We had time this morning before catching our train ,to have another tour of Old Riga (we were not that interested last night ) Now ,we’ve seen museums that house everything from porcelain to aeroplanes and everything in between but this one I wanted to see. It’s on the city tour as ‘The house of Blackheads’ (Unfortunately it won’t open until we are gone ,)but is supposed to house some of the finest examples of blackheads ever seen. Including some from medieval times. True, google it! 
Latvia still uses the old Soviet trains with decks 1 metre off the platform. We’re heading for Valga where we will change trains for an Estonian one, then carry on to Tallin
It’s only 5metres across the platform but it’s a 40 year leap into the future. 
As we travelled into the cities of Estonia what struck us mostly was the newer houses, flower gardens and the lack of graffiti! It’s more like a Scandinavian country . I also noticed the Scandinavian prices !
Hey we’re on EV10 again. We hope to stick to it to Copenhagen now
Our appartement is on the other side of the old town which gives us a brief look around . The city walls were huge as the threat from Denmark in the 1700s was very real.
This is the great Coastal gate and this fortification had 23 cannon that could be bought to bear on the harbour in front. Those Danes were scary people .
In 1888 our apartment (The Angleterre)was a shipping warehouse on the harbour. It’s across the street from the coastal gate
but no longer on the harbour as reclamation has pushed the harbour back 300 metres (from our window). Tomorrow we’ll go exploring
Estonia 🇪🇪
Published
Paris to Paris 