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 Certainly, neither of us
would have suspected even two or three years ago that either of us would be
returning to Latvia, married to, of all things, a fellow Latvian.
We'd been in Latvia at the same time before, overlapping
vacations, but it wasn't the same as really traveling together. The only
mistake we made was that, as most newlyweds, we did
miscalculate (!!!) a bit on our first
joined-at-the-hip trip. If Silvija's relatives take her a week and a half for
her to visit, and mine take me a week and a half, at least, then, a week and a
half would not be enough for both of us together! We didn't think of that, so
our vacation was full of lots of running around and no sight-seeing this time,
not even a day to wander around Vecriga!
Of course, we still did manage to take
pictures, a (scant for us!) nine rolls of film, of family, of friends, and of
places close to our hearts. |
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| Click on the thumbnails
to go to the next level! |
 Our home base was an apartment on Zaubes Iela,
not far from the center, but certainly a bit of a hike in the hot weather we
seemed to have brought with us! We were dying the day we walked to the
Universalveikals (Department Store) in Vecriga (Old Riga) to buy fans! |
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 We spent one day traveling out to Koknese,
east of Riga along the Daugava, where Silvija's dad grew up. And yes, the heat
was more unbearable than ever! We did find a great little restaurant to stop at
for food and cold beer to revive us! Peters, our designated driver, had to be
content with sipping a tasty but non-alcoholic Multi juice. |
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 For Peters, every trip
includes a visit to Mordanga, where his mom grew up, where the memories of his
family are still centered. It was a bit odd, not visiting with his mom, who was
still back home recovering from her last trip. This time, he visited with just
his cousin, Gaida. (Silvija stayed home to keep her dad out of trouble!) Their
first stop? One of the local greenhouses to pick up a trunk full of flowers.
Gaida planted while Peters measured broken windows. Sadly, no one seems to have
time to look after the old mill house; yet, at least during this visit, there
were some unmistakable signs of progress as well! |
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 Among the highlights of our trip was Silvija's
goddaughter's (and cousin Anda's daughter!), Kristine's, birthday. Some things,
we found, have universal appeal, regardless of language or culture. Both
children and adults were quite taken by... the Furby! It's not exactly as
traditional as a drop spindle, but it is one of the more unique ways of
learning English! Then there is the problem of how,
exactly, to tell the Furbish apart from the English if you don't speak either!
Ooops! |
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 Proving you can kill two birds with one
stone, we (Silvija, Peters, Silvija's sister Inara, and family friend Janis)
headed out for Kandava, in Kurzeme, to visit one of Silvija's mom's school
friends originally from Liepaja. And then, on to Kuldiga, Peters' father's home
town to drop off some plans he and his mom found to family property. It's been
slow going, but then patience is something one learns quickly in navigating the
administrative corridors. Nothing happens quickly, and everything requires
personal attention. |
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 We also stopped by Vecaki, in the suburbs on the Riga Gulf
coast, to say hello to Peters' cousin Gaida, her two sons Arno and Maris, and
their families, as well as the eldest matriarch of the family, Peters' uncle's
Oswald's wife Erna, who celebrates her 96th (!) birthday this year. Sadly, we
also got the news while we were visiting that their next door neighbor, Olga,
also a relative, passed away suddenly. She had sold the land their house was on
to Peters' cousin Vija (Gaida's sister) when they needed a place to build a
house after returning from Siberia. A reminder to spend our days wisely and
well. |
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 It's not quite true that we didn't get out at
all. We did make it to the casino a couple of times. Souvenir shopping was more
a chore than entertainment because of the heat. But, we still managed to see at
least one new interesting sight. And we also made it to the Alus Seta
restaurant in Vecriga for a filling meal and good conversation. |
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 It's not easy keeping up with two sets of relatives! Two
visits Peters absolutely had to make were, first, to his mother's cousin
Arturs, who lives with his wife Lena in the Vidzeme countryside, in Alsviki,
just southwest of Aluksne. That's all the way up by the Estonian and Russian
borders. The visit also included stopping in at the Aluksne cemetary to pay
respects to Arturs' mother, Minna, who, like our parents, had escaped to
America and had been like Peters' grandmother to him. The other—and more
important, if it's at all possible to rank these sorts of things!—was to
check in on Peters' aunt Laura, who's house sitting for Gaida in the Bolderaja
suburb while Gaida's back in Vecaki and Arno and Ester (and Bruss) are also in
Vecaki for the summer. We made it to Laura's the last night we were there,
things were so hectic! |
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