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Our last day in Riga. Greg had been angling to visit the old Spilve airport, which was the airport built by the Soviets after World War II as the hub for Aeroflot. The terminal building still remains as a notable example of Stalin's neoclassical architecture, which was the main reason for our visit. The airfield was closed for regular flights in the late 1980s and is now used for general aviation. We weren't sure if we could see the terminal but thought it was worth a try. It wasn't far from town so we ordered a taxi and started the day's adventure.
The cab driver had dropped us at the tarmac away from the old terminal. We arrived at the tarmac to find the usual detritus of abandoned and decaying buildings. The old tower was boarded up and foliage grew from cracks in the wall. Greg was excited to be around the aircraft and the general hubbub of planes. I'm always impressed with the way Greg can walk up to someone and start a conversation. He came upon a man who was milling around the gates to the tarmac and asked if we could walk around and see the planes up close. Of course the man spoke perfect English and he told Greg he was an instructor and took people up for sightseeing flights over Riga, he could take us up for a flight for 70 euros. Greg turn me and had that look in his eye, and I said why not. So we booked our flight and had 40 minutes to fill so wandered over to the old terminal building to peek through the windows and see what was inside.
When we got closer to the terminal we found the caretaker and his cat doing their rounds about the building. Greg asked if we could go inside, both the cat and the caretaker nodded yes. Once in we were amazed. The interior was reminiscent of the Moscow underground. The ceilings were blue with large stucco stars. Huge marble columns drew your eye to a large mural of happy Soviets waving us into the sky. We walked through the empty rooms on the first floor looking through the large windows which once would have had faces looking down to see their Aeroflot plan arriving. It must have been a very glamorous setting for the arriving communist leaders, as I doubt the ordinary citizens would have the ability to pay for a flight.
After our tour of the terminal we meet up with the pilot and jumped into the Piper Cherokee for our flight. Greg and the pilot talked pilot stuff and I listened on and watched Riga below. From 1000 feet you could see the flat green land of Latvia heading north. The golden church steeples in the old town glistened in the sun. We spent about half an hour in the air and then returned to the airport. The pilot made a perfect landing in a cross wind, Greg gave him the thumbs up.
We had invited Joan back to her house for dinner so I made a chicken curry and Greg finished of his last little watch repairs for Joan. It was nice to spend our last evening with Joan. She has been so generous in letting us use her apartment and we also found out it was her birthday.
Our flight to Berlin left early in the morning so we packed everything for a 5:30 alarm in the morning.
See you in Berlin.
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