for each country we visit--40 now with Latvia today--has been a good choice as it seems there are always small paintings available which pack flat to bring home & have framed at home. These in the photo are oil paintings and we found a small watercolor which is our favorite to buy in a small shop later.
Tris Brali or "the 3 brothers" are these 3 houses being the oldest stone houses in the city; the oldest built in the 15th century. This historical area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (as was the old city in Estonia) particularly noted for extensive German Art Nouveau architecture.
We watched the guards as they marched out and then back into their guard houses with expressionless faces even when people went to stand by them to have their pictures taken.
Our tour today was a walking tour of the city, we were told it would be a 2 mile walk on cobblestones but we stopped frequently to be told about buildings, went in several churches, an amber shop (rest stop there) and finally about 3 p.m. some folks asked for a sit-down break. Here we are in the photo trudging along the narrowed cobblestone street.
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