10/3/15
I arrived around midnight into Riga. Took the tram to my hostel and then marched up the 8 flights of stairs to the hostel. I'm in a 3 person bunk. My bunk mates are a nice Korean gal (Soon), and Danish gal (can't remember the name)
10/4/15
Soon was telling me how her sister was going to come visit her for a weekend while Soon was traveling in the UK and that her sister is more high class and doesn't do hostels, so she booked a hotel for 2 nights at a cost of 250 pounds (375 dollars) total, but then realized there was a considerably cheaper hotel option, so she booked that and then cancelled at the expensive hotel. But she said she didn't realize the hotel had a no refund policy on cancellations, so she was feeling down about having lost $375 dollars and thinking she might even have to end her trip a bit short. I told her that I bet if we called up the hotel and explained things, they would refund. She wasn't so sure. I said we could go with the English as not the native language angle. So during breakfast, she called up while I coached her, and she ended up getting all her money back! She was very excited.
After breakfast, I headed out to explore the old city of Riga. It was cold and foggy in the morning, which was actually nice b/c when one comes to old Soviet places, you kind of want to feel that cold soviet chill. But soon the sun burned through and it warmed up into a short-sleeve sunny day. Riga sits along the Daugava river and the Gulf of Riga. There are two bridges going across the river from the old city. I wanted to cross one bridge and then come back on the other in order to get nice views of the old city and its spires from across the river. After crossing the first bridge I was walking along a park on the other side of the river. I passed by 3 people standing by a nice SUV and they called me over. It was 2 guys and a gal, and they were very friendly. One of the guys went into the SUV and came back with a bottle of huckleberry vodka and some juice (they all had cocktails in their hands already. It was just barely the crack of high noon. I was thinking, okay, I'll take a couple of shots with them, to be friendly, and then be on my way. So he poured out shots and chasers for all of us and we cheersed and drank. Then he did it one more time.
We got to talking and I found out they were all police just finished their weekend duty (they had gotten off work at 8am that morning) so they were celebrating their weekend. They were very friendly and quite funny and new English quite well. I asked them if in Latvia it was okay to drink and drive (Elisha had just told me that Norway had a zero tolerance policy). It was clear they were all drinking and they were going to have to drive at some point. They told me that for police it is okay, but for other people, if they drink and drive, they have to spend 24 hours in jail and then do community service. They were very interested in America and said they wanted to visit sometime. They asked me what I thought of Latvian politics. I liked it I said (I know nothing of Latvian politics other than they got their independence after the iron curtain fell). They knew a lot about American politics and were very concerned about why we were involved in so many wars and bombing places. They also said how it seemed like our politicians really disliked Muslims and how they thought this was very bad. They asked me, "don't your politicians see muslims as being just people like you and me and having a very unique culture" They were very perturbed by all that. I was asking them what it was like to be a police officer in Latvia. They said it was very easy, and they enjoyed it. They told me "Latvia is not violent place like America. Police here don't need weapons and don't need to shoot people" With the tragedy in Oregon fresh on my mind, I had to agree. It was funny bc the 2 guys were teasing the girl about being single and when they switched to speaking Latvian sometime, I think they were telling her "hey look at this guy, he's from America and a biologist, wink wink" There are some words like America and biology that are about the same in most languages. One of the guys was telling me how Latvia is very fresh and clean and how you can swim in the rivers and lakes. And then he said, "and the girls here are real. They're not made of plastic" and he grabbed the gal's cheek. haha. Of course through all the talking, they kept offering me drinks and cheersing, and just like my experience in Russia with friendly Russians and their vodka, they don't accept no (oh man, I remember some rides on the trans-siberian when I got invited to drink vodka with the Russians!). So by the time I was able to say goodbye, I had had a fair amount of vodka.
As I headed on towards the next bridge, I had a bit of a spring in my step b/c I was very happy for that experience (and the alcohol probably had something to do with it too..haha). Having real encounters and conversation with locals, away from the tourism part, is one of my favorite parts of traveling and always makes me happy. It was definitely the best thing I did in Riga all day.
I spent the rest of the day exploring Riga. Riga has a compact old city like Tallinn except it's a bit bigger and, in my opinion, not as cute or cool. Most of it's wall was destroyed, but there is a small portion of it. There's also a gov't castle and of course lots of church steeples. I had lunch at a tasty asian noodles place and then continued my walking. I ended the day at the huge Riga market. It's mostly inside these 5 giant zeppelin (airships) hangars built by the Germans, but also a lot of it spills outside. At the market, they of course had everything you could possibly want and more
For dinner I went to this local place that serves up Latvian fair. It's sort of a buffet, but not an American-style buffet. They have different things you can take and add to your place, but each thing has a price or a price per weight and so each time you go up the calculate your bill. Maybe American buffets could take note of this tactic for healthier eating, though I don't think I'd like it. I do love all-you-can-eat sometimes. Anyways, the food was amazing. Some of the best I've had in a while! I had pork saslik, which is the main meat meal here, some super tasty potatoes, and some very tasty soup and a brew made by the place. The meal and beer was cheap. 500ml (1/2 a nalgene) for $1. One of the really nice things about eastern europe, if you know the right places, is that it's really cheap compared to the rest of Europe or the USA.
I came back to the hostel and had a beer with my 2 bunk mates and a german guy. The guy looking after the hostel that night opened our beer bottles...with his teeth! The girls wanted to go dancing and felt like I would be a good, safe person to take with them, so we all went out to the clubs and dancing, which was a lot of fun. After the dancing we hit up this super cheap and tasty dumpling place! Reminded me of the dumpling place Bro and the elephants would take me too after dancing and partying in bellingham
I arrived around midnight into Riga. Took the tram to my hostel and then marched up the 8 flights of stairs to the hostel. I'm in a 3 person bunk. My bunk mates are a nice Korean gal (Soon), and Danish gal (can't remember the name)
10/4/15
Soon was telling me how her sister was going to come visit her for a weekend while Soon was traveling in the UK and that her sister is more high class and doesn't do hostels, so she booked a hotel for 2 nights at a cost of 250 pounds (375 dollars) total, but then realized there was a considerably cheaper hotel option, so she booked that and then cancelled at the expensive hotel. But she said she didn't realize the hotel had a no refund policy on cancellations, so she was feeling down about having lost $375 dollars and thinking she might even have to end her trip a bit short. I told her that I bet if we called up the hotel and explained things, they would refund. She wasn't so sure. I said we could go with the English as not the native language angle. So during breakfast, she called up while I coached her, and she ended up getting all her money back! She was very excited.
After breakfast, I headed out to explore the old city of Riga. It was cold and foggy in the morning, which was actually nice b/c when one comes to old Soviet places, you kind of want to feel that cold soviet chill. But soon the sun burned through and it warmed up into a short-sleeve sunny day. Riga sits along the Daugava river and the Gulf of Riga. There are two bridges going across the river from the old city. I wanted to cross one bridge and then come back on the other in order to get nice views of the old city and its spires from across the river. After crossing the first bridge I was walking along a park on the other side of the river. I passed by 3 people standing by a nice SUV and they called me over. It was 2 guys and a gal, and they were very friendly. One of the guys went into the SUV and came back with a bottle of huckleberry vodka and some juice (they all had cocktails in their hands already. It was just barely the crack of high noon. I was thinking, okay, I'll take a couple of shots with them, to be friendly, and then be on my way. So he poured out shots and chasers for all of us and we cheersed and drank. Then he did it one more time.
We got to talking and I found out they were all police just finished their weekend duty (they had gotten off work at 8am that morning) so they were celebrating their weekend. They were very friendly and quite funny and new English quite well. I asked them if in Latvia it was okay to drink and drive (Elisha had just told me that Norway had a zero tolerance policy). It was clear they were all drinking and they were going to have to drive at some point. They told me that for police it is okay, but for other people, if they drink and drive, they have to spend 24 hours in jail and then do community service. They were very interested in America and said they wanted to visit sometime. They asked me what I thought of Latvian politics. I liked it I said (I know nothing of Latvian politics other than they got their independence after the iron curtain fell). They knew a lot about American politics and were very concerned about why we were involved in so many wars and bombing places. They also said how it seemed like our politicians really disliked Muslims and how they thought this was very bad. They asked me, "don't your politicians see muslims as being just people like you and me and having a very unique culture" They were very perturbed by all that. I was asking them what it was like to be a police officer in Latvia. They said it was very easy, and they enjoyed it. They told me "Latvia is not violent place like America. Police here don't need weapons and don't need to shoot people" With the tragedy in Oregon fresh on my mind, I had to agree. It was funny bc the 2 guys were teasing the girl about being single and when they switched to speaking Latvian sometime, I think they were telling her "hey look at this guy, he's from America and a biologist, wink wink" There are some words like America and biology that are about the same in most languages. One of the guys was telling me how Latvia is very fresh and clean and how you can swim in the rivers and lakes. And then he said, "and the girls here are real. They're not made of plastic" and he grabbed the gal's cheek. haha. Of course through all the talking, they kept offering me drinks and cheersing, and just like my experience in Russia with friendly Russians and their vodka, they don't accept no (oh man, I remember some rides on the trans-siberian when I got invited to drink vodka with the Russians!). So by the time I was able to say goodbye, I had had a fair amount of vodka.
As I headed on towards the next bridge, I had a bit of a spring in my step b/c I was very happy for that experience (and the alcohol probably had something to do with it too..haha). Having real encounters and conversation with locals, away from the tourism part, is one of my favorite parts of traveling and always makes me happy. It was definitely the best thing I did in Riga all day.
I spent the rest of the day exploring Riga. Riga has a compact old city like Tallinn except it's a bit bigger and, in my opinion, not as cute or cool. Most of it's wall was destroyed, but there is a small portion of it. There's also a gov't castle and of course lots of church steeples. I had lunch at a tasty asian noodles place and then continued my walking. I ended the day at the huge Riga market. It's mostly inside these 5 giant zeppelin (airships) hangars built by the Germans, but also a lot of it spills outside. At the market, they of course had everything you could possibly want and more
For dinner I went to this local place that serves up Latvian fair. It's sort of a buffet, but not an American-style buffet. They have different things you can take and add to your place, but each thing has a price or a price per weight and so each time you go up the calculate your bill. Maybe American buffets could take note of this tactic for healthier eating, though I don't think I'd like it. I do love all-you-can-eat sometimes. Anyways, the food was amazing. Some of the best I've had in a while! I had pork saslik, which is the main meat meal here, some super tasty potatoes, and some very tasty soup and a brew made by the place. The meal and beer was cheap. 500ml (1/2 a nalgene) for $1. One of the really nice things about eastern europe, if you know the right places, is that it's really cheap compared to the rest of Europe or the USA.
I came back to the hostel and had a beer with my 2 bunk mates and a german guy. The guy looking after the hostel that night opened our beer bottles...with his teeth! The girls wanted to go dancing and felt like I would be a good, safe person to take with them, so we all went out to the clubs and dancing, which was a lot of fun. After the dancing we hit up this super cheap and tasty dumpling place! Reminded me of the dumpling place Bro and the elephants would take me too after dancing and partying in bellingham
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| The Latvian Police |
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| The freedom monument |
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| couples in all the balkan countries put locks on bridges to lock in their love |
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| dumplings! |
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