I am missing Riga big time. I can't believe I am actually missing it since prior to our trip to Latvia, I was scared stiff about going there. An overwhelming majority of travel reviews I read about the city actually advised travelers not to go. It was described as crime ridden, full of prostitutes and thugs who attacked tourists left and right. I was really expecting to be robbed as soon as I got off the bus at the International Bus Station. I think all the negative reviews is plain overkill. They do nothing but instill fear in people who wish to see and explore Riga. Nothing bad happened to us, thank goodness. All we have are good memories of a city and a country we hope to visit once again sometime soon.

Let's be clear about one thing. We read horrible reviews about girlie bars and clubs. We went to Riga to sightsee and not to have sex with the local prostitutes nor drink ourselves silly in bars. Perhaps, this was the reason why we didn't encounter any problems with the locals.

Even our hotel, The Hanza Hotel, located in the supposedly dangerous Moscow suburb, was quiet and peaceful. The hotel is very highly rated and when we were there, it was bursting at the seams with tourists from Western Europe. I mean it was full of tourists from France, the UK, and Switzerland.

Although there were huge sections of the city still in need of refurbishment and renovation, the city's Old Town was very pretty. There were many old buildings under repair and painted to match all the others around them which had undergone repair years earlier.

Riga is full of very cute babies. They seemed to be everywhere I looked. They were either being carried by their proud mothers or playing in parks and even plazas in front of malls. They were the cutest babies, I tell you.

Marc even commented that the Freedom Monument Park reminded so much of Boston Comon. This he said after seeing boats in the lake.

Right in the middle of this park was the impressive and elegant looking Freedom Monument. Marc and I visited it many times to take pictures and buy soft serve ice cream on a cone from the Golden Arches for less than a buck. There was one right in front of the park.

We came here several times and saw the changing of the guards once. Unlike the changing of the guards in the palaces of London, Monte Carlo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Prague we've witness over the years, here it was pretty low key and nothing special. Big crowds didn't even gather to take a look.

By the way, there were many statues of statesmen and important people everywhere. Some where in the park while the others were not. At any rate, these were just some of what we saw.

Blaumanis was a Latvian writer, journalist, and playwright.

Kainins was a Latvian composer, organist, music critic, and conductor.

Riga was a big city with lots of interesting buildings. Art Noveau style buildings were everywhere. More about it in a separate blog.

This colorful building was right next to the gunpowder tower.

People could go up the tower for a fee.

For a country that used to be under Communist Soviet rule, we were quite surprised to see many churches. I bought another rosary here in Latvia to add to my already growing collection. Come to think of it, I have actually purchased all my new rosaries from former Soviet satellite countries. I got one from the Czech and Slovak Republics last year and now, one from Latvia. I don't intentionally intend to buy them, they just happen to be way cheaper than in the US and Western European countries. This lastest one I bought cost me less that US $3. Compare that to the US $20 a rosary normally costs in the shops of Catholic Churches in San Francisco. No comparison.

The cathedral's interior was simple but it actually dates back to 1225.

The country's first Lutheran services were held here even though this is the seat of the Roman Catholic archbishopric.