The Sinister Facade of the Mute Swan

Lost Lagoon is a favorite bird watching spot for Kathryn and I as it has a nice rotation of migratory and resident waterfowl. Resting firmly in the latter category are a group of Mute Swans given to Vancouver by the Queen some years back. Apparently once the people can elect their own representatives and governments its alright for monarchs to just hand out foreign birds instead of ruling anyone.
They're very nice birds and as they're fed and pinioned by the city park they don't spread around or get themselves into trouble and manage to spend most of their time posing for holiday pictures and looking serene.
So I was doubly shocked when we saw this individual repeatedly dredging up a fish carcass of some sort (we assume it was a carp) and worrying it about repeatedly. For peaceful and regal looking birds, the rolling eye and thrashing neck of this one in particular are making me rethink their stately natures.
And as reputed vegetarians I find this behavior all the stranger.

Latvian Market

We got around the Baltic countries mostly with regional buses which typically had pretty long drives between cities, so we'd stock up on food before each one. Going between Riga and Vilnus we got some supplies at a series of old zeppelin hangars which had been converted into a huge marketplace.
There was a wide range of foods to eat there including some rather suspicious looking dried fish which we declined to be adventurous enough to eat.
We did end up with some nice cheese, butter and delicious dark Russian-style bread. Having completely neglected to bring any cutlery we managed to get our food ready with a nail file Kathryn happened to have in her bag and made some very tasty sandwiches on the bus.