Riga

Riga is a very beautiful city. When I was living there, reconstruction and restoration were just taking off and it was almost like a veil of dust and damp was being lifted off of this magnificent place. The history is rich and the buildings are stunning. Even in pre-restoration states, there were still unbelievable pearls in the pits. If you search for Jugendstil and Riga, you will see images of what I mean. And I encourage you to do so!

I spent hours each day pushing my big stroller through the streets and parks to pick up the mail, go to the market, take Jameson to his play group, etc., and even though getting my stroller wheels stuck on broken cobblestones, narrow doorways or un-shoveled sidewalks was frustrating, I was always awed by being lucky enough to live in a city that was reclaiming it’s vibrancy. Admittedly, winter was long, dark, cold and sloppy, but the spring was glorious. There were always pensioners in front of our building (and on most street corners) selling hyacinths, daffodils, tulips and crocuses wrapped in newspaper, and I was always happy to hand over my 15 sentimes (30 cents) for a little bouquet. It helped that people were smiling when the sun came out, too, even if they didn’t have a tooth in their heads.

For me, walking through those streets, seeing very old and very poor people coming out of what was clearly once a home for some very wealthy German baron or something was absolutely fascinating. There had to be a story behind it, and to me, imagining the buildings restored was like restoring the memories of these old folks who had clearly lived hard and oppressed lives. The whole history excited me—not just the history of Riga, the people or the architecture, but the life cycle of these combined. It gave me an energy that I didn’t know what to do with aside from just soaking it in and wondering if it would ever really impact me in a way besides emotional. But anything more than physically taking care of my husband and child was out of reach for many superseding reasons—the biggest being that I was going to have another baby.