RIGA LETLAND INFORMATION

Between 1857 and 1863 city walls were torn down to assist in the free flow of commerce. Rīga soon developed into the world's busiest timber port and Russia's third greatest industrial city (after Moscow and St Petersburg). Russia's first cars were built here, and Rīga was renowned for the quality of the Lithuanian and Belarusian hemp and flax it exported to the outside world.  The city population skyrocketed in the 19th century, as Latvians recently freed from countryside serfdom migrated to Rīga and pushed their way into its trades, business, civil service and intellectual circles. By the 1860s about a quarter of the population was made up of former serfs. The Rīga Latvian Association, formed in 1868, became the core of the Latvian national awakening, inspiring a Latvian national theatre, opera, encyclopedia and, in 1873, the first Latvian song festival. Today, Rīga remains a bustling centre of the arts and, as the largest city in the Baltic’s, has acquired a reputation for its vibrant nightlife. The success of the city's 800th birthday party in 2001 - marked by a rash of historical buildings miraculously rising from the ashes - was sealed in 2002 by a budding young Russian Rīgan singer striking gold in the Eurovision Song Contest. The city went on to host the great event in May 2003. In 2006 Rīga welcomed the World Ice Hockey Championships to its brand new state-of-the-art arena.
 

THE ARENA

All games will be played within Riga’s vicinity.
 

CLIMATE

 Be prepared for a wide range of temperatures which should be somewhere between 40-55 degrees.

LANGUAGE

The national language is Latvian.  Fortunately, for us as visitors English is well known in the community.

 

CURRENCY

The Euro is the new currency all over European countries which take part in the European Union.  The Euro is fully convertible and changing into or out of foreign currencies is not a problem.  Using a credit card can limit or even remove the need to carry large currency or traveler checks.  Not only van you pay for many goods and services by card, but you can also use them to get cash advances at most banks.  Automated teller machines (ATMS) are quite common and are accessible 14 hours a day.

PASSPORTS

All players and traveling family members will need US passports for travel.
 

ELECTRICITY

The current used is 220 V/50 HZ Ac Sockets are the round two pin types which are standard through most of continental Europe.

HOTEL INFORMATION

TBA