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Jun 29, 2010 - Riga to Dikli, Latvia
We left Riga this morning by bus, traveling northeast, and an hour later we were in Sigulda, which might be considered an upscale bedroom community for Riga. We stopped long enough to briefly view (from a distance) the ruins of an ancient castle and a new outdoor theater. A little farther on, we stopped at the Turaida Museum Reserve. 
This was a beautiful, extensive park with numerous nature trails, sculptures, and historical buildings. What intrigued us most, though, was the partially completed rebuilding of the castle that was first built in 1214. Many of us climbed the narrow stone staircases to get to the top of the cylindrical structure in the picture at the right.
After lunch, we headed for the tiny town of Dikli, so small that it wasn't even in our guidebooks. We were to spend the night and give our next concert there. The trip itself was interesting, in that we saw a lot of rural Latvia. There were many differences from rural parts of the US, but one of the most striking was the stork nests, such as the one in the picture below.
Stork nests are not uncommon elsewhere in Europe, but it seems that we saw so many in the Latvian countryside: 15-foot poles, with a nest at the top and an adult stork standing guard over 2 or 3 young storks.
The town of Dikli is remote enough that we traveled on dirt road part of the way to get there, and that experience and the relatively humble appearance of the town failed to prepare us for our accommodations for the night, the Dikli Palace Hotel, pictured below and at the right. The rooms (each one different) might have been furnished from antique stores, though the bathrooms were completely modern. The common spaces felt old-world, with an abundance of paintings. The grounds were manicured and inviting, but best of all 
was the river that flowed behind the hotel. Within minutes, some of us were out in a boat, and a short while later about one-quarter of our group were in the water swimming in this totally idyllic setting.
Soon it was time to get down to business. At 5 p.m. we went to the Dikli Cultural Center, a small building with a performance space that had seating for about 150. We rehearsed briefly and returned at 7 for the concert. The program opened with a performance by a 30-voice Latvian men's choir called “Imanta.” We enjoyed their singing of a suite of what sounded like Latvian folk songs. Then they announced that they had prepared an American folk song in honor of our appearance. It was “Amazing Grace” — in Latvian. Their energetic director encouraged us to join them, so the audience was treated to a never-before performed version of “Amazing Grace,” in English and Latvian—simultaneously. Still singing this song, the men of Imanta filed out past us, and we rose from our seats at the back of the room, expecting it was time for us to take the stage. Not so fast! Although we had no idea of the evening's program, Imanta's performance was followed by a piano-accompanied solo by our translator. Then two men with guitars came on to perform several songs. (Only one sang, and antsy though we were, we had to admit that he was quite good.)
Eventually, we took the stage (with built-in risers) singing “Sing dem Herrn.” We proceeded to sing 12 pieces from our repertoire in our best performance to date. We had a cute surprise when, after the first piece with a solo (“All That Hath Life and Breath”), the lady who had acted as our hostess (apparently Dikli's mistress of culture) hurried up to soloist Hugh Gaston to present him with a yellow rose. Thereafter, every soloist got a rose and a peck on the cheek. After the singing, there was a lenthgy ritual of words of thanks to all the principals of the evening's activities, each “thank-you”accompanied by flowers. Then everyone retired to an adjacent room for beer and cheese. Shortly after 10 p.m. the Mastersingers USA entourage had a group dinner at the hotel, followed by battles, some lasting all night, with the Dikli mosquitoes, which are more clever and sinister than those in the US.
Our concert at Dikli was our biggest success to date. It was our best singing, and was perhaps the most effective in generating goodwill with the people we were visiting. This has been a repeated pattern for Mastersingers USA: big-city audiences generally take us for granted. But in small towns our appearance is viewed as something special. They go to great lengths to be hospitable, we respond with our best efforts, and the fun and goodwill flow freely.