The Room without a Window in Riga
Posted: September 11, 2022 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentThe three Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in Northern Europe have changed hands a number of times. Latvia for example has been ruled in various stages of their history by the Teutons, Swedes, Polish Lithuanians, the German aristocracy and the Russians/Soviets. Latvia is located in the center and has Estonia in the north and Lithuania in the south. Russia is towards the East, Belorussia towards the Southeast and Sweden to the West. With the war going on in Ukraine, Latvia like the other Baltic states finds itself between a rock and a hard place. As a pre-condition for their independence and sovereignty the Latvians were forced to accept the Russian troops, who wanted to stay behind. Now they comprise 48 per cent of the population and are a very significant minority. The most prominent minority in Latvia is that of Russians. Latvians have their own language, which is distinct from other European languages. The older generation speaks Russian and the younger ones prefer English.
We travelled from Berlin to Riga, the capital of Latvia on the 4th of September by the popular budget airline Ryan Air. To cut costs, there is a charge for standard luggage pieces and for sitting together with your travel partner. Travel is very frugal i.e., no meals and no inflight entertainment. Our departure was delayed by an hour and our plane finally left at 12 o’clock. The time in Riga was one hour ahead of the German time. From airport we took bus number 22. We paid 2 euros each for our bus tickets. The conductor accepted only cards and no cash.
It was about half an hour’s journey to the bus stop at Autoosta ijela. Our hotel, the Monte Cristo was located in the center of the very lovely Old Town. It is a quaint ’boutique’ hotel fashioned like the interior of an old ship with portholes. We were given room number 228. The reception described it as a ‘room without a window.’ It did have a window frame with artificial light that gave the impression of perpetual midmorning.
The city of Riga is located on both banks of the River Daugava which falls into the Gulf of Riga. It is the largest among the capital cities of Baltic nations. A fairytale town with cobblestoned streets, churches and museums that that remind one of European fairytales. Two symbols on church spires are peculiar to Riga.
One is that of black cat with an arched back and a raised tail casting an evil eye on the traders’ guild that invited the ire of the cat’s owner in the 14th century for not letting the animal in. The other are that of golden rooster weather wanes on some churches.
The modern symbol of Riga is the freedom monument. It is a statue of stall lady standing on top of a pedestal, with 3 stars on her head. The monument was erected to commemorate the liberation war waged by the new declared Republic of Latvia against the Soviet Union from 1918 to 1920.
Through the centuries Latvia has changed hands among powerful neighboring empires, it became a Soviet Socialist republic at the end of the Second World War. Only after the USSR began to unravel did the Baltic nations demanded independence. The history of this short movement during one crucial week in January 1991 is now preserved in the Museum of the barricades.
The tours – walking, hop on, hop off and tourist trams leave from the Palace of the Blackheads. The main tourist info office is also located here.
The historic buildings constructed by three brothers date back to the early Middle Ages and are undergoing renovation and conservation. On learning that we were from Pakistan a duo of street performers carrying big bass pipe bands played the national anthem of our country. As a token of appreciation, I put two euros in their cap.
The central market is an interesting place to visit. The large pavilions once served as the hangars of the German airships – the famous Zeppelins. Now traders sell food stuff and cheap Russian stuff here. An Uzbek bakery sells Central Asian delicacies and a restaurant by the same name sells Uzbek Pilaf and other delicacies that appealed to our palate. We washed down our dinner with excellent cups of green chai. Inside the pavilions, we came across two spice shops. One was being manned by an Uzbek girl, who told us that the owner by the name of Muneeb is a Pakistani.
The Moscow quarters are old warehouses, and many embassies are located on the Elizabeta Ijela.
Riga has three universities. One evening we saw an open air exhibition of one of the universities. As students held aloft lighted flames, two moderators introduced the various teaching faculties of the University. Before we left Riga, we visited The Latvian Academy of Sciences. It is an impressive building and an exact replica of the Moscow state university. We were hosted at the university by Professor Dr Ojars Sparitis, a former president of the university and one time education minister. The professor is an art historian and has restored at lease 50 old churches. He briefed us in detail about the history of the university and then took us to the open air platform on top of the building to give us a panoramic view of the city.
Air BNB in Berlin
Posted: September 11, 2022 Filed under: Travel impressions Leave a commentSeptember 2022
Lichtenberg district in Berlin was once part of the former East Germany. Many residents of the erstwhile DDR still live in the many plain apartment buildings that abound in this area. Once in a while, one can still spot an old Soviet era Trabant (lovingly called Trabi) parked in one of the cobblestoned byelanes and alleys. After the reunification of Germany many young people seeking cheaper residences and preferring a Bohemian lifestyle, moved into these areas. Although, like many other parts of Berlin that abound in proletarian tenements, this place is also being rapidly upscaled and ‘gentrified.’ The city has attracted a lot of business, particularly the IT sector and there is great demand for more and modern apartments. As a result, Berlin is at the moment witnessing a construction boom that involves either pulling down old structures or renovating them or adding new top stories to increase their hosing capacity.
Giselastrasse is about 10 minutes’ walk from Marie-Curie Allee, where my daughter lives with her husband and two children. The apartment is located on the fourth floor and like many old buildings from the previous century, it has no elevator. It is small but good enough for a young family. It has two bedrooms, a living room, one kitchen and a bathroom. My daughter and her husband find it convenient because it has good traffic connections on S and U Bahn and has conveniently located grocery stores. Their daughter’s Kindergarten or Kita is also nearby. After the arrival of their newborn son, the space has become rather cramped. So, on our visit this time, we decided to rent an Air BNB. The apartment belonged to a single woman, who like most Germans had taken a summer vacation to some place I assume was warmer than these parts of Europe. From her photographs in the house, we presumed that she was around forty. From her many clothes and shoes, we could make out that she was fond of dressing up but there was no clue to her profession. She could have been an office worker or had some other job but obviously she had enough money to spend on clothes and holidays.
The apartment was no bigger than our daughter’s but since she was living alone, she had spread out her stuff in all the rooms. We never met but she had left behind the Wi-Fi password neatly typed on a piece of paper and two yellow sticky notes asking us to water her balcony plants and to clear her post box once in a while. There was nothing else. No advice of what to use or not to use. There were a few groceries in the fridge and all her cooking utensils, crockery and cutlery and television for us to use. Of course, we were careful with her things and replenished any cooking material that we used but the amount of trust that was shown for total strangers was quite unbelievable. Our daughter thought that that our ‘host’ was more confident to let out her apartment to older people because younger folks are more likely to party or show noisy behavior that could cause annoyance to the neighbors. We spent a week in the apartment on Gisella Strasse. It was private and we could follow our own routine. Most of all we could bring our granddaughter ‘home’ after school and feed her lunch and let her watch her favorite cartoon program Paw Patrol in German.
The time we spent in the apartment in Giselastrasse was one of the most blissful and happy one in our recent memory.
September 2023 – Oderstrasse 7
Cycling in Berlin
Posted: September 2, 2022 Filed under: Travel impressions | Tags: bicycling Leave a commentBerlin is the bicycling capital of the world. At any given time in Berlin you will see dozens of cyclists on the roads. If you closely observe a stream of bicyclists, you will soon find out that they defy any typecasting. A common German bicyclist can be a young child, a teenager, an executive on his way to the office, or a grandmother. Almost everyone likes to ride a bike to work or for going to the market to purchase groceries. Although the Germans are very proud of their auto industry and their cars are one of the best in the world, and most German men consider a good car to be their second wife; they are equally proud of their bicycles.
Most people know that the automobile was invented in Germany in the mid-1880s – independently by two men living within 60 miles of each other i.e., Karl Benz (1844-1929), Gottfried Daimler (1834-1900). The Daimler-Benz company (now Daimler AG) they founded in 1926 has over the last hundred years become brand name in the auto industry.
Very few people are familiar with Karl von Drais (1785-1851), the German aristocrat who invented the first bicycle in 1817. His bicycle prototype that Drais called it a Laufmaschine or running machine because it did not have pedals, and was powered by foot. Later known it became known as the draisine or velocipede. The inventor got his inspiration from ice skating.
Bicycling as a form of transport is encouraged in Germany. There are a number of regional and long-distance bike paths that run through Berlin. These include the Berlin-Copenhagen trail, Berlin-Usedom Island Cycle Route and the European Cycle Route R1. Riders are allowed to carry their bicycles on Berlin S-Bahn and U-Bahn trains, on trams, and on night buses if a bike ticket is purchased.
Bicycling is a pleasant exercise. It is not hard on your muscles and it does not add to the pollution. I had a very nice biking experience in Berlin. As it happened one afternoon my son in law asked me if I was interested in accompanying him to collect the granddaughter from her Kita. Kita is short for kindergarten. It was a good opportunity to go outdoors and sample the fresh air. So I took up on his offer and soon he had two bikes outside his apartment building – one had a baby seat mounted on the carrier behind the rider’s seat. I had some difficulty climbing onto the bicycle because of the baby seat but after a few faltering pedals, I was stable and began to enjoy my ride. It was a nice sunny day and bikers were out in large numbers. I followed my son in law, as he expertly cycled ahead of me on the cobblestoned streets. Most of the bicycle riders were wearing helmets. Even children had their colorful helmets on. We crossed the roads with busy traffic without any fear of being run down. In Germany, the cyclist has the right of the way and I have actually seen police stopping cars to let groups of bicyclists go past. It didn’t take us more than ten minutes to reach the Kita and we didn’t have to look for a parking space that is so difficult to find in a busy German city. Soon the little girl was out of her school. Her father strapped her helmet over her hat and belted her in the baby seat and we were riding back to our daughter’s apartment.
In our country bicycle is considered to be a poor man’s ride. There are no such inhibitions in the West. In fact with the current energy crunch, bicycling is considered a very good riding option. Cars need petrol and they add to the carbon emissions. Bicycles are efficient and don’t need fossil fuel as an energy source. More cycling can perhaps reduce climate change that has caused so many floods in our country. Cycling can be a good solution for travelling short distances and reduce the dependence on fossil fuels.
Spreewald – The Venice of Germany
Posted: September 1, 2022 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentWe went to Lübbenau, a town in Spreewald on the 31st of August 2022. It was a perfect day for an outing. The weather was balmy and everybody wanted to make the most of the last day of the low priced 9 Euro summer ticket that the German government had given to its citizens to tide over the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. The regional train was jam packed as everyone wanted to enjoy the good weather before the schools opened. As we got down on the platform, we noticed that the signs were both in German as well as the Sorbian language.
One-hour train ride out of Berlin is the Spreewald or the Spree Forest. In the local Sorbian language, it is called Biota or swampland. Spree is the river that runs through Berlin and then flows into the Spree Wald. This area is located in the southeast of the federal state of Brandenburg. The main feature of this beautiful place is the many natural tributaries of the River Spree, which has been significantly expanded by creating manmade canals. This floodplain and moor landscape, it has been converted into a nature resort. As a cultural landscape was decisively shaped by the natives known as the Sorbs, who speak a variant of Slavic language. The area is one of the most famous and popular destinations in the state of Brandenburg. A total of 222.8 kilometres in the Unterspreewald and 45.4 kilometres in the Oberspreewald are classified as state waterways.
A leisurely stroll down the cobble stoned streets of this picture perfect, fairly-tale town brought us to the little port offering canoe and boat rides through the Spree’s canal system. The little port is located is next to the old church. Outside the church are statues of elfin playing with water pitchers. A few streets down is the big port with its bustling commercial activity.
We took a two-hour boat in the Spree canals. There were a dozen of us in the boat – most were retirees. The relatively younger kayaking and canoeing and were using row paddles for movement in this maze of the riverine waterways. At some places the canal can be so narrow that the smaller boats have to make way of the bigger boats. Our boatman used a wooden pole to push the boat in the traditional way. This young man was wearing a green waistcoat and a hat and throughout the journey kept an interrupting commentary telling his passengers about the flora and fauna and the beautiful houses that lined some of the canals. The vegetation was thick and at some places the trees formed a green canopy over our heads. Ducks flew in and swam besides us. Dogs in the canoes patiently watched as their owners paddled away. One could see families clustered into small groups of canoes and kayaks moving to unknown destinations. Some of the canals were closed and were meant for private traffic. One ferry was parked on the riverbank and the passengers were having a picnic. Our boatman was also offering drinks to anyone, who wanted a beer as he or she enjoyed the landscape. We sipped on the water that we had bought from a Netto shop before we boarded the boat.
After the boat ride, we walked around the town admiring the old mansions and sampling the excellent cucumber pickles that the place is famous for. Picturesque beer gardens and bistros lining the streets add to the charm of this ancient town. One bears the quaint name of Zeitlos or timeless café. For a nature lover there are many hikes and bike ways.
The return journey was uneventful and gave us time to think on the beautiful trip that was so soothing for the soul. We were back home before the late European sunset.
tughralyamin 