Greetings from Riga, Latvia!

Here are the highlights of what we have been up to in Riga over our six weeks there. Wish you were here! XOXO ❤️, Carrie and Jim

(P.S. Click on the images below to see them uncropped.)

Illusions museum

OK, I have to say, I think this was my favorite thing we did here. There are illusion museums all over the world—usually called selfie museums—but until now, I hadn’t been to one. There was a failed attempt to the one in Denver with my friend, but it was in the downstairs of an old building and not wheelchair accessible (grrrr… plenty of room to put a stair lift in too).

You can see, even Jim had fun with the illusions!

Central Market

Housed in and around several WWI hangers, the market has five pavilions, each with its own category of offerings: vegetables, dairy, meat, fish and bakery products; as well as an outdoor area with stalls and stands, the Night Market and ‘Round the Clock Farmers’ Market. We’ve explored many markets throughout the world like this, but I'd have to say, this was the cleanest of them all. My favorite was the cookies at one stand that were literally the size of my hand. The inexpensive selection of “forest berries” and fruits was definitely my next favorite. I mean, cherries for $0.81 a pound (€1.50/kg)? Blueberries for less than $1.95 a pound? More, please!

National Library of Latvia - and The castle of Light

The National Library of Latvia is impressive. The building itself is something to see, but the temporary and permanent exhibits inside the library (all free) are impressive too!

They currently have a campaign called, “A Special Book for a Special Bookshelf.” It is an opportunity for everyone to donate a book of special importance to themselves to the National Library of Latvia. You are required to write a message or personal story relating to the book on its title page. The library has almost 7,000 books in 50 languages on what they've named, the "People's Bookshelf.”

I have such a love of libraries and could not pass up the opportunity to participate in such a cool project. My special book with my special story written in on the front page is now included on the People's Bookshelf!

Sam

We found this cool thing to see on Atlas Obscura (one of our favorite go tos for random/unusual things to see when we are traveling).

Sam is a statue. The sculpture is from a series called “First Crew” by Russian artist Denis Prasolov. The monkey in the sculpture is known as “Sam” and is a tribute to the animals who died during spaceflight survival tests.