The Stitch Up

Latvian Needlework

I always have to check out the local crafts when we travel.  Especially embroidery if I can.  Latvia had lots of crafts - beautiful knitting, intricate weaving, and some spectacular embroidery.

There were a lot of vendors set up around town who had very pretty hand made things.  However most were modern designs and I was looking for traditional Latvian work.  I found a boat load at SENĀ KLĒTS.

The shop was just down the street from our hotel.  It was clearly destiny!  They had exhibits of traditional folk costumes from different eras and regions of Latvia and also sold handmade goods that were created with traditional designs.

I wish I had a bit to share about each of these displays and the region they represented but I think the study of Latvian needlework would take some time - although it would clearly be worth the effort.  

The costumes were a mix of weaving, knitting and embroidery.  The embroidery was amazing, intricate and colorful:

This site has quite a few Latvian embroidery patterns and examples of costumes from each region.  I'm not quite sure how to utilize these.  When I have a little time I think I'll compare some of my pictures with the patterns and explore a little more about technique and see if I can post a usable embroidery pattern.

The site Latvian Stuff has information on the symbols used in Latvian folk art.  Many of them represent the pagan Gods that were worshipped in that region.  It's really interesting.  I definitely see the Dievs or God's sign, which is a sort of triangle, as seen here:

There is also the Thunder Cross, a symbol for Pērkons, the God of war.  It is essentially a swastika although used in Latvia, as in many cultures, long before the Nazis got a hold of it.

These designs were so beautiful I was truly inspired.

We of course picked up a couple of souvenirs here.  I bought a belt weaved with a traditional design -

The husband bought a beautiful pair of knitted mittens -

The number of patterns for Latvian mittens was innumerable.  At this store and on many stands along the street we saw mittens of every color and patterns, no two the same.

I found the above photo on Riga Summit showing thousands of Latvian mittens knitted for that event - as you can see the patterns and colors are so varied.

I did a little searching around online and it looks like Latvian knitting patterns are very popular.  The site Knit Like A Latvian has a bunch of pictures of her mitten projects and there are also patterns on Ravelry and other sites.

I'm not quite at that level so I'm just working at making a scarf for the husband to match his mittens.

This is my first time changing yarn color.  I really am a knitting novice, but I'm hoping it will look nice enough when I'm finished.

Latvian needlework is something I will absolutely continue to study.  I really want to attempt some of that embroidery design.  I love the opportunity to be inspired by the traditions and designs of other countries and Latvia was an especially great experience.

 

What I Ate On Vacation

There was no end of great food in Latvia.  We tried several traditional Latvian restaurants which I would describe as a combination of Nordic and German food - but with it's own distinct flair.  Our hotel had great food and put on a good breakfast every morning with tons of smoked fish, potato salad, radish salad as well as traditional breakfast foods like bacon and eggs.  Needless to say we were not hungry until late in the day after stuffing ourselves at breakfast.

Riga is a pretty hip city and had any kind of food you'd like.  We hit as many places as we could.  One of the best was a Belgian restaurant - Cafe Bon Vivant.  We ate sausage and mussels until we could barely move and washed it down with delicious Belgian beer:

This was the SMALL sized sausage.  The waitress told us that the large is three times as big.  Holy smokes!

Bad focus, but these mussels were fragrant with tons of fresh herbs and cooked to perfection.  The fries were pretty great too!

Across from our hotel was another great restaurant - Restorans 1221.  I think I would describe this as Latvian fusion - it was delicious.

I had veal with what I think was a lingonberry sauce with green peppers and it was so good!  Served on the cutest cow pan!

What I ate most of in Riga was pastries.  We found so many good bakeries and everything I tried was perfect!

Most of the bakeries offered pastries that reminded me of German tarts and cakes - lots of fluffy crusts and sweet berries - but we also hit a french bakery:

The solarium eating area was so pretty and quaint and sunny!

and the baked goods were delish!  My raspberry, white chocolate tart melted in my mouth and I grabbed a few bites of the husbands chocolate cherry tart before it was gone.

We also found a great donut spot that provided a nice, mid-morning fuel up for our sight seeing - Ze Donats

These were boston creme, caramel and cappuccino - but choosing a flavor was pretty tough as they had a big selection.

The other great thing about Riga were the many nice places to just stop and take a break and have a beer.

I let my matryoshka doll get in on the act.

Although we'd surely packed on enough calories in Riga, we continued our spree in Germany.  I had planned in advance to eat as much schnitzel and bratwurst as possible while there as there is just no equivalent in the US.  

My brother and his family took us to the oldest bratwurst restaurant in the world in Regensburg - the Wurstkuchl.  They do one thing and they do it well: bratwurst.  You line up, tell them how many and then you get out.  It had a soup nazi kind of vibe to it, but I could feel for the ladies cooking up the brats as it was HOT in there!

The bratwurst were a big hit with the whole family

Since we had a big day of sight seeing in Regensberg we had lots of time for eating and really, we needed the energy.  So, a doner sandwich break happened as well.  Yeah, eat and walk people, there's lots to see:

Man those sandwiches were good.  We did sit and eat, or sit and drink - but we relaxed a bit as well:

Schnitzel got love too.  I ate it everywhere but had a great one at the cafe by the salt mines:

And of course always the German beer

The kids were drinking soda.  Just FYI.

A disturbing discovery while visiting my brother and his family was that they live down the street from a chocolate factory.  I mean - really.  As if the non stop pastries, beer, bratwurst and schnitzel were not enough, a chocolate factory was calling my name.  I responded:

Siedl Confiserie was full of dangerously delicious candy and animatronic jungle animals.  I don't know why, but the candy was so great I didn't ask a lot of questions.

These are rum balls, coconut covered macadamia nuts, kir royal balls, chocolate bars, and chocolate coins.  There were some chocolate covered marzipan balls and some chocolate macadamia nut crunch that did not make it past the flight home.  It is all so good!

So we brought a taste of Germany home with us and as much as I will miss the awesome schnitzel and bratwurst I think it's good we can't get it here or I'd be big as a house.  I love vacation eating but it's good to get back to the occasional salad!

Summer Vacation - Latvia

Our first official vacation of the summer was primarily to visit my brother and his family in Germany.  But, the Hubby and I have wanted to see some of eastern europe for a while, so we added a side trip to Latvia which turned out to be a genius idea!

For scheduling reasons we hit Latvia as the first leg of our vacation.  We spent our time in the capital, Riga,  and stayed in a hotel in Old Riga which put us within walking distance of the lovely churches and buildings of the town.

The main building here is the House of the Blackheads which was apparently a guild for unmarried German merchants working in Riga.  The building was originally constructed in 1344, but bombed by the Germans in 1941 and ultimately destroyed by the Soviets in 1948.  This current building was reconstructed in 2001 to celebrate the city's 800th anniversary and designed as closely as possible to the original building.

The steeple in the back belongs to The Dome Cathedral.  A beautiful church where we went to an organ concert one night.

In addition to being an impressive building in and of itself, it was at the center of activity during the days of The Barricades in 1991 when Latvia repelled attempts by the Soviet Union to retake control of the country.  Being in a building like this was part of the attraction of visiting Latvia. It's a place with more than just an ancient history that you might read in books but the relatively recent events that took place here: things that we remember happening and watching on tv, but that the people here lived through.  

Another lovely church in Riga is St. Peters.  The outside has lovely sculptures and inside there is an amber chandelier.  Amber is all over Latvia, made into jewelry and other decorative objects.  It apparently is found on the shores of the Baltic sea.

While not as big and impressive as the Dome or St. Peter's, I found the pretty white and blue "Our Lady of Sorrows" Church was my favorite.  It's a Roman Catholic church built in 1785 and it looked like a cake topper or one of those tiny building you light up at ChristmasL

What I was most looking forward to, and had poured over photos of in magazine articles and travel guides about Riga - was the Art Nouveau architecture all over the buildings in Riga.  I've never seen anything like it anywhere else.

Our hotel in Old Riga had a stunning facade:

The majority of buildings with these fascinating decorative facades are in the Central District.  We took a walk around Elizabetes and Alberta streets and went camera crazy:

There were so many amazing details on these buildings.  I was really cursing my little snap and go camera.  The most interesting carvings were high up on these buildings and the sad zoom capabilities of my camera had me frustrated!

My other favorite part of Riga was Bastejkalns Park.  It meanders through Riga, separating Old Riga from the Central District.  There are green gardens and hidden sculptures and the whole place is relaxing with the Pilsetas Canal cutting through it.

 

One of the charming items in the park are a few bridges over the canal where couples attach wedding locks to commemorate their wedding:

I thought it was romantic.  The Hubby thought that locks were a very appropriate commemoration of marriage.  Harrumph.

From just about everywhere we were in Riga we could see the Freedom Monument:

She commemorates soldiers killed during the Latvian War for Independence in 1918.  

We walked around as much of Riga as possible.  The views from across the Daugava river let us see all of Old Riga:

Riga is such a beautiful city.  We enjoyed every day there.  The people were kind, the food was delicious and the architecture was inspiring.  We hope to see more of Latvia and more of eastern europe in the future.  This trip definitely left us wanting more!