Another day, another country

Riga, Latvia. June 8

We left and drove through pretty undulating country in intermittent rain.
 
Our first stop was at an underground bunker 9 metres underground with 5 metres of concrete and lead above so the government could shelter for up to 3 months in the event of a nuclear attack.

We bought ourselves lunch in the cafe although I doubted the coca Cola ad was appropriate the pastries were nice although the staff had the genuine Soviet surliness.

The next stop was at the Open Air ethnographic museum. It was raining and there were mosquitoes but otherwise interesting. Now in Riga a genuine big city (but less than 1 million). Our hotel is nestled next to the cathedral and I can see plenty of other church spires out the window.

We thought we were going upmarket when we saw this Bentley but it turned out our car was a Ford van which also was good.

The road ahead mostly excellent in Estonia.

Typical farmstead in Latvia.

Who would have guessed that under the hotel there was a bunker.

Natasha our guide shows us the 1980s equivalent including the red telephone to Moscow.

Bill poses beside a model complete with gas mask.

Lenin presides over most things.

One of the Soviet era posters warning of the danger of loose lips.

Interior of 1704 church in the Open Air museum.

Loved the angels amongst the clouds on the ceiling.

One of the buildings in the museum.

19thC peasant furniture.

Another peasant house.

Don't know the significance of this but it appears to be Christian.

Off to explore Riga now the sun has come out.