Riga, Latvia (Day Two)

It’s our second half-day in Riga, Latvia. We’ll be leaving at 1pm, and I have a class this afternoon, so we plan to take a walk into the city this morning. Before breakfast, what should we see backing into a parking spot alongside us but none other than Fred Olsen’s Borealis, which we’ll be joining for a trip to Norway in just a few weeks…

After breakfast we walked out of the port and along the city canal, which is a waterway that winds it way right through the centre of the city and has parks along its length. It’s a very pleasing space, and a great piece of city planning.

Initially we walked to the Freedom Monument, which we’d seen yesterday, but then we just kept on going a little further, to the point where the canal seemed to disappear (I believe it goes under the city and emerges at the river). This was a good place to see a tall building we called the ‘Ghostbusters’ building, but is actually the Latvian Academy of Sciences Observation Building.

This was also our turning point, where we literally turned about and headed back towards the ship, along the opposite side of the canal.

I have a class this afternoon (which is a repeat of yesterday morning’s class, on Summer Trees), but then there will be several port days back to back to follow. There aren’t many sea days on this trip, meaning not so many classes, so I have to try and make the most of those that I do have.