I am married to someone who moves constantly, which means I move constantly.
This year's destination? Riga, Latvia. I live downtown in Centrs in an apartment with my husband Chris and my very old but spry dog, Pumpkin.
Today I was going to write about grocery shopping (which is a challenge!) but am instead going to go back to writing about the flower stalls just down the street from the apartment. The first morning I took Pumpkin out, over a week ago now, it was 8:00 am and the flower stalls were going full tilt because people were buying flowers to put on the monuments for Remembrance Day. All week long, as the city prepared for Latvia's 100th Birthday, everyone seemed to be carrying flowers. On November 18 people were lined up at different monuments to place more flowers. In fact the city had actually built rows of wooden shelves to place the flowers on at the Freedom Monument at the entrance to Old Town.
I have already bought flowers for the apartment because who can resist brightly coloured flowers? I know I can't. These are the ones I bought last week still going strong. 21 Euros!
I just took Pumpkin out for a walk (really just a smell fest because we didn't go far.) It is 10:30 at night, the streets are quiet with some pedestrians still walking around. And the flower stalls are still open. At 10:30 at night! The women who run them stay outside all day long. It is -1 Celsius. Some of the women were cleaning the glass of their stalls, some have already gone home but there are still some open. As I walked down the street, first one man and then another walked out with enormous bouquets. A couple went in and came out with flowers. Is this a Latvian thing? A European thing? If I go out at midnight is there still going to be a flower seller open? And the answer is yes. The Saktas Flower Market is open 24 hours a day.
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