Travel Week pt. 2: Latvia

Sooooooooo I totally wrote this post a couple weeks ago when I was sick and intended on posting it.  Then I got distracted and now it's the end of April and I should probably post the last two travel week posts before the month ends.  Anyway....Moving on to Riga, Latvia!!

Classic Baltic old town

In order to get to Riga, my group left the hostel in Tallinn and took a city bus to the bus terminal.  There, we ordered bus tickets to Riga and got on a coach bus to Latvia.

I've never traveled by bus before that, and I have to say, I was seriously impressed.  This bus had wicked comfy seats each with their own entertainment center - movies, music, TV, it had it all (they guy next to me was watching Top Gear).  There was also a drinks machine, free of charge, where I could get hot chocolate and my friends could get their morning tea or coffee.  During the drive the road wound through a patch of Estonia that had gotten snow the night before.  Everything was white and powdery and glittering in the early morning sunlight.

Downside of buses - the people you're stuck next to.  Airplanes are the same.  And this happens more often than I wish.  The guy next to me had zero idea of personal space.  He was not a big man by any stretch of the imagination, and yet he still managed to overflow his seat.  I was watching the countryside go by out the window with my headphones plugged in and I was getting elbowed in the ribs and my legs knocked aside as this guy shifted around and generally tried to expand his sphere of influence.  I am a small person, I don't take up all that much room, and that was ridiculous.

Seriously

Anyway, we finally arrived in Riga.  The first thing we did was walk to our hostel and check in (like normal humans).  I really liked the hostel in Riga.  It was an Aussie backpackers' pub, which, it turns out, was the first hostel to be built in Riga.  The pub functions on three floors, connected by a spiral staircase, and the hostel starts on the fourth floor.  You key in through a door covered with old book spines and has an old fashioned knocker on it.  The doors to the rooms were covered in postcards from all over the world.  In the morning, we had a choice of what drink we wanted for breakfast, free of charge.  It's marketed as "breakfast beer".

Kinda awesome, having a vintage car as the bar

Anyway, Riga: Day 1.  Once we were checked in and had dumped our stuff in the room, my group went out to explore for a bit.  And sooner than I would've liked, we were back at the hostel again.  Instead of sitting down to play cards, I took a short break, excused myself, and went to wander on my own.

I think this is the main church.  No idea. There are more churches around here than coffee shops and they all blend together

I spent over an hour wandering around the old town part of Riga just exploring and taking pictures.  I ended up at the end of my wanderings by the river watching the sunset.

Reminds me a bit of Boston.....

On the way back, I passed by a restaurant called the Key to Riga.  There was a guy out front trying to convince tourists to come visit and, seeing me checking prices on the menu out front, came over to chat.  He was super charismatic and gave me a flyer for a glass of wine (which was lovely, by the way), and I brought my friends back for dinner.  This place had the greatest names for their dishes.  We swear the restaurant owners sat around with a mug of something strong and wrote down the first things that came to mind.  Either that or it was group storytime and it just happened to become food titles.

Mine was called "Flirting with the lady of the court"

Aren't they great??  My group pretty much read the menu out loud and were dying of laughter.

The second day in Riga we took a free tour from the middle of the old town through the newer part of the city.  I liked how the Latvians just decided up front that the old town couldn't accommodate more, so they continued spreading out and modernizing as the centuries passed.

Sorry. I didn't take any modern city pics......

Our guide took us to this massive market just outside the old town, essentially the size of five zeppelin hangers (with five actual zeppelin hanger roofs to cover them), and stopped just behind it.  He pointed to a very pointy skyscraper a few streets over and announced that the building we were staring at was called "Stalin's birthday cake".

There is a story to go with this name.  There were several hills in Moscow with buildings in this same Soviet style - one of which is Moscow State University.  This hill in Latvia was supposed to be the last in the set.  Well, the skyscraper ended up being finished on Stalin's actual birthday.  It got the nickname "Stalin's birthday cake" and the name just stuck.  I have the feeling the Latvians were just like "Here is your damn birthday present.  Please go away now."

Yeah, like that

The builders also stuck a baroque style tower on the top, thinking that it might improve the look of the building.  Not quite sure if they succeeded or not, or if it really matters.  That skyscraper is pretty impressive as is.

ANYWAY the tour finished halfway between the old town and the new city, at this monument here.

The Freedom monument

My group backtracked to find a small market our guide told us about, that was described as "trash and treasure".  He wasn't kidding.  The whole front of this place was a mess of old cords and power tools and towers of broken VHS cassettes.  We found our own treasures in the back.  A duo in one of the last stalls was selling old WWII relics and coins.  I was super excited about the coins - I collect foreign coins, and I bought a handful off of the guy.  One of my guys and I were chatting up the stall owners (in Russian, of course) while other people in our group took a look and wandered about the crazy market.  Other things these guys were selling included WWII Soviet medals, gas masks, old Third Reich deutsche marks, old revolvers and knives, and old Nazi officer patches.  Slightly awkward, but kinda cool to see a piece of history just laid out on a beat up table for sale.

After a good amount of time chatting with the local stall owners, my group made our way back to the massive food market and bought dinner.  Then it was back to the hostel for the night, at least for the guys.  They had entered themselves into the pub beer pong tournament.  The three of us girls went wandering at night to see Riga all lit up.

Just a random alleyway here, nothing too special

As the light faded away, my camera had more and more problems taking pictures.  Ah well.  We got hot chocolates and cider on the way back and went to see how the guys were doing.  The answer was happy but tipsy.

Indeed

They did a decent enough job from what I could see.  I didn't stay long though.  I don't drink beer, I wasn't in the tournament, and the room smelled overpoweringly like my old dance bag after an intense class.  Nope.  No was was I gonna stay in there.  I also wasn't willing to go buy something I could drink just to stay down there.  Nope nope nope.  So up to hang out with a friend I went, away from the shouts and the smell and the beer.

Of course then those drinking didn't remember where each other went and mini panic attacks occurred.

Go to sleep, damnit!!

I had to go run around and find everyone and stop the drunk arguing and remind everyone we had an early morning bus to catch.

That was Riga.