Lajma, Three Men and a Woman

There are three major landmarks in the Old Quarter of Rīga. Milda, the woman of freedom with her stars held aloft. The next is the Lajma Candy Clock, which is on the other end of the mall from Milda. Finally, are the three red men on the banks of the Dagauva River next to the Museum of the Red Occupation. Old Rīga is not so different than Old Prague. It is filled with narrow alleys and quaint buildings of differing styles from the different ages that the city has survived over the last 800 years. When thinking about Europe from the stories Americans hear, I imagined most of it being less like London and more like Rīga. Old Rīga is cool. Tales of nineteenth century spies trading secrets in the blinding snow seem to abound from these narrow alleys. Or the clip-clop of mounted Teutonic knights as they rode their chargers into town. If you listen closely you can almost the shouts of Latvījan generals to burn the villages to cut off Napolean’s retreat. Milda is the elongated figure of a woman who stands atop the monument to freedom. She is holding three stars that signify the three regions of Latvīja. From a newcomer’s perspective she is an interesting figure. She has an almost deco look to her. Milda’s elongated, smooth but angular form which is common to recent Latvījan sculptures. These features are the hallmarks of this style. The statue of the tree men, I assume the three men also symbolize the unity of the peoples of provincial Latvīja. They are hewn from red granite in a style similar to Milda. Even though they are used as a bus stop these days, they have a more socially defiant feel. This stalwart, defiant stubbornness is a commonly noticed trait of Latvījans. Latvījans are a warm people, but outwardly they have the coldness of Russians and the shyness of Czechs. Unlike the other two easy monuments in Old Rīga, the Lajma Clock is just fun. Its odd shape and lit façade makes it a great meeting point between Old Town and the hotel district just on the other side of the Rīgas Dom. Lajma makes great candy in the traditional Latvījan style. Regarded as one of the few businesses that survived the occupations, it is a nice treat after a walk through park or before the opera. Micro-Autobuses Are Safer I guess I got used to the well managed integrated mass-transit system in Prague and in Czech in general. Riga has a different take on mass-transit. It has electric and diesel busses, avtobusy. They have a train system, Riga rail, and they have a million vans. Many people use the vans, micro-avtobusy, because it is well understood that the pick pockets work the busses and the train pretty continuously. It is harder to pick your pocket if you are sitting on your wallet in a 12 passenger VW or Ford cargo van. An interesting fact about the Rigan system is that the vans are all maintained and operated by private companies. At last count there were five companies running the system and they seem to each cover their part of town. It seems like some sort of line-sharing deal amongst the companies. Trips in the vans are not expensive, usually 0.20Ls (US$ 0.40) during the day for any trip one way and 0.35Ls (US$ 0.70) at night until midnight. Considering the wages in Latvia, it seems pretty expensive. Do not lose the ticket the driver hands you, they do have a transit police that does check from time to time and it is a 20Ls (US$40) fine if you lose your ticket, payable immediately. I still am not used to police officers that you pay directly and who make change out of their wallets. During the winter, the micro-avtobusses, are certainly warmer than the regular busses The vans seem to run more often than too. Most of the lines can be picked up within a block of the park surrounding the Rigas Dom Cathedral. Be careful to remember the number of the van you want, because the vans only stop for a second to let people in and out so there will not be a lot of time to read the map. In Riga, use Russian or Latvian language. There are almost no English speakers and always say thank you, spasibo. . Courtesy is always appreciated, but do not expect it back. When you want to get out try to give the driver a landmark to stop at because it is tough to pull over in traffic. Lnadmarks help if you are not so sure if you mispronounced the Russian. Drivers will go out of their way to pick you up near the stop and try to drop you off close to where you want.