This Sunday we spent an hour and a half exploring the work of 56 French artists. In total, 78 works are on display - paintings, photographs, installations, video and audio art objects. The works were created between 1992 and the present day. Some are especially striking.
This story for me began in early childhood, when we drove to Riga in father's Zhiguli along the so-called Ostrova highway. When Mum said the turn to Rēzekne was coming up, I would eagerly search the left roadside for a glimpse of the brightly painted sculpture - the fox and the crane. A fair amount of time has passed. The Soviet era can now be read about like a fairy tale with a moral. This autumn we decided to track down this sculpture.
Today all roads for many led straight to Ķīpsala, where in the two halls of the exhibition centre the eyes could feast on the latest achievements of Latvian design, while next door one could explore the range on offer in furniture, sanitary ware, lighting, and other useful items for home and office.
This year for Researchers' Night we headed to the newly opened University of Latvia Natural Sciences Academic Centre in Torņakalns at 1 Jelgava Street. Our interest was sparked not so much by the planned events or lectures as by the building itself and a tour of it.
This year the impression arose that great emphasis was placed on cinema. Art films were shown at Spīķeri and on the wall of the Saeima building, documentary cinema at the contemporary arts centre kim?, and vertical cinema at the restored concert hall "Rīga" in the Academy of Sciences building. The last was something new and fresh for Riga audiences.
Here is another destination about 100 km from Rīga for a weekend trip - as a couple, with friends, or with family. Rauna is a small, quiet, well-kept little town whose centre is marked by the junction of its three main streets - Vidzemes, Rīgas, and Cēsu - and a park with attractions. In and around Rauna we visited four noteworthy places.
On a Sunday afternoon we decided with friends to take a loop through Vidzeme and stop at two long-planned destinations. This time to the Amata municipality near Cēsis - the ancient Latgalian lands, one might say. Perhaps this will inspire someone to get in the car next weekend and go exploring Latvia right here at home.
On Thursday evening, in the courtyard of the Tex-Mex restaurant on Dzirnavu Street, we attended the opening concert of the International Roma Culture Festival. During the evening, the Roma ensemble AME-ROMA performed popular melodies from Soviet-era films about Romani life - "The Gypsy Camp Vanishes into the Sky" (1976) and "A Cruel Romance" (1984) - as well as Russian romances such as "Очи чёрные".
This recipe was conveniently spotted on a news portal and put into practice with a small modification on my part. That evening the whole kitchen smelled of rosemary. The dish turned out filling and self-sufficient, needing nothing but a few tomato wedges to accompany it.
Over the Midsummer holiday weekend we visited Mum in Ludza - currently the best-kept of all the towns in Latgale, where even on Līgo and Jāņi, unlike the rest of Latvia, the sun shone and it was pleasantly warm. Of course there was no getting by without a proper feast of the kind characteristic of Latvians and Latgalians in particular - smoked fish, shashlik, beer, and blueberry muffins.