Lazing In Latvia

Lazing Around in Latvia

Arriving in Latvia was quite uneventful. As we emerged from the plane doors down the stairs and took our first breath of Latvian air, the first thing I noticed was that it was much warmer than London. Ahhhhhh... And thus we set foot on the first country that used a language other than English. However, Latvia still used Roman letters and thus I could still recognize some words here and there. We moved quickly and easily through immigrations and settled the usual currency exchange business at the airport counter.

Now... how do we get out of here? Inquiring around gets us two bits of information : "bus" and "13". Well, that's a start... It turns out there was a public bus from the airport into the city center for 30 (not 13) centims (1 lat = 100 centims = Ј1). So after saying our bus stop name, Stockmann (the bus stops here all have names! and they announce the next stop too!) and poking around the unfamilliar coins,we were off.

At Stockmann (which turned out to be a shoping center), we visited a bank to ask for directions and to change more money. The bank was quite empty which might help to explain the great lengths that the effusive women went to direct us to our hostel. They searched maps online, printed over 10 pages, drew circles and lines and pointed in a very pointed manner towards the center of Old Riga. So, bolstered by the apparently highly helpful Latvian nature, we plunged into the cobbled maze of Old Riga and found our shelter for the night, the Domб Pearlй Hostel.

Most of our time in Riga was spent walking around in circles in Old Riga. The order of the day was peering into cathedrals, admiring the shiny European cars parked on the cobblestone roads, and checking out cбfe prices. Old Riga was really very beautiful and in fact had rather affordable prices at their cafes. Thus we spent a lot of time just sitting around cбfes, drinking coffee, tea and/or beer, enjoying the wonderful weather and watching the world go by. Classic european chilling. =)

We also saw some interesting architecture, barns converted to houses and a minimalist art gallery in a otherwise abandoned looking building, lit by several bare bulbs.

The sun set very late in Riga, at about 10:30pm and I stayed up on the computer after l and a had fallen sound asleep (important discovery : a snores. a little). I stood outside on the little balcony of our hostel and listened to the loud murmer of the many cafegoers below as I read my Bible in the cool breeze. The quiet roar of the warming gas lamps mixed with conversation under the glow of the sky alight with the echoes of sunset sihouetting the church spires ... ahhh... It was good.

Food at Riga was pretty uneventful... some pancakes stuffed with various things like bananas or meat and other unexciting (and cheap) fare.

After our Riga wanderings we done, we got to the bus station and headed out on a half day long overnight bus ride. As the bus rolled through the Latvian countryside, I looked out the window upon wide swathes of land dotted with a few farmhouses. A ground-hugging mist shrouded the fields and made the landscape mysterious in the late evening light. That is another sight that I shall remember. Sleep soon overtook me as we continued on our trip.

I guess our time in Riga was just spent relaxing. We didn't look at any sights except for the ones we passed by while walking around the 'touristy' old Riga. The architecture was quite European-ish and the 'classic' activity of sipping drinks at a cafe was what we mostly indulged in. Still, the listening to the sound of BMW and Benz tyres crinkling over cobblestone roads from a cafe was pretty fun.

Next Stop : Latvian Russian Border! (hmm..)

-ky