1 post tagged “lock”

Yesterday, I did a whole bunch of sightseeing in Riga in the morning.

From there, I walked over to the Central Market, which is contained in three former zeppelin hangars near the riverbank. You could buy almost anything there. I got some dark rye and sausages and cheese and sat outside to have lunch.

In the outdoor portion, you could get clothing and fruit and beer and pirated CDs and DVDs, too.

Walking through a park, I saw that the bridges were covered with locks. I eventually found out that when a couple gets married, it's traditional to write their names on a lock, lock it to a bridge, and throw the key into the water, to symbolize the permanence of their union.

Then I went over to Albertas Street to check out the amazing art nouveau buildings.

I happened upon the fantastic teahouse mentioned in the previous post, then went to dinner at a dada-themed restaurant (waitresses in outfits slightly reminiscent of dada theatrical costumes, dada art themed decor, and so on). It was a little depressing, since it was part of a chain of well-turned-out theme restaurants, and shows, I suppose that almost anything can be made into a trivial restaurant theme.

After dinner, I went to Hamlet's, a small second-floor theatre space and bar run by the Latvian Actors' Association. There was a jazz quartet playing -- sax, guitar, bass, and drums. the crowd was small but appreciative; it was, after all, Monday night. I drank scotch and amused myself during the occasional long, meandering solos by making up a back-story for the young, stylishly-dressed couple at the table next to mine who sat the entire evening entirely impassively, with blank expressions and no drinks, not conversing with each other or anyone else. The quartet finished the night reading some charts the drummer had brought, and they gave some of their best performances of the night.