I got up at 4:30; this seems to be standard for my weekend trips. I got ready, dropped off my keys and started the walk to the bus that would take me to the airport. On the way I was lured into a bakery by the smell of fresh German bread. I got some sweets, a bun and a coffee and went back out into the rain and onwards to the bus stop. I got to the bus stop early so I had the chance to savor the flavor of German baking before I caught the bus to the airport.
I checked in at the Ryanair booth, this privilege (a mandatory one because I am not an EU citizen) cost me an additional 10 Euro, and went to line up in the long line to security. I boarded the plane and shortly realized why they can afford to only charge 24 Euro each way from Düsseldorf to Riga. My flight was a two hour infomercial. Buy this, buy that blah blah blah, the PA system was kept busy with advertisements for all the things that I could buy while I was flying. The overhead bins all bore bus-esque ads and everything that could cost money did. I managed to avoid the temptation to buy stuff sat tight for the 2 hour flight.
I landed at 10:00 in Riga International Airport. I withdrew 70 Lats (161 CAD) this would be my spending money, eating money and accommodation money for the next three days. Latvian money looks cool. A bit of history for you from my buddy Wikipedia:
“Latvija, officially Republic of Latvia (Latvian: Latvijas Republika) is a country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region. It is bordered to the north by Estonia (343 km), to the south by Lithuania (588 km), and to the east both by Belarus (141 km) and the Russian Federation (276 km).[3] Across the Baltic Sea to the west lies Sweden. The territory of Latvia covers 64,589 km² and has a temperate seasonal climate.”
Additionally it is important to know that Latvia has been occupied by both the Russians and the Soviets (separated by a brief bit of independence) and has its own language (Latvian) and currency (The Latvian Lat). I got out of the airport and took the bus to the old city where my hostel was.
I got off the bus and walked around the building where the hostel supposedly was and could not find it. I stood infront of the building looking confused until an old man pointed me around to the orange door in the ally behind the building. I go to the orange door and there was no sign, no anything to signify that it was a hostel. I rang the bell and headed up two flights of narrow wooden stairs to a bustling modern looking hostel lobby. I guess that Friendly Fun Frank’s Backpackers Hostel does not depend on drawing people off the street with their sign. The amazingly good looking Latvian girl at the desk asked me for my booking info and then asked me if I would like a free beer. Um . . . yes. She said she would finish the paper work while I took a seat in the bar.
I headed to the leather couch in the bar to sit down and before my butt hit the leather I had people introducing themselves to me. This is where I met some Austrians, Germans and a Finnish guy on exchange in St. Petersburg and out to Riga for a weekend of shenanigans. My free Latvian beer showed up and I sat, talked and had a good time. They invited me out to their trip to the town market later in the day and I gladly accepted.
After some getting ready we were in our warm clothes and wondering the streets of Riga. I should now add that I was very surprised at how modern Riga was. It seemed that the entire infrastructure was very new and not nearly as Soviet as I expected (and at some level wanted). We decided that we would stop for some food before commencing the journey to the market. One of the girls (Anne?) decided that TGI Fridays was a good idea so that is where we went for lunch. We all got burgers and I even had to coach one of the Germans through the procedure of eating a big burger as he had never done it before, oh those Germans. The food in down town Latvia was not cheap at all, 9.90 Lat for a burger and a beer, which is $22.89!!! It for some reason does not hurt as much when you see the price in Lats. During lunch we decided to check out the museums and St. Peter’s church instead of going to the market, we would do that the next day.
We got to St. Peters and ascended the elevator to the 72m high observation deck. This provided a great yet cold view of the city. We all took pictures then headed off to the Latvian museum of the occupation, the first occupation.
The museum was OK, not the most interesting place that I have ever been but it provided an insight into what the Baltic States have been up to in the past 100 years. Most of the museums contents were old ceramics and furniture. After the main exhibits we found an auxiliary staircase on the side of the foyer that headed up to an art sale.
Here we tried to bled in with the suit wearing art folk, but we were in winter coats which made this difficult. This did not stop us from enjoying the free wine and food that comes with art shows. I was approached by some art people and asked if I liked the paintings. I pontificated for a while and replied, “I enjoy his insightful colour scheme and his elegant, yet simplistic perspective.” Honestly the guy was no Bob Ross, but had some skilz.
All this pontification made me tired. I headed back to the hostel with my international crew and took a nap. I got up three hours later and had some bread, meat, cheese and a pear for dinner.
Now the party started. People started coming out of the woodwork and before I knew it I was surrounded by Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Spaniards, Irish people, Germans, Austrians, Finns and French folk. Wow, it was like a cultural soup that I was swimming in. I got to talking to the guy form Lithuania and it turned out that he was a fourth year physics student in Lithuania. He told me that there was no Lithuanian textbooks on quantum mechanics so he classes were taught in Lithuanian but the texts were in English, Russian or German. This guy then proceeded to blow my mind as he spoke fluently in their native tongue to most of the people who occupying the hall upstairs, everything from English to Russian to Chinese.
The daily hostel pub-crawl, in true European fashion, did not START until 1am. I could not make it this late and despite my best efforts the homing instinct took hold and I was horizontal before the crowds left.
the 10 o'clock, bed homing instinct.
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