Riga

I took the 4 hour bus from Klaipeda to Riga and arrived on a very gray, stormy day. It didn't last through my four-day stay, however, and for a couple days, there were clear blue skies. In Riga, I found my favorite cathedrals of all the cathedrals in the Baltic capitols: the Dome Cathedral and St. Peter's Cathedral. Each of the gothic-style cathedrals had impressive stained glass windows and the Dome Cathedral had a huge organ inside. I rode an elevator to the top of St. Peter's and battled the wind to take still pictures of the old town from above.

The Dome Cathedral, with a Christmas tree in the square

The stained glass windows inside of the Dome Cathedral

The pulpit inside the Dome Cathedral, which belongs to the Latvian Lutheran Church

The altar

Some of the organ pipes suspended on the rear balcony in the Dome Cathedral

The tonsury in the courtyard of the Dome Cathedral

A pagan sculpture dug up from the courtyard of the Dome Cathedral and covered with coins from visitors

An attempt at taking a still photograph of the Dome Cathedral from the top of St. Peter's Cathedral; the wind was blowing so hard that I could lean into it pretty steeply without falling

The steeple of St. Peter's Cathedral, from the top of which I took the previous picture

The dark interior of St. Peter's Cathedral

The old town of Riga from the top of St. Peter's Cathedral

The "House of the Blackheads" (what a terrible name), where rich, unmarried German merchants used to live (I suppose they were traders within the Hanseatic League, because Riga was a member city of the League and the building was built in the 14th century, during the operation of the League)

Town hall at night

I started to enjoy wandering the streets at night, because everything was so well-lit and colorful in the old town

If I ever return, I hope to stay at this particular hotel

The interior of the Latvian National Museum of Art

A Latvian painting of a swineherd

Also a painting by a Latvian artist

When I was in Riga, I was lucky to see the commemoration of the liberation of Latvia from the Soviet Union on January 20th. Here is the procession. Below is a short paragraph that I took from one of the Latvian Institute's webpage:

"January 20: Commemoration Day of Defenders of the Barricades in 1991.

Already in autumn 1990, reactionary forces increasingly became established in the government of the Soviet Union. It was in their interests to stop the Baltic peoples' move towards restoring independence, and in January 1991 the leaders of the USSR in Moscow took a decision to restore the old order in the Baltic. Latvians from all over the country rushed to Rīga to build barricades and defend the independent power structures. January 20 marked the culmination of violence by Soviet forces hostile to Latvian independence. Soviet special forces seized the Latvian Ministry of the Interior, a gun-battle ensued and several people were killed."

Laying flowers at the graves at the foot of the Monument of Freedom

The Monument of Freedom

Detail of the statue at the top of the Monument of Freedom

This is the central esplanade in the Riga old town, and seeing as how it was such a pleasant ambiance, I thought that I should videotape it

The Russian Orthodox Cathedral

Inside of the Orthodox Cathedral; just after taking this video, a priest politely asked me to stop taping and I felt really bad about it, but I'm still posting the video, hehe!

Doesn't this look like classic Stalinist architecture? It is the tallest building in the Russian part of Riga, right next to the giant Russian-style outdoor market

This scene made me feel like I was on another planet, with the mood and strange buildings surrounding me. Riga really has the most interesting mixture of architecture of all the Baltic Republics. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of the art nouveau district, which is a well-known example of the style.

Vilnius and Trakai Castle in the Snow

This past week, Chase and I visited Vilnius, the capitol city of Lithuania. We stayed at the Old Town Hostel, which was cramped, but clean and conveniently located. Here are some pictures from Vilnius, where it had been snowing.

This is the Gate of Dawn, which house a miracle-working statue of Mary. Whenever you walk through the gate, you will see people stop, turn, kneel, and cross themselves in honor of the statue, which, according to Chase, is the most holy site in Lithuania. A French guy that I met at the hostel told me that the cult of the Virgin Mary was created to replace pagan Gaian cults. Apparently that's relevant because Lithuania is overwhelmingly Catholic and also is experiencing a pagan revival.

The Lithuanian National Philharmonic

One of many beautiful churches in the Old Town of Vilnius

The top of St. John's Cathedral flanked by flags in front of the Presidential Palace

Gediminas tower at the top of Gediminas Hill, which is part of the old Vilnius castle complex.

The slope of Gediminas Hill, which you can climb by foot or by funicular.

The view of the Vilnius old town, particularly St. John's Cathedral.

Another view of the old town.

The remains of the original keep of the Vilnius castle.

Vilnius Cathedral, which I didn't get to see inside. Chase and the study abroad group went and said that the medieval catacombs underneath the cathedral were awesome. I slept in. Dumb me.

The detail of the ceiling of the porch of the cathedral.

Not far from Vilnius is an amazing medieval castle that was restored by the Soviets. I took the day-trip to Trakai Castle separately from Chase, who went with the LCC study abroad group. I went with a French guy, Morvan, that I met in the hostel. He introduced me to the Ukrainian anarchist Nestor Makhno (who would interest anarcho-capitalists out there) and kept my mind spinning with detailed accounts of his readings. He was from the coastal city of Brest in Brittany, which is the northwestern-most corner of France. Anyways, Trakai castle is the ideal medieval castle that you would picture in your mind.

At this point, Morvan and I are standing in the middle of the lake, in complete awe.

The bridge to the castle, with picturesque bulrushes on either side.

A tower

The keep

The gate to the keep sits on a different island than the island from where I am taking this picture. The next picture illustrates that.


The view from the bridge between the walled courtyard of the castle and the keep. You can see that they are completely separated from each other by the lake.

This is such a cool place!

Inside of the keep

Inside of the castle passageways

This is a panoramic video of the frozen lake around Trakai Castle and, yes, Morvan and I are standing in the middle of the lake. In fact, we walked across the lake from the village to the castle and I slipped three times in a row on the ice before I fell hard on my bottom.