Riga is a city of contrasts. The key of it lays in its eclectic mix of architecture. Riga was built by German barons. Riga was built by Swedish and Russian kings. It was built by Soviet government. It was built, cherished and… also ruined by Latvians themselves. Because people wanted to see real “Latvian” Riga. Well, as for me, I don’t think Latvian Riga truly ever existed. There is an old legend that is passed through the centuries. It says that when Riga will be finished, a huge monster will rise from the river Daugava and ruin the city.

Well…

This baby is incredibly cheerful. She always wakes up with a smile. I don’t remember her ever waking up grumpy.
And as it should be, she has very inquisitive mind. She travels on her knees around our place in a very high pace. She can even try to “run away” from me when she puts something uneatable in her mouth as she already knows that she won’t get away with it.

Yep, the story about Milan still isn’t over. This one is about the third day of our trip. We were visiting Sforza castle this day and strolled in it’s park. We are not that kind of people who like visiting historical museums, but we do appreciate beautiful nature scenes, so we headed straight through the castle’s courtyard to the vast park that sprawled behind the Western gates of the castle.

My girls loves playing princesses! Their game always is accompanied by dressing up and doing some face art (I wouldn’t call it make up). Recently princess Aurora asked me for a crown.
And who would tell, that it takes only a half an hour to make a crown (and it is a super-easy task)!

There was an unpleasant event in the middle of December that pushed me to write this post. It conveys my point of view regarding to love. A woman told some rude things to me and at first I was feeling angry at her as I was caught without guard with her accusations.  But soon enough I realized that more likely the real reason why she acted in that odd way was her own frustration at completely another person that I had been related too. So I ended up with feeling pity for the woman that, as I’m sure, had fallen in the same trap where I was some time ago too.

Need a heart? I know where you can get one! But be careful with it, because it’s pretty small and weightless. It can be easily blown out of your hands, just like a dandelion seed. But wait, wouldn’t it be nice if love spread over the world as fast as dandelions?

I have a thought that I’m returning to over and over again. The thing I don’t understand about our northern country is why buildings here are so grey? Wouldn’t it be more cheerful to see some splash of a colour here in a middle of winter, when the nature itself is a bit desaturated? And why do people perpetually choose black coats, black shoes and black umbrellas for the winter time? We should be learning from medieval. People lived in terrible conditions then, but they still were unrivalled masters of making their rather short lives literally bright.

Yesterday my sweet Veronika turned 6. She is a big girl, but it still feels like she’s not. I guess, it’s how she’s truly feeling, because a lot of people in some time of her life had said to her, that she is smaller than her big sister. (And I believe, that is something that shouldn’t be said to a child. A skill or ability should be emphasised, not the age). But actually yesterday there was a sparkle of a consciousness in her eyes as she realised how grown up she is! (And do you remember how grown up you felt in your 6th birthday?)