Peters' Story

Each year, I find myself spending more time in Latvia. After independence, I visited Latvia and my relatives for the very first time—and I've been returning at least once a year ever since!

Peters' Grandfather's Mill

Growing up, I learned Latvian geography, history, grammar, and literature. In the summers, I occasionally frequented Latvian summer camp, but more often, I spent summer up in the Adirondacks by Lake Champlain, in Clemons, New York, where a group of Latvians, many of them my dad's friends from his Latvian Art Academy days—and all avid fishermen—had found a spot to congregate. But even while I passed my summers listening to stories of the old days, at the same time, I drifted away from the local Latvian community at home, in New York.

Still, friends told me, there was a passion they saw and heard in me only when I spoke of Latvia.

Suddenly, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1991, unexpectedly, the unfolding demise of the Soviet Union offered me the chance to see my relatives, and for my mother, the hope of seeing her family for the first time in over half a cenetury. And so started my voyage back into my heritage.

Now, some years after that first magical trip, there's a second date to add, Sunday, May 23, 1999, not only my father's birthday back in 1905—I'm a sentimentalist—but a day that, looking back to 1991, would have seemed just as improbable and unexpected. That first time I set foot on Latvian soil, little did I suspect that some day I would be visiting with someone who shared not only my life but my love of Latvia as well!

That was the day Silvija and I married.

• The Riga Zoo, Exploring Riga's 40 acre (16 hectare) zoo. An easy ride on the No. 11 tram from the center of town.
• Alberta Iela, One of the finest surviving examples of the German Art Nouveau movement of a century ago.
• Pilgrimage to the Past, Peters seeks his family's roots in Kurzeme and Vidzeme—where his mother returns to the scene of her own childhood after more than half a century.
• The Organ of Liepaja's Church of the Holy Trinity, The most intact surviving handiwork of J.S. Bach's favorite master organ builder.

• October 1996, Autumn colors in Rīga and Kuldīga.
• August 1997, Cemetery service for the victims of Soviet deportation; Mordanga, and Rīga.
• October 1994, Highlights of Peters' roots-seeking trip.
• July 1995, A whirlwind tour: Aglona, Bauska, Brīvdabas (Ethnographic) Museum, Jaunmoku Castle, Jelgava, Liepāja, Rīga, and Rundāle's Palace.
• August 1993, Riga and Usma.
• December 1997-New Year's, Latvia twice in one year!
• Peters' Story, Collapse of the Soviet Union brings an unhoped-for opportunity.
• October 1992, Peters' first trip! From his grandfather's water mill to goat-walking in Riga.
• December 2002, Wandering (lots of pictures) far and wide in winter Rīga.

• March 2001, Peters' aunt Erna's 100th birthday jubilee.
• June 1998, Song and Dance Festival, AOL "Lat Chat" live, Riga, Stende.
• June 1999, Our honeymoon in Latvia (where else!)