RIX View

NB: I've just posted (10/11) a late extra from Riga--Mikhail Eisenstein's most spectacular building.

RIX is the abbreviation for Riga International Airport, where we bid farewell to Latvia.  We had a wonderful time in our five day stay, centered on Mount Holyoke College's  European Alumnae Symposium.  Some 120 alumnae attended, mostly from Europe but including ca. 30 from North America; ages ranged from the 80's (class of 1957) to a handful of current students. So in addition to the highly informative conference sessions we had continual conversations with interesting attendees.

We learned much about Latvia and its critical location between the great powers of the last 200 years. We had the sense that Latvians still feel very betwixt and between--certainly involved  in Europe's continuing evolution, but still with tugs from the east--inot just due to its 25% Russian minority (plus over 10% other eastern Europeans).

We flew to Dublin via Frankfurt, where I'm posting this the next morning; our connection was very tight and our two suitcases didn't make it--we're still waiting for them :(