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| His face says it all for me, sad. |
We woke up in Room 105 this morning, the same room that we were in when we first arrived three weeks ago. The receptionist had us moved from the not-so-nice ground floor room back to this one yesterday. I was happy when I got the news; it was nice to come full circle - we started and ended our wonderful Baltics trip here!
After our last breakfast at the Elizabete, we headed out with the intention to do a bit of sightseeing. Our flight didn't leave until after lunch so we had a few hours to spend.
I dragged Bro for one last walk around to see the spectacular Art Nouveau buildings. I don't think I will ever see so many buildings, in such a small area, that all take my breath away as these have!
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| Elizabete 10a, Mikhail Eisenstein's grand masterpiece and my favorite building. |
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| Detail of building right across the street from the Elizabete Hotel. |
After strolling around a bit, we changed our minds. Truthfully, we both had had enough sightseeing; we were just content to continue our post breakfast stroll around the 'hood. It was a work day and early morning and worker bees were making their way to their offices. I do not miss being one of them!
We walked, heading back towards Old Town.
We strolled through Esplanade Park.
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| Though the calendar reads mid-September, they're well into fall here. |
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| We saw this glass pyramid on the grounds of the Riga Congress Centre; I think it's the entry to the subway. |
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| The Riga Canal. |
We arrived back at the Freedom Monument. Today, it was guarded.
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| Freedom Monument |
When we were here three weeks ago, we didn't get to see the changing of the guard. Today, was our lucky day and we just happened to arrive in time!
Our walk led us to Riga Orthodox Cathedral.
We headed inside though Bro should not have entered as he was wearing shorts but no one stopped us so we went on in. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed inside but take my word for it, it's magnificent! Very elegant in decoration but no pews or chairs.
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| Everyone is at work so the park was pretty empty. |
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| Behind the corrugated fence is the Latvian National Museum of Art. This is as close as we got to it. |
I hadn't planned on us doing anything this morning other than to physically and mentally prepare for our trip home but I'm glad we did this short walk. It was a very nice way to cap off a wonderful trip to the Baltics!
Goodbye Latvia, goodbye Estonia, and goodbye Lithuania, three European gems that we were so fortunate to have been able to visit and experience! Our expectations were far exceeded and I would love to be able to come back one day.
