Sveiks!

Čau!

Jack's in Rīga, already... Well, I've been here since the last week actually, but now finally I have some time to write down something!

I've been travelling around the country, this weekend, and I've enjoyed the experience very much... Baltic sea wasn't as brave as I thought, but, of course, it was much colder than I thought! But that's what trevelling's about, don't you think? Forgetting your truths and embrace new ones, sharing points of vies, languagues, food and drink... Summarizing: Doing what our polititians must do, and what they don't, in general! Engure is a beautiful place for sure, but dangerous if you have Sweet blood... Beware! Those dundurs (gadflies) are everywhere! Talsi is simply charming! And I'm really looking forward to visit Kuldīga, which seems to be a very interesting place, indeed!

But today, since this is my first post, I'll just talk about one of the Latvian symbols, located in Rīga... I'm talking about the Brivibas Piemineklis or just the Monument of Freedom.

This monument was unveiled in 1935, and it honours the Latvian soldiers killed during the War of Independence against the Bolshevic Russia (1918-1920), just after the First World War and the proclamation of the Republic of Latvia. Brivibas Piemineklis replaced a statue of the Russian Emperor Peter the Great, and its sculptures and bas-reliefs really depict Latvian culture and history. This 19 meters travertine column is topped by a woman figure, symbolizing the Freedom, holding three gilded stars, each one representing one of the Latvian constitutional districts: Vidzeme, Latgale and Courland. In its base: ""Tēvzemei un Brīvībai'', For Fatherland and Freedom.

The Freedom's eyes had seen a lot of things indeed... She saw how Molotov and Ribentropp shared out the lands, how soviet troops entered Rīga and how Nazi armies were applauded for expeling the Russians... She witnessed the Holocaust, she saw how "Brivibas Iela" was renamed "Adolf Hitler strasse" and then "Lenin iela"... Nowadays, it's Brivibas iela again... Soviets didn't destroy this monument, even if it was really considered for demolition, probably because they considered it to be of the highest artistic value... They tried, although, to change it's symbolic meaning, but they failed again... And I guess that's why we can still enjoy it!

Well, enough for today! I'll keep telling you more stuff or showing you surious things about this Northern Landscape of soft temperatures of 20-25ºC!

See you real soon!