Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum

The Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum is one of the oldest outdoor museums in Europe and first opened in 1924. It's a bit like Skansen in Stockholm. It's full of building recreations from the 17th to 20th century. They have live demonstrations by folk artisans during the summer but it's definitely not summer now.

It was quiet and mostly closed this time of year, but the price was really cheap to go and check it out. It's just 4 euros for a family ticket during the off season. I see that's about half price, so it isn't expensive any time of the year. It's still fun to time travel in a place like this and I'm sure it's even more interesting when everything's open.

It's accessible from old town Riga on bus 1. That shouldn't be confused with the tram of the same "name" since tram 1 tracks end one stop short of the museum on the other side of the lake. Who gives the same line number to related types of public transit lines? Well, apparently Riga does.

The place is huge since we only saw a quarter of it. I can see a big part of the charm is the natural environment and walking through the trees by the lake. Nature never closes. It just needs us to pay attention to it as we move about. There's always some beauty to be found any time of the year and any weather.


Sunday, October 28, 2018

First Week in Riga

I visited Riga for a weekend before moving here, but now we're newly arrived to live here for 3 years. Our apartment isn't ready yet so we're in a hotel for a few weeks. It happens often enough that someone is moving out just as you're arriving, so there needs to be a little time to fix it up for the next occupants. It looks like it'll be well worth the wait.

These pictures show you around the neighborhood of our hotel which is also where our apartment will be: Old Town! The oldest parts of a city are usually the most amazing parts. They just don't make them like they used to. 😜