Exploring Old Riga with Juris

Today was our last day of trip prep in Riga before we launch on the motorcycles tomorrow.  We woke this morning to grey skies and rain.  Although we've had intermittent rain for the last two days, we worried that the planned walking tour might be cancelled.

At breakfast we met some more of our fellow riders.  Ida Purwaningsih and Alex Lunardi-Tedjowinoto from Indonesia, Marilyn Makepeace, from California, Alain Gabriel from Switzerland, Andre Lacy from Indianapolis, and "Boz" Bozarth from California.  We also met our paramedic/guide, Mike Meyer.  At this point we were still missing only Tom and Mona Loftus, Geoffrey Smith, and Randy McClanahan.

Primary riding guides, John and Janis, were there as well and after some back and forth, confirmed that the walking tour was still on.  Several opted out, but the majority met in the lobby after breakfast to meet the local tour guide, Juris.

Juris is a member of the Conservation Society of Latvia and has permit # 001 for guides.  He also has very good English skills, unusual in Eastern Europe in our experience.

The following structures remain from the Swedish occupation, in various degrees of restoration

The Powder Tower

The old wall and Ramer Tower - almost a total restoration

The Swedish Gate - It was cut through a residential building in 1668 to facilitate access to the city from houses that were built between the city wall and the ramparts.

On the other side of the narrow street is a building that was used to house the infantry.

This house on the left is the last of the medieval homes.  Unlike most of western Europe, the Latvian homes only extended their second floors ever so slightly over the lane.

The Latvian government consists of a 100 member parliamentary body called the Saeima.  The oldest part of the building dating back to early 1900s is the part with the arched windows. 

We came across these street performers as we walked down the street.  They like to play songs from tourists' home countries.  Juris tried to stump them by asking them to play something from Alex and Ida's home country, Indonesia.  After thumbing through their music books for a couple of minutes, they found one.  They also played "America, The Beautiful" for the rest of us.

The building to the right is the oldest preserved dwelling in Riga.  It was built in at the end of the 15th century. It has a lean as bad as the tower of Pisa.  The one next to it was built in 1646, and the one on the left is of a slightly older date.  They all show the Dutch influence of their time.  Together, they are known as the "Three Brothers".

This building used to be the commodity stock exchange until the Soviets invaded.  Socialists had no use for financial houses and it now houses an art museum

Interior lobby of the art museum

This exhibit in the former stock exchange is a Venitian gondola that has been "exploded".  It represents order and chaos - at least that's what we're told.

The Dome Church is the largest and most significant of the churches in Riga.  It is the final resting place of Bishop Albert, who led the Northern Crusades to convert the barbarians of the Baltic area to christianity in the early 1200s.  Many of the landed gentry are buried there after contributing to the church to gain immortality for their names and coat of arms.  In 1561, the last grand master of the Order of Livonia Gotthard Kettler signed a treaty with Poland, converted to Lutheranism and sold the Dome Church to Riga.  

Usually, all churches in Riga have a golden rooster atop the steeple.  Currently it is under restoration. When it is finished, the lead architect will climb to the top of the steeple, sit astride the golden rooster and drink a toast to the newly renovated church.  Then he will toss the glass to the ground.  Legend has it that the church will stand for as many years as there are broken pieces of glass.

Two centuries ago when St. Peters steeple was replaced, the architect couldn't drop the glass directly to the ground because of the crowd of people.  He tossed it towards a nearby open area.  Unfortunately, the glass landed on a bale of hay, and only broke in two.  At first the town people thought this was a disaster, however, this time each piece represented a century and the St. Peter's steeple lasted two centuries until 1941.

St Peter's Church was established in 1209 and expanded throughout the years.  This facade is the newest, although sections of the original building remain.  The steeple was damaged by the 1941 friendly fire event that destroyed Town Hall Square.  It was subsequently replaced by the Soviets and now has an elevator that takes tourists to the top for the best panoramic views of the city.

Just outside the church is a sculpture to the Grimm Brothers.  It represents the Town Musicians of Bremen, and was a gift from the German town of Bremen to Riga.  The two cities have a long history of trade.  Notice the shiny noses - it's considered good luck if you rub all of them.

At last we get down to business.

We met this afternoon for a pre-tour meeting with the guides and participants.  Randy's flight was delayed, but he finally made it to Riga just before the start of our meeting.  Tom and Mona Loftus will meet us in Kazakhstan.

We discussed the necessary paperwork to be carried on the bikes, the daily morning schedule, border crossings, and reviewed the rules of the road in Russia and China (basically there really aren't any - stay alert).  We also attempted to figure out the paperwork for the Russian border crossing.  We think we got it right - ya never know with government paperwork.

After our meeting we walked down the street to have our first group dinner. 

We can already tell it's a fun group.  There are people of wide age spans, home locations, and backgrounds.  All have a lot of long distance motorcycle riding experience, with stories to tell as a result.  We previously rode with Marilyn Makepeace and John Jesson on a tour of eight countries in Africa two years ago, and some of the other riders have also ridden together.  John, Janis, Mike and Svetlana will be herding cats for the next 2 1/2 months.  We will always begin and end each day together, but the riders are on their own in terms of riding speed and style, so we expect some smaller groups will emerge.  Dave and I often take off on our own on these type of trips, but time will tell.  A complication in many of our destinations is purchasing fuel - more on that in a later post.

This is going to be fun!  Tomorrow we have a special permit to ride the motorcycles into Riga's old town pedestrian area for the official starting photos at 8:00 AM.  From there we will ride along the sea into Estonia, destination Tallin, the capital.