Riga

So, the trip to Latvia last weekend then... I'm not going to say too much about it, as I didn't have the best of times. Nothing to do with Riga itself, just perhaps there are people with whom I shouldn't go on holiday again. 'Nuff said. Added to which, I lost my beautiful, cuddly black Branching Out made of Knitglobal Ultrafine Merino, probably as a result of the absinthe shooters I was drinking at the time (oops). No-one had handed it in when I went back to the bars. I hadn't even photographed it for Ravelry, sob. So that didn't improve my experience.

I'll therefore just give the photographic highlights, if that's OK with you all? This might therefore be heavy on the old bandwidth. However, it's guaranteed free from any photos of monuments (or your money back).

On arrival, we had to wait for other travelling companions on another flight. The tiny cafe at Riga airport had the most perfectly arranged napkins I had ever seen, with one of these clean-lined beauties on each round table. I was rapt.

More geometry as we saw this magnificent bridge across the Daugava river on our way from the airport to the city centre:

I was then terribly excited on seeing a shop next door to our hotel with a spinning wheel and handspun yarn in the window. Sadly this was just for show - the shop sold artisanal woven cloth, beautifully made but not my cup of tea. Still, I'm sure it would have bored my companions witless if I'd spend hours in there drooling over fibre, so just as well.

We then went for a wander around the city. I adored the amazing scrolled doorknob to Riga cathedral:

A beautiful circular piece of stained glass hung up in an outside cloister which acts as a museum of artefacts from the cathedral - I love this shot as the soft light made the whole thing look like a Renaissance painting, not just the disc itself:

Outside, some surrealism with this Dali-inspired mural:

This stone bloke:

An even stonier lady:

And the sign of the hourglass:

How could anyone bear to eat one of these guys?

Anarchic graffiti:

Encouragement for yogic practice, although it was a bit cold to get your kit off:

I insisted we visit the Natural History Museum as I always do in foreign cities (and here in London). I'll post separately about the glorious taxidermy as I'm sure not everyone will like that. In the meantime, here's part of a big map of the world showing local fauna. Apparently Britain only has fish:

They had a wonderful exhibit of butterflies, mounted on mirrors. I managed to take a shot of myself looking at them that, surprisingly, I like (and I don't know why), so here is Self Portrait with Butterflies:

And because there has to be at least one "quirky" shot in the bunch, so we can all play look-at-the-wacky-foreigners (sorry, Latvia), here's something I couldn't resist from our hotel breakfast buffet:

Behold, cold baked beans as a breakfast garnish! The boyfriend thinks this looks like a great idea. Excuse me whilst I vomit. I do love the colour of them though.

Finally, of course there was some knitting done. I started a sock in some gorgeous SW merino from Skein Queen, and it's coming along nicely. Here it is in Riga airport, waiting for our flight home:

I might go back one day, maybe with other people...