More Ligo in Riga...

Latvia it seems celebrates Summer Solstice more than it does any other holiday -- several days of festivities and on the 23rd and 24th most places are closed and people leave town to go to the countryside.

Well, except those left in Riga celebrating at the huge herb and flower markets (it IS a pagan holiday after all).

Here are a few views of the festivities in Dome Square.













Many more photos on Flickr! Click on any of these pix and it will take you to the collection in Flickr.

Later I went to the huge Soviet-built Academy for Scientific Study (which houses offices of things like folklore and various science groups -- not museums or anything)...





The draw here is that it is 17 stories tall and for a couple of Lats (around $4) you get to go to one of the tallest points in Riga and look down!









After that I went to one of the Jewish memorials a few blocks away. Formerly a synagogue, it was burned to the ground with all the congregation, another sad reminder of Nazi atrocities in East Europe.









That was all from Wednesday. Yesterday I wandered around a bit more to make sure I had seen all I could see in Riga, then went back to the hotel (in the rain again) and packed.

This morning I left Riga and came to Vilnius, Lithuania, where I was greeted by more rain! What's up with that?? I will be here for the next 6 days then back to the U.K. for a couple of weeks then home! Whew!