Arturs Silovs spent the first part of his childhood in Ventspils, Latvia, located in the northwest part of the country. He then moved to Riga with his family at the age of 10.<\/p>\n
The Penguins netminder pays homage to his roots on his goalie mask, which features each city\u2019s coat of arms. Silovs returns home every summer, and appreciates Latvia\u2019s history and affordability.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an old town with cobblestone roads, Gothic buildings, a lot of old structural buildings that are really well maintained,\u201d Silovs said. \u201cWe have a lot of beautiful churches. A lot of good restaurants, great food, not expensive at all compared to North America.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though, as Silovs admitted with a laugh, the one menu item he avoids there is sushi.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe I don’t know the great places there, but at every single sushi place, half of the roll is cream cheese. And I\u2019m like, I can\u2019t do this,\u201d said Silovs, acquired from Vancouver this offseason after being named MVP of the organization\u2019s Calder Cup championship run. \u201cAfter coming from Western Canada, for me, it\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Something else Silovs appreciates about where he comes from is the ease of travel. The 24-year-old absolutely loves to visit new cities and have new experiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you learn from exploring,\u201d Silovs said. \u201cYou come to new places and you sightsee and get that inspiration, creativity. That’s why I think it’s so fun too, especially in the summertime, to take advantage and explore things. And especially take advantage that I live in Europe, and it\u2019s such a multicultural continent. You can just go anywhere in two, two and a half hours, to a completely different language, different culture.”<\/p>\n
A destination that stands out to Silovs is Portugal. He went there a couple of years ago for two weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou go to Porto, it\u2019s a nice, beautiful city on the water. Really charming,\u201d he said. \u201cThen you go to Lisbon, which is down south, and it’s really nice beaches, more isolated, not as many people. So, it\u2019s a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for where Silovs still wants to go?<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of places. It\u2019s a huge globe,\u201d Silovs said with a laugh. \u201cI have been exploring more of Europe. I think Asia would be a pretty nice place to go, especially such a different cultural shock. Maybe go to Japan, China. And I\u2019ve never been to South America. I have never been to the Caribbean side.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silovs credits his girlfriend with taking the lead on organizing trips.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk about it, what we want to do,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the conversation, then she does research and knows pretty well what we want to do most of the time. It\u2019s easy to plan. Hockey, you want to play for as long as you can (each season). Sometimes, it can be shorter, and you explore more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once Silovs got to Pittsburgh in August to join his new team, he began making his way around town pretty much right away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to Mount Washington, it’s a really nice area to walk around, see the landscape. I think it’s a beautiful city,\u201d Silovs said. \u201cFrom there, just went to a couple zoos. It was nice, a lot of animals, a lot of penguins [laughs]. Like, a lot of penguins. Like, I have never seen that many penguins, ever. It\u2019s actually impressive. When they were feeding them too, it was a pretty nice scene to watch. Like, there’s like a penguin who doesn’t want any fish and then there\u2019s one who eats 10 in a row, like no problem [laughs].\u201d<\/p>\n
During the season, Silovs tries to take advantage of off days when it makes sense with the schedule, usually visiting a zoo or museum.<\/p>\n