Hello from Riga, Latvia.  Just finished doing a tour of the absolutely wonderful art nouveau buildings here...just amazing examples.  We have a super hotel in the "old town" and there are wonderful things to see there as well.  Riga does have wonderful architecture and is very scenic with the river, the canal, and beautiful parks.  It's also an extremely good value compared to England...less than half price for pretty much everything.  Nice to get some relief from prices in Britain.

We got out to the beach area of Jurmula (23 miles of sandy beach).  Didn't go swimming but waded and the water was fairly warm.  Lots of people swimming.  Taking the train out was quite an experience too...again, very cheap...$2 dollars (CDN) return for a 40 minute ride.  Jim's conference has been very good and his paper went over well.  We're off tonight for the final dinner...Latvian food, of course!

Another really fascinating place was the Central Market...loads and loads of vendors...probably about 200 of fish alone and selling everything.  Lots of smoked fish.  We have a great buffet breakfast that has everything you could want including about 12 varieties of smoked fish dishes.  Visited the Occupation Museum today...very depressing history...so glad to see things really looking up for this country and its people.