Riga is historically a very international city. As one of the cities in the Hanseatic League it was a trading power and cultural melting pot from the 14th century on (hence the architectural riches).
I hope you went to the market in the old zeppelin hangars.
Fun fact: quite a lot of the ethnic Russians in Riga itself were not resettled Soviets, but Russian Jews who were there either a) since Hanseatic times or b) settled there in the 19th-early 20th century for cultural freedom. When I lived there in the 1990s, I knew a lot of Russian-speaking Latvians whose families had lived there for generations, but they were caught up in the (understandable) anti-Russian sentiment.
Thank you for letting me wax nostalgic. Great city. And loooove Jurmala, agree on the New England vibe!
Thanks fort the insight. Quite interesting. One of the things that struck me was that the Latvia jewish population pre WWII was quite small relative to the population in Lithuania.
Also true. Lithuania has more in common with Poland and Belarus, in that way. Definitely more Central European than Baltic-Nordic. Once in the pre-EU days, the government in Vilnius decided Lithuania would join the CET time zone, thus demonstrating its closeness to Europe. Chaos ensued.
Yeah. I was never much of an Antoine fan. Got too frustrated watching him clang multiple three-point attempts while the Celtics are down 20 and then finally hit one and break out the shimmy...That said, it's sad what happened to him. I think he got too deep with the big boys and their big bets and lost his focus. Great "what might have been..."
Riga is historically a very international city. As one of the cities in the Hanseatic League it was a trading power and cultural melting pot from the 14th century on (hence the architectural riches).
I hope you went to the market in the old zeppelin hangars.
Fun fact: quite a lot of the ethnic Russians in Riga itself were not resettled Soviets, but Russian Jews who were there either a) since Hanseatic times or b) settled there in the 19th-early 20th century for cultural freedom. When I lived there in the 1990s, I knew a lot of Russian-speaking Latvians whose families had lived there for generations, but they were caught up in the (understandable) anti-Russian sentiment.
Thank you for letting me wax nostalgic. Great city. And loooove Jurmala, agree on the New England vibe!
Thanks fort the insight. Quite interesting. One of the things that struck me was that the Latvia jewish population pre WWII was quite small relative to the population in Lithuania.
Also true. Lithuania has more in common with Poland and Belarus, in that way. Definitely more Central European than Baltic-Nordic. Once in the pre-EU days, the government in Vilnius decided Lithuania would join the CET time zone, thus demonstrating its closeness to Europe. Chaos ensued.
When I first saw the “8,” my immediate reaction was, “Why do they have an Antoine Walker jersey?”
Love it.
I always loved 'Toine and I still do. Traded for Rae freaking LaFrentz. Common Danny.
Yeah. I was never much of an Antoine fan. Got too frustrated watching him clang multiple three-point attempts while the Celtics are down 20 and then finally hit one and break out the shimmy...That said, it's sad what happened to him. I think he got too deep with the big boys and their big bets and lost his focus. Great "what might have been..."
He has one of my all time favorite lines "Why do you shoot so many threes Antoine?"
"Because they don't have fours."