Horna Garden in Majori had gathered a sizeable crowd of spectators and listeners. On the large screen, three feature films were screened throughout the day; then towards evening, beloved melodies of the past century rang out from the repertoires of Édith Piaf, Joe Dassin, and Mireille Mathieu.
Riga has just celebrated its 810th birthday with concerts, markets, a knights' tournament, a retro car parade, a salsa marathon, a regatta, aerobatic displays, and many other engaging and crowd-pleasing events. It seems the highlight of this year's celebrations was not the customary fireworks - also impressive enough - but the casting of a key to Riga from 52,763 keys previously donated to a chest.
We also visited the Pärnu New Art Museum, which had drawn my attention with an event described on the web - an annual international nude art exhibition. This year was the 18th such exhibition, titled "Man, Woman and Electricity." On display were works executed in various techniques - oil and acrylic paintings, photographs, sculptures, audio and visual performances.
The idea was to stay in a cottage on Estonia's western coast with a sea view, so that on waking in the morning the first thing to catch the eye would be the calm grey-blue of the sea. I found a place online called "Kosmonautika". In Soviet times it was known as the legendary holiday centre "Vzmorje", where distinguished scientists and cosmonauts came to rest, including the first female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.
Honestly speaking, the main reason we went to Tartu at all was to visit the AHHAA Science Centre. There is plenty to do, explore, and observe for adults and children alike. Adults try out all the installations with even greater enthusiasm and genuine joy of discovery.
Initially we had hoped to get onto the legendary "Darling", built in 1907 and purchased from ABBA, but no less lovely was a light wooden boat called "Maria" (four in total operate the route). A ticket, or boarding card, cost Ls 6 per person. The boats operate on the canal every day from 9:00 to 23:00, from the beginning of May to the end of October, stopping at the boarding point every 20 minutes.
I have always been fascinated, if not by time travel exactly, then at least by imagining how a particular place looked a century or two ago and how it might look in the future. One day I simply picked up a camera and walked around the city centre to capture several Riga streets, buildings, and squares, and later compare them with past photographs found in the Letonika database. I must say, I discovered many interesting details.
When I stumbled upon the promotional article by chance, I was pleasantly surprised that a musician of such world standing would be performing right here in Latvia, and that tickets were available for a mere Ls 3. Of course, they were purchased without delay, and on Saturday evening we headed to Reņķis Garden in Ventspils. The British musician, despite his years, was just as charismatic as ever - but his voice had lost a good deal of the resonance of its younger years.
Place cards at events are primarily needed to introduce a certain order - simply to arrange event attendees, guests at a table or individual tables, in a logical sequence. They are a personal greeting to each of the guests, as well as a token of attention and gratitude for their attendance. But a place card can also serve as a gift that each guest can take home after the celebration.
As planned, today we went to the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design in Old Riga to visit the Alexander Vasilyev collection exhibition "From Mini to Maxi. 1960s Fashion." There were not too many people, so everything could be calmly viewed, read, studied, and photographed.