GalleryBack to K. Barona iela and a quick pop into Jana Rozes bookstore—too crowded, plus, I already felt like I was losing the light! Off I went into Vermanes gardens and across into the city canal park, up Bastejkalns, back down across Basteja boulevars and into Old Riga, first passing through the Great Guild's courtyard...
Dom Square concert
Christmas marketThe person passing by the archway [above, last picture] notwithstanding, once I made it out to the street, everyone else appeared to be heading the other way, toward the center of Vecriga, the Dom Church square.
There in the frigid early evening air, young, enthusiastic, and chilled performers with nothing but spandex betwen themselves and the elements were putting on a children's concert! [below, left] The concert, the booths of jewelry, knicknacks, and food at the "Ziemassvetku tirdzins" (Little Christmas Fair) [below, right] all gave testament to a city which gleefully defied the winter's elements! Indeed, watching the performers run off stage, shivering in the cold (and cursing it!), it was a defiance which bordered on the perverse! My own toes, getting numb from the cold, gave me a sense of belonging...
Dom ChurchI took leave of the concert and fair, leaving the Dom Church and square behind me [right], and headed down Jauniela. Candles burned inside quaint and cozy—and undoubtedly warm!—restaurant, but I was determined to make the most of what light was left. On to Melngalvju Nams (Blackhead Brotherhood's House), St. Peter's, through Konvent Seta (Convent Garden), Jana Seta,... darkness quickly gathers...
