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25/07/2010
Riga, Latvia
2nd day in Riga- and what a lovely day it has been so far. It was difficult to sleep again in the heat: 29 degrees still, gone 1am and these strange green mosquitoes are everywhere (as it the Ukraine). I squashed a bug above my bed that looked funny and I'm afraid it might fall on my head!
Breakfast at Karavella is free- a nice range of cereal, yogurt, egg and meats alongside hot and cold drinks. Though must pay attention to Coffee/ Water taps as today I made "Tea-offee"- not so nice.
Had a relaxing start as on Sunday in Latvia nothing opens till 11 or 12. First stop was Latvijas okupacikas muz- what appears to be very small actually offers a very detailed account of Latvia's occupation- I never really knew much about the Gulags and Kulaks before today- it is awful! The Baltic has suffered greatly between 1940-1991. During the first Soviet occupation 25 million Latvians were resettled in the East in forced labour, POW camps or Gulags. The reconstruction of a Gulag is reminiscent of a Nazi concentration camp- it makes you ashamed to be British when you remember that it was the British that invented this degrading model.
Whilst the Nazi campaign was fuelled by a idea of racial superiority (not that this is a suitable justification), it seems the Soviets were driven only be paranoia. The site of the museum is in the heart of Riga, it is not an Old Soviet bunker as Lonely Planet would have you believe, but the site of the old Soviet memorial/ museum to commemorate the Latvian Red Riflemen who supported Lenin and his regime 1917-1920.
I left the museum and walked through the beautiful park by "Milda", tucked away behind what seems to be one of Riga's biggest nightclubs (Tiesto is DJing next week) is the Jewish theatre which houses the Jews in Latvia museum, a community centre and a grand theatre house. It is beautiful; a board at the entrance gives an idea of the various assistances and festivities that occur here: from blood donating and citizenship classes to Pesach and Purim celebrations.
On the 1st floor some old Latvian Jewish men are gathered around chatting in Hebrew. The museum is further up near the top- a struggle to walk in this heat. It offers a document of various Jewish families, tradeships and intellectuals who have lived in the various towns and villages of Latvia. Also it highlights the Zionists and Latvian settlers in Palestine and "The Bund" movement in the country. Towards the end of room 1 of the 3 is a glass cabinet of anti-semitic news articles and graphics of 1880-1907, offering a stark contrast to the Occupation museum which proudly proclaims Latvia was never anti-Semitic (though I stand corrected- after my tour I learn that this was a time of the Russian empire).
The Holocaust section was small- this was more a celebration of what was here before, a trove of lost treasures, the focus of this final section was on Latvians who had risked their lives to help Jews- the museum, overall, gave a feelig of social unit and cohesion in Latvia and the occupation museum detailed the specific Holocaust memorial day of the country.
After a slow wander back to Old Riga I took a trolley bus tour of the area- to rest my feet and see the views in the shade!- then caught some food and a mojioto, was going to try some traditional Latvian food but they had sold out- so instead opted by jacket potato: this couldn't have been a natural potato- I'm sure it was bigger than my head! It is easy to lose hours in the Old City- so beautiful!
There seems to be an obsession with Rock, Indie and Pop-Rock in Riga (alongside a little dance)- they are playing a live U2 concert recording on a wide screen truck in Dom Square. There is a rock/film shop which is adorned in Twilight merchandise- seems it has managed to spread its almighty lameness even into the depths of the Baltics- pity: I thought Lativans had style! I am chilling with dubbed American X Factor in the hotel room awaiting my tour guide for the evening: its amazing how you can tell their reactions just from body language.
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