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Raves for Riga

THANK YOU to Gary Lee for the article on Riga, Latvia ["Riga: The Curtain Rises," July 22]. I worked in then-Leningrad in 1990, and an American friend and I went to Riga for a weekend. After night fell, our Intourist guide walked with us to a church. Intrigued, we followed him inside.

Making our way through a darkened foyer, we emerged at a ballroom where dozens of couples were dancing and circling perfectly to a live big band. I thought I had walked into a Fred Astaire movie. My friend and I watched, entranced, for nearly an hour, wishing we knew how to waltz and foxtrot.

Deanna Chaudoin

Springfield

GARY LEE mentions only in passing the "art nouveau buildings with elaborate facades." But the buildings in Riga are unique examples of art nouveau, as I found out during my visit 10 years ago. Alberta Street, in particular, has a number of apartment buildings, each with a different type of construction, some with imaginative and fantastic designs. Also of interest in the city is the Jewish Museum, with exhibits on the lives of Jews in Latvia since the mid-18th century and a separate room on the Holocaust in Latvia.

Also of interest in Riga, in light of its history as a prominent shipping port, is the Museum of History and Navigation, with an exceptional collection of exhibits, including silver, glass, jewelry, manuscripts, etc.

Eileen Martinson Lavine