Riga, a city of contrast, pigeons and flowers

Strange city this..... I went into a beautiful and spiritual Orthodox Church this morning. It was filled with icons and golden ornaments, decorated in blue and gold and white. Paintings of saints decorated various pillars and were lit by small candles , placed carefully in front of the pictures in candle holders.Small candles for large requests, heralded by a the sign of the cross. Incense hung throught he atmosphere, colouring my senses and heightening the emotion of awe and maybe some sadness. It was a short time of utter beauty striking my emotions.........

We walked through the city.... such buildings ! Some streets had ornate decorations across entrances, windows and arches.... angels, dragons, female faces.... even a monkey. The detail was picked carefully out in contrasting colours..... yellows and cream, peach and cream, blue, burgundy, terracotta..... all designed to impress with the importance of whoever owned that building..... The house next to it is derilict, broken, dirty, decaying....... you can look through the doorway that leads to a courtyard and see the dirt, the sad remonders of what once was.... and it is grey, brown and dark,  and across the walls are words, names, graffitti..... someone's home

There is wealth and there is poverty... I would prefer to beon the side of wealth in this city. The access for the wealthy is to everything- health, education, culture, food entertainment, holidays............. the poor don't get that. It is the same in any city where there is a level of corrupt very important people. Which side would we want to be on though?

The parks are beautiful - birch trees gradually coming in to leaf, green grass, flowers....

There are flower stalls of the most exquisite types of flower- tulips, roses, lillies...... eveyrthing.... very very beautiful

And the beer is good.... and the food is good... potatoes, bacon, meat.... beetroot ... and the pastries entice and seduce.... ah! heaven! I love the coffee... invigorating, scintillating............ bam!

But I am going into the church again..... I want to see if I still see it the same way tomorrow......

Walking on the cobbled streets is hard.. but there is not ice at this time.... it could be a nasty sight in winter....