Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Welcome to Riga!

Hello guys!

It's been a while I haven't updated anything on my blog, but here is a new article!
For this article, we were in Riga with 2 friends (Erik & Kikki) during midsummer (week end of 21st of June).
It is also the 1st article I'm posting with my new camera, the canon 5D Mark III !
It is such a pleasure to shoot with that camera, much easier and it is a great light catcher, I love it!

So, before I show you any photos, Riga is the capital and biggest city of Latvia with about 700 000 people living there (about a 1/3 if the population of whole Latvia!)
Riga was founded in 1201 and is noticed for its art nouveau architecture and 19th century wooden architecture. It is now the european capital of culture 2014, along with UmeƄ (north of Sweden).

To get there, we went on a cruise on both ways which were pretty funny to be part of. The goal of those cruises for a lot of people is basically to get drunk to a much cheaper price than they can do in Sweden. Goofy shows, bad karaokes and shameless drunk guys are of course part of this wonderful experience! :)
I'll stop with my bla bla and start showing you some photos... Enjoy!

Waiting for the bus... like a Swede!



Boarding in this huge boat, Isabelle.






If anybody can pronounce the name of that beer properly, I'll get you a drink! ;)





This photo of Erik is probably my favorite of the serie. Look how sharp that is, the colour tone and the little grain for 2000 ISO! I love my new toy!




The terrible show, halfway between gross and lame, very cool to watch! ^^



Sunset on the deck...





shitty expensive breakfast on the boat... not worth it!

 Colour or B&W?

Cool and good underground restaurant in town. A lot of food for cheap price and good beers, what else can we wish for?!






Are we really supposed to eat this?





This is the Latvian academy of science, built after the 2nd world war between 53 and 56, deducing the salaries of the Latvian rural population... it is one of those "stalin architecture" buildings.

View from the top, it is actually quite green everywhere, a lot of parcs and natural areas.













Do they mean "Steak House"???





The swedish gate! It belongs to the former fortification wall surrounding all of the old city and is the only Riga gate that has survived in its original form.






This is the 1st Riga's Mcdonald's which opened in 1994!
When it opened, this was the best place to bring your date to... Soviets times were maybe not the best I guess!


The freedom monument of Riga, built in 1935, is a memorial honouring the soldiers who died during the 1st world war.
The 3 starts that "Milda" is holding represent the 3 constitutional districts of Latvia: Vidzeme, Latgale and Courland.
 During the Soviet occupation in the 40s, the monument was considered for demolition but the soviet propaganda altered the signification of it instead.






















One of those Art Nouveau architecture buildings.






Le pont des arts feat Riga.



Surpuppa! On the way back to Sweden on the boat...


Best shots EVER! ;) (Those were non alcoholic if you wonder)