Haven't written anything for many days because I caught a brutally dangerous CoolWebSearch trojan, which made Windows die. Due to the quirks of my PC (I have a SATA drive and RAID , no regular single PATA IDE) I couldn't reinstall it easily, barely managed to do it. And now I've also come down with some weird cold (or is it the flu?). My parents are vacationing separately away from home, each with their own crowds, while I sit here alone and watch Futurama, the first 3 episodes that have already downloaded.
So I won't be able to churn out anything other than another diary entry.
When I was in Riga last week, I popped into the patent library once more to shoot a couple of books on my digital camera. Turned out not bad: fast and decent enough quality to actually read them. Then I spent a few hours trying to figure out how and into what format it's best to compress the bulky .jpgs to share with anyone who wants them. Turned out there's an old free version of the DJVU solo software on the net, which compresses into the wonderful DJVU format. Unlike the laggy and bulky PDF, it's perfectly suited specifically for scanned or photographed books.
On the way from the library, I took some pictures of snowy Riga. First - the Dome Square
"Planeta Sushi" restaurant, next to the library
Dome Cathedral
The House of the Blackheads, rebuilt a few years ago
St. Peter's Church
St. Peter's Church has an observation deck at a height of 70. Used to be open-air, it was awesome - you stand by the railing, everything below is tiny, and the wind is in your face. Now they seem to have fenced it off, if not glazed it entirely. If things keep going this way, we'll soon be living in impenetrable bubbles.
Railway Bridge
Right now Riga has 3 road bridges and 1 railway bridge. If you count from south to north, meaning towards the mouth of the Daugava, first comes the super long Island Bridge, then the Railway Bridge, then the Stone Bridge, which has a tram running across it, and from which I was taking pictures. And closest to the mouth of the Daugava is the Vansu Bridge, the city's famous symbol.
Vansu Bridge
Construction has already begun on the Southern Bridge, which will be located south of the Island Bridge. And most likely further north past the Vansu Bridge, they'll eventually build a northern tunnel too, which costs huge money by Latvian standards (up to half a billion $, while our annual budget is 5 billion), and so it's constantly surrounded by corruption scandals. I'm writing from memory, so I might be wrong on the numbers.
Panorama of the frozen Daugava
Looks more like a field in the middle of nowhere in the Urals, rather than a river over a thousand km long.
Panorama of central Riga
This is the famous picture of central Riga that you can see on postcards, only in winter, small, and taken by an amateur. A classic "Rabinovich sang it to me" situation.
All photos