Latvia

Hi, sorry it has taken so long to update, have finally started studying so have had work to do (yes, finally!)

But will put aside five minutes to update you on my visit to Riga last week. Living near a Ryanair airport made it a good and affordable idea to make a visit to Riga, not to mention that everyone who came back from there has been raving about it. So Andreas, Sven and I made a 48 hour visit, return flight cost $45! Cost nearly that just to get to the airport and back. Anyway.....

So arrived to a cold and wet Sunday evening, caught the bus into the city from the airport, very clean and modern for just 50 cents. Plus they have got the idea, let the driver drive, and another lady takes the money for the tickets, very efficient I thought! We arrived to our highly recommended hostel, Friendly Fun Franks, and felt immediately at home. (It's run by an Australian guy called yes, Frank, and was voted the best hostel in the world 2005!) They make you feel immediately at home, offering a complimentary beer and giving us a rundown on the do's and do not's of Riga. We hung around the hostel for a bit before venturing out for dinner.

Of course I was left holding the map, and after a bit of a non-planned detour (I can't always get it right!), we made it to a nice traditional Latvian restaurant called Lido. Really nice!! Was pretty much like a buffet, but with a chef standing near the grill offering lots of nice meats, potatoes and vegetables. Filled up the plate for about $12, great value we thought. Plus a beer to go with it of course, something we enjoyed coming from Sweden where the beer quality is not that exciting. In the evening, we headed out with some others to a local bar. It was Sunday night so pretty quiet, but not bad in any case. Bit of excitement - Andi and Sven took some tobacco that you sniff, in any case the security came up a bit later and tried to take Andi away. I went along cause I thought it was strange, so then they tell us they called the police cause they thought they saw Andi and Sven taking cocaine. I tried to get our jackets so we could leave, but then they wanted to keep me there as well. Anyway, Sven finally showed up with the evidence that it was just tobacco, and we all had a good laugh and the guys even tried some of it. So no harm done but a bit of a worry there for just a moment.....

The next day, we went along to an old Soviet bunker and took up the opportunity to shoot some guns. There was a smaller handgun, an AK47, and another pump-action style gun. That was a pretty exciting experience, I didn't shoot so well but managed to shoot both my target and his hostage in the head - don't worry it was just a picture on some paper! Andi and Sven did much better, though they did look quite more professional, taking their style from the Terminator I think!

That night we went to a cool bar about 10 stories up overlooking the whole city. Got to see that Riga is quite a large, spread out city but also very modern looking now and lots happening. After a couple of hours relaxing there, we managed to escape the angry barman..... he asked where we were from and if we gave tips in our country, even though a 10% service charge was added onto the bill! At least he tried.

Went back to Lido for a second time for another delicious dinner and local beer. Another night out beckoned with a few other travellers, again rather quiet cause it was Monday night, but we had a good time just relaxing and playing some table soccer. Eventually got to bed at 6am after trying to find something to eat... others had waited 2 hours for a pizza to come, and I wasn't that hungry. Check out time was 2pm, woke up at 2pm, so that went well, but the staff were really friendly and had no stress about it. We had a couple of hours to kill so went to check out if cheeseburgers taste any different in Latvian McDonalds (they don't), and just relaxed out of the rain before heading back to the airport late afternoon.

Oh and just when we thought it couldn't get better, at the airport we found these great massage chairs, cost $2 for 5 minutes, and was absolutely perfect!!

So yeah, that was my little adventure to Riga with Andi and Sven! A very nice time in a great city, so if you are in the area be sure to check it out!!!

Have lots of other stuff to update on re the last month or so here in Sweden, but running out of time right now so will leave that til after Christmas. Will put some photos up soon as well when I'm not in such a rush.

Until then - God Jul!!
Scott