Addendum:
The book "Flesh Coloured Dominos" that you see in one of the first pictures is a novel set in Riga by one of the most famous Latvian authors, it was a good choice for reading on the trip.
One of the staff in the hotel saw I was reading it and mentioned that he had met the author, he thinks he was mean to his (Sigmund's) father so I don't think he liked him much.
It was also recognised in other places.
I also learnt from the book that Tobago in the Carribbean had once been a Latvian colony, and indeed the place where I stayed last year, Courland Bay, was named after those colonial masters.
The book also gave a good idea of Latvian-ness and the relationship of the country and the people to Germany and Russia. It's a complicated but interesting story.