Riga.

The Latvian capital is the perfect destination for a weekend, or even for a day. Lots of monuments, old buildings and great food. What struck me the most was the silence, the calmness.

I would recommend Riga to anyone who seeks history, cozy moments and a treat for oneself or someone special.
 
Riga is an old Hansaic town by the Baltic sea. The architecture witnesses of thriving times. For those interested in recent history , I strongly recommend the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia - here one learns more about the turbulent 20th century in a country so often not mentioned abroad. 

This was not my first time in Riga. Around 1992 a friend of my mother's took me there. I probably owe that lady a lot for introducing me to the wonders of travelling. My memories of that first trip are vague. It took place right after Latvian independence, so my child eyes mostly paid attention to the lack of food in the shops. The Freedom Monument stands as talk today as she did in the 90s. As for my mother's friend - she passed away some years ago and I never had the chance to thank her for widening my world. 

Language Mishaps

As we all know, Finland has two official languages - Finnish and Swedish. Hence all product packaging comes in two languages, so that the entire population will understand what they are buying. You get the gist, right?

Unfortunately - and due to the human factor, I believe - things can sometimes go awfully wrong.

The Finnish version of the text tells us that the product was made in Lithuania (Liettuassa), whereas the Swedish translation claims that it is Latvia (Lettland) where the bread was baked.

Maybe I have too little to do at the moment, but I did write an e-mail to customer care asking for more details. I would very much like to know where my bread was baked, but even more I'd like the information to be correct. 

Getting the Essentials: Myslím, že potrebujem kávu. Veľa kávy. Dobré ránko!

 

It’s always positive if one knows how to express one’s need for coffee in foreign languages.

And then to a completely different topic. I’m writing an interesting essay for my advanced sociology class. The other day I bumped into a very fascinating story about Democracy in Latvia. There is a website called Manabalss, where citizens may propose and sign proposals for legislation to the Latvian parliament. 10,000 signatures are needed before the parliament will take the issue on their agenda. How cool isn’t that?

The European Union actually has something similar in the European Citizens’ Initiative.  However, gathering 1 000 000  signatures from 7 countries might be require more effort and mobilisation. I believe that the Lativan version of this idea might be more effective.