A Day at the Beach

Another beautiful day at the beach in Jurmala.....  It's just past noon but the sun is pretty low in the sky in the Baltic.  The beach is covered in snow and the sea is frozen closest to the shore.

The Gulf of Riga.... straight ahead are the Estonian islands of Saaremaa, Muhu, and Hiiumaa, and then the Gulf of Finland.  Hopefully this section of ice won't turn into an iceberg in the next few minutes and float away!

Frozen

I walked on the frozen Lielupe River today.  The sun came out right after noon and it was beautiful.  Quite a few people were sitting right in the middle of the river -- fishing, I guessed....  So I found my way to the river's edge and followed someone walking on the ice -- if he didn't fall in I thought I'd be safe.  I made it a third of the way out and there was a man sitting on something, maybe a cooler.  He had made a few holes in the ice and was waiting there with a line down one of the holes.  I felt a little bad taking this picture... maybe I invaded his space, but I'd never seen ice fishing before -- so beautiful.

And then I thought... "I'm the one who doesn't belong here, and I don't know what I'm doing on the ice, I better retrace my steps..."  So I did.

This is the view from the island of Ķīpsalā today -- the snowy Daugava River and the Riga skyline, with a little bit of the Vanšu Tilts -- the Shroud Bridge -- and behind the cables holding up the bridge, the spires of St. Peter's Church and the Dome Cathedral.  A gray day, but I like this view.