Today P and I went to the Veselibas Centrs 4 for our mandatory residence permit chest x-rays to check for tuberculosis. 10 Euros each. Imagine chest x-rays in the US costing $12.50 each. Also, it was a walk-in clinic, first come, first serve. Together we were in and out within 15 mins. Imagine that. A “fast” appointment in the US to the doctor includes at least 30 minutes of waiting in the big waiting room followed by 30 minutes of waiting in the small room.
Afterwards, we were within easy walking distance of the Great Cemetery which is described as "Lot's of celebrities buried before WWII lie here...there are also abandoned mausoleums and statues." Many of the statues were of fallen trees or tree snags with deep roots into the ground. Some of these carved stone artifacts were supported by live trees, each providing ample food source for living green mosses. Really quite stunning.
The famous Brother Cemetery is up the road just a bit; we are saving for another week as the crocus and other little bulbs look like they are about to bloom; we expect the cemeteries to be carpeted in forest flowers soon. |
Afterwards, we walked a new route back toward our flat, stopping off at the larger Prisma supermarket for some groceries. After dropping off our larder, we finally decided to try the little Kafenika (coffee shop) on the street level of our apartment complex. We had a cheese and ham pastry and two espressos for 3 Euro. It did not rate with our other favorite bekerejas, Martins and Gustavs.
Unsatisfied and a little jacked on espresso , we headed to Gustavs. After sipping two more espressos accompanied by an incredible poppy seed, almond, and ricotta cheese pastry and a chocolate bomb that was just the perfect blend of sweet and cocoa, we (more jacked up on espresso) decided to stroll. The sun had broken through the morning rain and it is starting to look like spring. The flower stalls are overflowing with buckets tulips, roses and goldenrod - Latvians love flowers, we are told and it is quite evident as there are flower stalls everywhere.
The strollers, the strollers. I kept thinking to myself what is different with the baby strollers here? Why are these so familiar to me. Then I realized it's like seeing Eisenstein's film Battleship Potemkin (he was born here and we are looking forward to visiting the film museum next week). The baby strollers are reminiscent; waist high, baby in recline. But the wheels are much beefier - able to negotiate the very cobbled streets of Riga (I still do not know how the women negotiate the cobble stones in their stilettos).
Unsatisfied and a little jacked on espresso , we headed to Gustavs. After sipping two more espressos accompanied by an incredible poppy seed, almond, and ricotta cheese pastry and a chocolate bomb that was just the perfect blend of sweet and cocoa, we (more jacked up on espresso) decided to stroll. The sun had broken through the morning rain and it is starting to look like spring. The flower stalls are overflowing with buckets tulips, roses and goldenrod - Latvians love flowers, we are told and it is quite evident as there are flower stalls everywhere.
The strollers, the strollers. I kept thinking to myself what is different with the baby strollers here? Why are these so familiar to me. Then I realized it's like seeing Eisenstein's film Battleship Potemkin (he was born here and we are looking forward to visiting the film museum next week). The baby strollers are reminiscent; waist high, baby in recline. But the wheels are much beefier - able to negotiate the very cobbled streets of Riga (I still do not know how the women negotiate the cobble stones in their stilettos).