Спросите у жителя Риги, где в вашем районе можно сходить поплавать или искупаться ? Готов биться об заклад, 98 человек из 100 ответят - на море, понятное дело. Какие еще варианты, цивилизованые аквапарк или бассейн.

А действительно, где можно в Риге искупаться ???

Море, рижский залив в последнее время прельщает все меньше и меньше. Чистота оставляет желать лучшего, а количество людей в теплые выходные поражает любое воображение, что лучше съездить куда либо на природу.

Конечно, мне известны пара мест (каоьер и озеро), где людей намного меньше, но это все также далеко от идеального места купания.

Приходится ностальгировать об идеальных местах. Одно из которых озеро Обстерно до которого летом было 50 метров, в котором мы купались с раннего детства до лет 15. Минимальное количество народу, песочное дно без водорослей, чистая и теплая вода, нигде не орет попса, никто не купает своих собак, никто не спускает канализационные отходы. Жаль, что это так далеко, в 300 километрах от Риги и находится в другой стране...

Apmeklēsim:

1) centrāltirgu, bet soreiz gan picu tur neēdīšu

2) maķīti (jo manuprāt centrāltirgū ir tikai Maxima)

3) ēku, kas atrodas netālu no okupācijas muzeja <- te lai tiktu iekšā prasīs visus tos līdzpaņemtos sūdus...

?) LU, bet par to gan nekā nezinu...

Pēc ekskursijas brīvais laiks mūža garumā jeb ekskursijas beigas. Ko darīt tālāk domāsiet paši, jo es uzreiz maucu uz olaines pusi, kur man vecvecākiem jāpalīdz liet dārzs, jānopļauj atkal zāle un citi sīki darbi 2 dienu garumā.

I get in, fully expecting to have a nice, quiet night, maybe write up a blog or two and generally be chill.

Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.

I run into Indie, the guy from my top bunk. He’s met up with Liber (a Canadian from Montreal) and Marlei (a Ph.D in ecological simulations from Brazil) in the common room of the hostel and they’re all planning on going out. I mention it’s my birthday the next day and now Indie won’t take no for an answer. I’m going out, too!

We all head back out to Old Town, meeting up with Anna, Indie’s friend who is a Latvian belly dancer at the Freedom Statue along the way. We wander for a bit, passing a hen night group selling various things to make the money to buy their

friend’s wedding dress (it’s a hen night thing). We end up buying a banana, a couple of mentos, a rose and a condom (and are now ready for “Let’s Make a Deal”). I should digress for moment here to say that the bane of Eastern Europe right now is the Stag/Hen dos coming from England. With cheap airfare, groups of bachelors and bachelorettes are flying over for drunken weekends and generally being obnoxious and giving their countrymen a bad name and worse reputation.

Anyway, we continue on and end up in a French bar. A little place in a basement covered in pictures from Baz Luhrman’s “Moulin Rouge” and paintings by Toulouse-Lautrec (Bailey…tell me who he is). We each have a beer, have conversations amongst ourselves and with drunk

Latvians and when it gets too stuffy and packed, we move on, ending up in a place descriptively called The Cuban Café.

We’re there when the clock strikes midnight and the gang of four sing happy birthday and Indie orders a round of Tequila shots. So, if you’ve been paying attention (this is going to sound like a logic puzzle) – the American (me), Brit (Indie), Brazilian, Canadian and Latvian and doing shots of Mexican alcohol in a Cuban bar. As Faye pointed out, this is either the start of a joke or a United Colors of Benneton ad.

A couple more rounds and dancing ensues. Not by me, mind you, at least not on my feet. I chair dance with

the best of them but I’m not getting up…okay, I get up. I dance a little bit. Of course, dinner (which I had so thoughtfully purchased ahead of time) was still sitting in the fridge back at the hostel and while we tried to eat bar food, it wasn’t enough. At 3:30am or so, we all trouped out (well, minus Liber who had called it a night, twice, by 2:30) to find a late night eatery. This isn’t as easy as it might sound, mind you. At first we thought our only choice was going to be McDonald’s but thankfully, we found a Cili Pica open which served pizza. When we finally made our way back to the Hostel, it was near 5am and I had been toasted and roasted

pretty well for my birthday.

The next morning, we all got up pretty late. My clothes, which had been washed, had not dried so they were getting tumbled and Indie and decided to have a mellow day of wandering. We had a long conversation about the Americanization of Europe which included a lot of talk of Mackers (stemming in part from our late night food choices) which put us both in a mood for fast food goodness. We went in and

immediately I noticed a guy sleeping in his burger. Literally. It was like he had taken two bites and then just collapsed. His hand was still wrapped on the bun and his head was using it as a pillow. We ordered our food and as we made our way to the table I checked to make sure the guy was breathing. He was. A few minutes later, I told the manager. A few minutes after that, security arrived. Indie and I wondered about the quickness of their response, if this McDonald’s had a contract with them since they were so close to the train and bus stations and what have you. We finished our burgers but couldn’t leave. We kinda

had to stay and see how this all played out. I explained to Indie this is the kind of thing I see all the time. Somehow I find these situations and notice them, or maybe I’m just open to them happening. Either way, from yesterday’s “excursion” with my new friend to a clearly drugged out man in Mickey D’s, life is never dull.

By the time it was over, the police had been called and the guy half dragged away to a waiting police wagon. Obviously, we don’t know what he was on, but it was something, since he quite literally couldn’t wake up. He would open his eyes then immediately fall back asleep. As soon as he was safely in the paddywagon, We figured it was safe for us to leave as well, so we went and had a bit of a wander around town, finding a weird art school graduation exhibit of applied, practical design and a great chat in an English Sports bar (where Cricket was on the TV, so there was nothing exciting to distract us).

By this point, it was getting close to time for me to catch my bus, so back to the hostel, pack my bag with my now dry clothes, say goodbye and off I go. I get there as the bus pulls up, take my seat and start to write blogs. Then I stop. The bus ride is way to bumpy and I am way to tired so before I get too carsick I stop and promptly fall asleep.

Upon waking, I start up a conversation with my neighbor, a very nice girl called Piret, from Tallinn (where we’re heading) who was returning from a night visiting her Latvian boyfriend. We stop for 5 minutes and she buys me a chocolate bar (I have no Estonian currency) and then, as we’re eating back on the bus, I remember it is still my birthday so I tell her and she thinks it is now double appropriate she got me some chocolate. We start talking about backpacking, how it works, what hostels are like, and all that, when she asks me where my hostel is. Turns out it’s down the street from a shop she owned until Friday and where she had to go when she got off the bus. She offered to let me share her cab, then took me to the hostel, and out for a birthday drink. We’re going to get together for lunch on Tuesday.

And now, it’s Monday the 14^th. I’m in a bookstore in Tallinn, listening to Estonian versions of “Lady Madonna” and “Memories,” waiting for the rain to let up so I can explore some more. The schedule coming up has ferries to Helsinki, buses to Vassa and more ferries to Stockholm. I think. The way things are going, I’m trying not to make plans too far in advance. The adventures are finding me, and I’m going to keep on letting them.

Everything starts off just fine. I make it into the old town, find the tourist information center (although Riga is like San Francisco for me, I get all turned around thinking east is west and north is south) and head out, guidebook in hand, to learn about the capitol of Latvia.

I don’t get very far.

I’m on stop 8 or 9 (out of 45 or so) when I get approached by a guy dressed in slacks and a sport coat, but

not the kind you’d wear to a meeting. No, he was dressed the way you’d dress if you didn’t want someone to think you were homeless or crazy, you know, almost too careful but shabby. Like a drunk trying to walk a straight line. Even if he can do it, you can tell he’s been drinking. So anyway, this guy comes up and asks if I speak English. I cautiously nod my head and he proceeds to tell me about the buildings I’m looking at – the three brothers. Exactly what it says in my guidebook. Okay, so that’s fine, no big deal. Then he says “do you have a moment? Two moments? Come with me I show you.” Now, as you all know, I’m very fond of saying it’s all about the story. I had no idea what this guy was going to show me, but I knew that I could always come back to my guidebook if I needed to. In the

meantime, I might as well take a “moment” and see what he wanted to show me. These are the moments which make experiences which make stories so I put my guide in my pocket and followed.

He took me into a church and showed me the first women’s cloister in Riga. Then we kept walking. All the while, he was leading me with “one…two moments. First moment here” and he would point out something, a church or a house or the original stone foundation upon which the newer buildings were constructed. And we kept on. At one point, we ended up in a church where a wedding was taking place and we walked down the side of the building (he was Catholic and so

genuflected and used holy water in every sanctified place) to look at the art on the walls. Then we stopped to observe the wedding. When I looked over, my new friend was crying. There were tears running down his face as he watched the bride and groom. It was amazing. We left there and the tour continued. This was his “small excursion” he told me. He’d been in Riga for 47 years (all his life) and sometimes he did small excursions and sometimes big ones (which lasted all day). He showed me the things which moved him and the things he thought were wrong. He told me about renovations (like the synagogue) and the river. At one point, after we’d been going for an hour and a half or so, I offered to buy him a beer of he was thirsty. So we stopped

and had a beer and I finally found out his name was Uris (or Yuris, I’m not sure of the spelling – he wasn’t wearing a name tag or a cowboy belt). Now remember, he had yet to ask me for any money. He did ask me what I liked and if I was enjoying myself and if I wanted to see more, but at no point did he ask for money. Which is why I bought him the beer.

Then he took me to the Tourist Information office (same one where I’d gotten my walking tour guide) and said he was going to get me information. He went through every bit of free materials and grabbed it all. Different languages, multiple copies, didn’t matter. He just handed it all to me with a grin on his face that could have lit

a small medieval village. He was so excited to be helping me out. So we’re walking along, seeing more stuff, and it starts to rain. We happen to be across from the Latvian version of Starbucks and I offer to get us some coffee. He says he doesn’t drink coffee but tea and he would love some, but not from that place, from the next place. So with the rain coming down in buckets and the lightning and thunder crashing around us, we make a break for “the next place.” It turns out he leads us to a little coffee stand where we both have some Earl Gray tea and decide to wait

out the storm. While I’m talking pictures of the rain, he purchases a couple of cookies and brings them over to me. “Traditional Latvian cookies,” he explains. “For you from me. Eat!” So I ate. And they were good, tasty. “You like?” he asked. I told him I did and I finished the six or so he had purchased. Then he bought a bag of them and gave then to me as a present, to “take home to your friends, from me.”

Have I mentioned he still hasn’t asked me for money?

So I’m having a blast, I’m certainly getting a story’s worth of adventure out of the day, but I still don’t completely trust him. I make eye contact when we pass the police. I don’t go into anyplace dark first, I try to be on my guard the whole time, I transfer money so it’s not all in one pocket, but my fears are completely unfounded. As the rain lightens up (not finished yet, though, he starts our tour again. We end up in the park looking at statues and another bridge with locks. For the last half hour or so he keeps telling me “one more moment and then finished” but there were at least ten moments there. At one point we get accosted by a

pan handler and my new best friend Uris shoos him away telling me not to give money to that kind of person. We finally end up at the St. Peter Cathedral, which has an elevator to a second balcony observation deck. Uris helps me buy my ticket then can’t resist showing me just one more thing. All told, we were together about three and a half hours and I ended up giving him 10 Lats, making sure that was okay. He seemed pretty happy with it, we shook hands and he went on his way while I went up and looked at the mist enshrouded city.

Verder was er precies in de week dat wij er waren een zang en dansfestival dat slechts eens in de vijf jaar plaatsvindt. Bovendien werd in de Baltische staten de 90 jaar onafhankelijkheid gevierd. De hele stad stond vol met bussen die uit het hele land kwamen om concerten te bezoeken of te geven. Letland is namelijk een echt korenland, en zingen heeft een belangrijke rol gespeeld tijdens de laatste revolutie in 1991. Dit klinkt misschien een beetje suf. Een koor is iets dat ik meer associeer met oudere mensen en kerken. Maar hier liepen overal door de stad jonge meisjes in de nationale klederdracht, op weg naar concertzalen. Het was overal uitverkocht, maar in een groot park gaven de etnische minderheden hun optredens.

Moet je je voorstellen, een park vól met Esten, Russen, kozakken, Oekrainers, zigeuners, wit-russen, Joden, Polen, Kazachstanen en ga zo maar door in hun klederdracht. En het gekke was, iedereen nam het bloedserieus. Door het hele park stonden koren trots en blij hun land al zingend en dansend te vertegenwoordigen. In Nederland zouden er wel wat sarcastische opmerkingen gemaakt worden over die ouderwetse kanten mutsjes, maar het publiek hier was razend enthousiast.

Ik heb iets geproefd van de Slavische cultuur en het was erg intrigerend. Veel variëteit en toch eenheid. Buikdansende zigeuners op Arabisch aandoende muziek en melancholieke Kozakken met bontmutsen, laarzen en donkere stemmen... Jammer genoeg kan ik hier geen foto´s uploaden, maar het was geweldig.

Voor mensen die naar Riga willen, ik kan het iedereen aanbevelen. De vluchten vanaf Brussel zijn heel goedkoop, je bent er in 2,5 uur, en financieel is het allemaal ook behoorlijk aantrekkelijk. We schrokken van de prijzen in de supermarkt, want die lagen boven de Nederlandse. Daar moet je je etenswaren dan ook niet kopen. Even buiten het centrum is een grote overdekte markt waar vlees, vis, bakkerswaren en veel verse groente en fruit heel goedkoop te krijgen zijn. Je koopt er Lets brood voor 30 eurocent, en een kilo kersen voor 1 euro 50. Maar ook de gang van zaken op de markt is al een belevenis op zich. Verder rijden overal door de stad bussen en de kaartjes kosten 50 eurocent.

Wat de 'oostbloksfeer' betreft, die vind je vooral in de buitenwijken. Het centrum doet Westers aan, op de monumenten en standbeelden uit de Sovjet periode na. Daar buiten zijn de oude betonnen flats, dames met snorren en kleding uit het jaar nul, en smoezelige cafeetjes. Eeerlijk gezegd spreekt me dat veel meer aan.

• Anstelle von Mehl verbacken die Letten Kümmel in ihrem Brot.
• Die Ostsee hat die (Wind-) Hosen an.
• Wenn die Schleimhäute erst einmal von Senf weggeätzt wurden hilft nur noch Doktor Desa.
• Aldaris und Cesu sind im direkten Vergleich besser als Zeltlager.
• Der lettische Krankenwagenfahrer an sich fährt wie Sau.
• Lettische Teenies fühlen sich cool, wenn sie mit volkstümlichen Schlagern aus dem Ghettoblaster ihr Dörfchen beschallen.
• Ich danke der EU für überdachte Bushaltestellen.
• Riga ist eine total schöne Stadt.
• In Lettland ist immer viertel nach vier.
• So mancher Kellner trägt Hosenträger und eine Schweinchenmütze.
• In lettischen Behandlungszimmern im Krankenhaus läuft AC/DC.
• Es macht riesigen Spaß, mit 4,80m langen Kanthölzern durch die Rigaer Vorstadt zu laufen.
• Von unzurechnungsfähigen Letten in ihrer Landessprache zugelabert zu werden macht keinen riesigen Spaß.
• Die Untereinheit von Lats heißt Minilats.
• Der Name des größten deutschen Bundeslandes geht auf Dauer ziemlich auf die Nerven.
• Bäume umschubsen verleiht ein extrem männliches Gefühl.
• Die Ostsee ist gar nicht so kalt wie ihr Ruf.
• Der Lette an sich hält viel auf seinen Hofhund seine Blutkuh.
• Das Rigaer Sängerfest ist eine extrem coole Sache.
• Empfangsdamen in lettischen Krankenhäusern haben ihren PC in erster Linie für Computerspiele.
• In Lettland sind Ortsgröße und Schönheit der Frauen umgekehrt proportional.
• Ausnahmen bestätigen die Regel.
• Auch wenn wir nicht wissen was es ist: Criku schmeckt fein!
• Die lettische Tierwelt besteht zu 99% aus Stechmücken.
• Lenas Gesicht bestand zwischenzeitlich aus 99% Mückenstichen.
• Sergej ist ein guter Mann und hat ein cooles Auto.
• In Lettland ist Leopardenmuster der letzte Schrei.
• Bei der Sicherheitskontrolle zum Hinflug musste ich die Wanderschuhe ausziehen. Beim Rückflug nicht...
• Wann machen wir eigentlich Waschtag?

Das ganze sieht dann als Resümee bei mir folgendermaßen aus: Ich habe mit einer richtig tollen Fahrtengruppe 12 geniale Tage in Lettland erlebt. Natürlich ist auch das ein oder andere nicht optimal gelaufen, aber gemessen an all den schönen Erlebnissen kann ich darüber getrost hinwegsehen.

Crunched under increased energy prices and internationally isolated (Venezuela and Russia are the few exceptions), Belarus is planning to build a nuclear power plant to meet its energy needs, writes Anya Loukianova for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in an article "Belarus takes a second look at nuclear energy."

That's worrying. Not only should this bother Belarus' neighbors, but this is a major concern for its citizens who in the aftermath of Chernobyl's (Chornobyl) explosion - on April 26, 1986 - saw 23% of the country affected by the nuclear fall-out.

Two decades after the accident, the majority of the Belarusian people still don't want nuclear power--28.3 percent approved of the nuclear plant project and 46.7 percent disapproved, according to a 2005 country-wide government poll DOC.

The three sites under consideration for the future nuclear plant are near Russia, Lithuania and Poland, in Mogilyov (2) and Grodno (1).

Loukianova provides the details:

Belarus' authoritarian president Aleksandr Lukashenko is seeking to build a 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant to reduce the country's reliance on imported energy sources, particularly Russian natural gas. His government has indicated that the plant, expected to cost $4 billion, will consist of two generation III water-cooled, water-moderated reactors.

Aside from ignoring the public sentiment which is highly against nuclear power plant construction, Lukashenko's media campaign is shocking for its cynicism:

His public-relations campaign has centered on the idea that the reactors would be safer than those of Belarus' heavily nuclear-reliant neighbors--Ukraine, Lithuania, and Russia.

Lukashenko's insistence on going at it alone is puzzling. He hopes to raise the funding from international institutions and some friendly sponsor states, but $4 billion dollars is a lot of money, and the estimate is no doubt on the lower end of the final cost.

Perhaps recogmizing the volatility of the subject, Minsk is paying attention to the mood of its population. Here is how the regime has attempted to manage public opinion:

Oddly, although Lukashenko could move forward with his nuclear agenda without public consent, his government has carefully monitored public opinion on the issue. Data from the 2005 poll on the issue [see previously cited analysis DOC] has given the government clues about how to tailor its message in order to preempt and co-opt potential public opposition. Therefore, it's no surprise that the government has repeatedly stressed IAEA support for the project--polling indicates that the Belarusian public trusts the information provided by the agency. Similarly, as polls have indicated that the public trusts scientists, Lukashenko has sought to actively (and bitterly) rebut anti-nuclear comments from Belarusian scientists opposed to his nuclear plans.

Loukianova is right: unless an organized front opposing Lukashenko's nuclear ideas emerges, Belarus and its neighbors in Warsaw, Kyiv, Moscow, Riga, and Vilnus may soon find a new nuclear reactor in the region that is based on a Soviet design and ran by a government unaccountable to its people.

В самом начале я был очень скептически настроен по поводу праздника песни, не раз и не два вертелась мысль: "Какого черта Риге проводится праздник песни ?! Организовывали бы лучше где-нибудь в Латголе, к примеру в Рязекне". Ведь столько проблем, машину толком нигде не поставить, движение ограничивают, а толку то ?

И ведь действительно можно потерпеть. Dziesmu Svētki, прежде всего праздник для участников, а не для жителей Риги или Кулдиги, города где он проводится. Наверняка среди участников немало детей и подростков, для них попасть в великую столицу Латвии на несколько дней - большой праздник. Пусть для большинства поситетелей и обывателей концерты кажутся скучными и занудными, сами выступающие наверняка другого мнения. Кажется, ой да что в этой Риге смотреть !, кучу машин и толпы злого народу. Но у школьника из Андрупене (например) я думаю посещение Риги вызывает большой интерес. Неделю жить без родителей, посмотреть на машины пробки магазиные витрины, да даже например сходить в тот же Лидо/Хесбургер/кому-что, о которых раньше только слышал или видел по телевизору. Разве это не интересно ? Поэтому мы можем потерпеть, постоять лишние 10 минут в пробке, объехать перекрытые дороги, пропустить сумасшедших пешеходов (участников праздника песни).

Задумался об этом, когда вечером ехал мимо стадиона Даугава, мне человеку далекому от этого мерориятия, хватило взгляда на это действие чтобы ощутить атмосферу праздника. А тем кто хмыкает : "Опять этот пидрала" (извините), хочется лишь посоветовать открыть глаза пошире и попытаться порадоваться чужому счастью !

Точно не тем, что там находится офис фирмы в которой я работаю (это кстати не публичный дом) и уж подавно не тем, что улица названа в честь великого Эстонского города Пярну.

С увереностью можно назвать главную достопримечательность улицы - это представительницы самой древнейшей проффесии. Их легко встретить в 8 утра, в 1 час дня, наверняка время поделено. И вот на улицу Пернавас постучались Dziesmu Svētki, чтобы глобально изменить царивший распорядок.

Во время Праздника Песни на стадионе "Даугава" проходят репетиции вокальных ансамблей. И улица Пернавас и соседнии улочки заполонили автобусы. Сами участникы шатаются туда сюда, особо не вникая в правила дорожного движения. Но автобусы и участники не создают проблем "жрицам" любви. Зато полицейские ! Такое чувство, что для контроля беспечных участников праздника песен собрали добрую половину всех полицейских Латвии.

Местные люди шутят, что впервые количество полицейских превосходит в разы, количество женщин стоящих на обочине.

Ну и как в такой обстановке поработаешь, когда кругом зелено (на вкус и цвет) ? Ну чтож время для отпуска, или поиска новых улиц ... Таким образом праздник песни влияет не только на обычных людей которые работают на улице Пернавас, не только приносит кому-то праздник, но также кого-то лишает заработка.

Morgen wandelt dit meisje door Riga. Raar maar waar. Ik ben nog steeds niet gewend aan de snelheid waarmee vliegtuigen je naar andere werelden transporteren. Nog een paar dagen later vliegt er weer een tuig speciaal voor mij. Dan naar Fins Lapland. Ik voel me schuldig over zoveel milieuvervuiling. Het schijnt dat een retourvlucht Brussel-los Angeles even slecht is voor het milieu als een jaar lang autorijden. Gelukkig vlieg ik korter en lift ik terug. Als ik meer tijd had zou ik ook de heenweg liften. Dat is een beetje ons probleem. Van ons Westerlingen bedoel ik. We willen heel veel maar hebben zo weinig tijd om het uit te voeren. Als ik nog eens geld en tijd heb voor een wereldreis zou ik wel met de trein naar India willen. Heerlijk traag.

De backpacks staan volgeladen klaar. Mijn conditie is beneden alle peil dus het zal afzien worden, dat lange wandelen met zo'n zwaar ding op je rug. Die van mij weegt 16 kilo. Ik zal eens een inventarislijstje maken zodat ik zelf ook zeker weet dat ik niets vergeet.

Tent, slaapzak, matje
Hengel, visgerei, schepnet
Kleren, handdoeken, toiletspullen, bergschoenen
Kaarten, zaklamp, schrijfgerei, zakjes, touw, parapluie
Rijst, couscous, cup-a-soup, mueslirepen, oploskoffie en thee
fototoestel, gsm, lader, portomonnee

Zoals jullie zien zal er gevist gaan worden. Voor twee vegetariërs is dat niet evident. Ik moet zeggen dat ik er tegenop zie en het idee kwam niet van mij. Maargoed, meer ecologisch verantwoorde vis dan die uit een Zweeds beekje zul je waarschijnlijk nergens tegenkomen. Bovendien moeten onze magen ook in zeer dunbevolkte gebieden gevuld worden. Met bosbessen kom je waarschijnlijk niet ver. GJ heeft beloofd dat hij de vissen zal doden en slachten. Aan mij de eer om ze op te eten.

Als ik een internetcafé tegenkom zal ik hier meteen iets plaatsen. Zo niet, dan tot over een maand!

Tuvojos centram ar sesto tramvaju. Domaaju par to cik liels buus urlu procents

nuucha pamācīja:

urlu procents pieaug paralēli centra tuvumam

Tags: carlsberg, viral, marketing, buzz, mentos, cocacola, guinness mentos coca cola

]]> http://derdavid.wordpress.com/?p=192 Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:11:41 +0000 David http://derdavid.wordpress.com/?p=192 Heute morgen sind wir kurz vor halb 6 in Richtung Hahn aufgebrochen, denn um 8:55 sollte unser Flug nach Riga gehen. Die Betonung liegt auf "sollte", denn Ryanair hat sich mal einen Spaß gegönnt und unsere Flüge 24 Stunden nach hinten verschoben.

Das bedeutet für uns: wieder heim, morgen wieder früh aufstehen und dann nochmal nach Hahn gurken, um dann hoffentlich morgen nach Lettland aufbrechen zu können. Das scheint dann laut Ryanair.com auch zu klappen:

The legislature voted 52-40 to remove Loskutovs today after an investigation revealed that money was missing from a safe at the bureau.

(foto: Bouneweeger)

Non solo, nella metropoli divisa in due dal fiume Daugava che sbocca nel famoso porto “franco” industriale, c’è da scommettere che sarà la vivacità della vita notturna a sorprendere le donne con la valigia che decideranno di visitarla.

Intanto perché l’età media della popolazione, e si vede subito, è tra le più basse d’Europa, poi per l’impressionante numero di inaugurazioni di coffee-shop, ristoranti etnici e disco-pub che la dicono lunga sul nuovo stile di vita di questa spensierata città.

(foto: RK Catch )

Meno riservati dei cugini estoni, ma come loro accaniti lettori di giornali e grandi amanti della musica, gli abitanti di Riga mostrano una predilezione particolare per l’Italia e il suo stile di vita, per la cucina italiana e la pizza in particolare, oltre che per la moda: Palazzo Italia è un megastore di quattro piani con ristorante, food market per gourmet, vestiti e accessori made in Italy, paradiso a portata però solo delle tasche dei neo ricchi locali.

(foto: RK Catch )

La classe media, infatti, qui non si è ancora riformata. La Lettonia, come le sue due vicine, prima del crollo del muro di Berlino non era una nazione autonoma: con l’annessione all’Unione Sovietica decisa alla fine della seconda guerra mondiale, è stata privata d’identità nazionale. Riconquistata l’indipendenza, il Paese ha costruito ex novo istituzioni democratiche di tipo occidentale e un libero mercato.

(foto: paula moya )

“Nella nuova Europa sarà l'economia e non la cultura a dominare, quindi il rischio è che le tradizioni dei popoli più poveri vengano assorbite dalle culture dominanti” mette in guardia la giovane scrittrice lettone Inga Abele, che è tra i 25 autori, uno per Paese, dell’antologia Racconti senza dogana edita qualche anno fa da Gremese. Nonostante il clima rigido e la babele linguistica che rende più difficili gli incontri (tra la lingua russa, quella lettone e l’inglese hanno difficoltà persino loro a capirsi), i giovani abitanti invadono le strade della città tutte le sere, anche d’inverno.

Il momento migliore per noi resta forse l'estate quando è più agevole esplorare la rinata Riga girando a piedi tra i palazzi del centro storico, nelle sue animate stradine pedonali, gustando le recentissime ristrutturazioni delle facciate in puro Jugendstil, che insieme alle splendide ville liberty costituiscono il vero patrimonio del Paese.

Curiosità da non perdere: il museo del comunismo, realizzato in alcune ex prigioni del Kgb, e il Central Tirgus, il mercato centrale, uno dei più antichi ed estesi d’Europa: è ospitato addirittura in cinque enormi hangar destinati un tempo ai dirigibili Zeppelin. Un Paese e una città ancora tutta da scoprire...

(Marina Misiti)

The government today made a decision to form a commission for appraising the Corruption Prevention Bureau Chief Aleksejs Loskutovs' performance and his responsibility for the disappearance of large amounts of money from the bureau...[Prosecutor General Janis Maizitis] informed the government that LVL 135,000 had gone missing from the Corruption Prevention Bureau (CPB).

I know it's pretty bad if the guy in charge of fighting corruption is suspected of being corrupt, but at least he's being held accountable.

Admirably(?), the CPB does not let the scandal affect its daily grind (see "Office of Krastins was searched in connection with Strams' bribery case" in The Baltic Course):

The Corruption Prevention Bureau searched the office of the Riga City Council's City Development Committee chairman Edmunds Krastins (People's Party) in connection with a criminal case where the former City Development Department's Director Vilnis Strams was detained on suspicion of taking bribes.

Still, the fact that the CPB's chief is under investigation has affected the perception of those it investigates. Can you catch Krastins sarcasm?:

Krastins said that he has not been detained, and is not going to step down. Aleksejs Loskutovs, the head of the Corruption Prevention Bureau, where large amounts of money have gone missing, is a perfect example of how one should assume political responsibility, Krastins said.

If anticorruption activities continue in Latvia, it may well see its CPI rise, but then...since the CPI is about perceptions, the reverse may happen - increased anticorruption activity exposing graft may contribute to the negative movement on the CPI, failing to acknowledge any progress made.

We'll just have to wait and see.

Moving Baltic Sea-Kurzbeschreibung kurzbeschreibung_dt

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http://www.movingbalticsea.org/

Pondicherry
Ursprünglich hochgeladen von * MARCO MOLITOR *

Auf unserer Trilokatour 2006 nach Bangalore und Pondicherry haben wir den Ganeshatempel in Pondicherry besucht. Dieses Foto habe ich heute beim Durchstöbern meiner Bildarchive entdeckt.

Am vergangenen Donnerstag binich nach Münster gereist, zu unserer Abschlussveranstaltung von www.triloka.de. Das Daad-Stipendium für das Programm ist nun ausgelaufen und wir haben in verschiedenen kleinen Vorträgen von unseren Fahrten in 2006/2007 und 2008 berichtet. Die gedruckten Dokumentationen sind auch fertig und können bei Interesse am Lehrstuhl für Baukonstruktion, Münster School of Architecture erworben werden.