Town Hall Square

No we are not in Berlin. Not sure what this bear is about except it features the multi domed spire of St Peter's church seen in the background.
At this point we had just left the 'hop on hop off' bus after seeing some of the city sights. We decided to take a break for coffee and explore the old town on foot. (The streets are too narrow here for the bus anyway)
The building you can see are opposite the Town Hall and is known as the Blackheads' house after a group of merchants who founded a guild. The Blackheads' house was first mentioned as a new meeting place for the Riga Guild in 1334. Alas this isn’t original as the whole square was destroyed in WW11and the restoration was only completed in 1999 in time for Riga's 800 yr anniversary in 2002.
Just out of shot is a small brass Christmas tree. It is claimed that the first decorated Christmas tree was seen here in 1510!

We followed a route on our map around the old town finding lots of great sights and little artisan shops.
We went into the Lutheran Cathedral. The main religion of Latvia. Some wonderful craft shops. A wool shop where we were exhorted to 'Knit like a Latvian' with mitten knitting kits and a Linen shop where the lady gave us a map of other 'craft' places amongst the cobbled streets. There were some exquisite things. The other material here seems to be Amber; many workshops and lots for sale.

An un official symbol of Riga and Latvia is the Cat House with a cat on its roof in Liv Square. (We sat in this square at a Konditerja for cake and a real cat was sat on the roof).
It features on many souvenirs. We asked it's origin. It was placed there originally by a merchant with it's back facing one of the Guilds who had refused him entry. He became successful regardless so he was really thumbing his nose to them and it now symbolises the determination of people in Latvia to do the same - follow their dreams to success.

We didn't have time to go back to the bus but we have a two day ticket so will head out to the Art Nouveau district tomorrow. Loved the old town, much more to it than you initially think. We had a drink (my first mulled wine of the season) before heading back towards the hotel for dinner. Just as a matter of interest I set my walking app. when we left the bus - 10.59 miles it said when we got back which doesn't include our walk to the bus. Not sure if I believe it but I think the mulled wine was deserved!

Two other things we've learned today: -
November 18, 2018 is the date Latvia celebrates 100 years as an independent republic (after outside dominance)
the Orthodox Church we passed yesterday (which still had queues when we passed today) is the biggest in the Baltic region and the services are conducted in Russian - that may help explain the election result this week!