A morning in Riga

One of the special moments of a recent Baltic cruise was meeting my friend Lauma Cenne in Riga. Lauma was there to participate in the annual mid-summer songfest, and she took time from her busy schedule of costume-tweaking, banner-stitching, airport-shuttling and choral rehearsals to meet us in the park and show us the city she loves.

Among her many accomplishments, Lauma is a talented photographer, and it was she who persuaded me to upgrade my camera.

That's our cruise ship in the harbour.

At one point we went to the top of a church steeple to get a view of the city. Lauma encouraged me to use the powerful zoom feature on my new camera to focus in on those interesting roof lines.

We also took some time to explore the city's fabulous food market, a UNESCO world heritage site. Every day, 80,000 to 100,000 visitors visit the market, built in the 1920's from re-purposed military airship hangars.

The Central Market with its four halls in the distance

We ended our visit with a picnic in the park, and felt very privileged indeed to have Lauma, who speaks fluent Latvian, guide us through the shops, cafés and parks of this capital city.