Riga Gaga

We had to change our travel plans this summer at short notice. Two weeks before we were supposed to go on vacation, we needed a plan B, and fast.

It wasn’t the time to try to realise some vacation that you’ve dreamed about for a long time. We needed to be pragmatic. We simply looked at the list of destinations of our local airport. Some places we’d been to before, so they dropped off. Also, it was a really hot summer here in the Netherlands, so we weren’t pining for more time in the sun. Riga was one of the destinations that was left.

I knew absolutely nothing about Riga, so of course I turned to the internet. The Freedom Monument was one of the first things that showed up in my search.

It’s at the edge of the old town, and it was built in the 1930s according to the theme “Shine like a star!”

Somehow, it sold me on Riga as a destination.

Our B&B was just a few minutes walking away, so we passed by the monument several times, at daytime, in the evening, at nighttime.

I don’t know why, maybe it’s the sounds of “Riga” and “Gaga” that are similar, but I kept thinking of Riga’s lady liberty as “Riga Gaga”, and I kept singing “Riga Woo-la-la” in my head.

I guess I had to paint Riga Gaga just to get this song out of my head! Hahaha

When I was making the sketch, I was wondering if there was anything extra that I could give to Riga Gaga – like a few birds sitting on top of the stars or something else. But in the end, I decided that she’s perfect just like this.

I searched online, and there’s a recording of Lady Gaga performing Bad Romance in Riga. But she didn’t change the lyrics… 😉

Something a bit old, but the ideas are still new