Riga, Day 3

Today was exercise in the rain, and then shopping in pouring rain. Our morning run took us to the river where we set up the TRX workout station. We were definitely the freak shows on the riverfront. Below is a shot of some of the cool graffiti we saw.

That's me setting up the strap system. We did a half hour workout in this location and had the place to ourselves.

That's the radio/TV tower of Riga in the background. It can be seen from all over the town. It was an important standoff place with the Soviets in 1989.

Our running tour brought us back through the center of town. This is the Freedom Monument, and this morning there were ceremonial guards marching back and forth. There was a third guard you can not see that yells at tourists if they mess with them.

 

After our run, we showered and headed out in the rain to the market. We wanted to check out the central market, which is made from 5 old Zeppelin hangars. It was pouring down rain, so I did not get pics. Sorry. Our walking tour guide told us to try the small yellow mushroom that are grown locally. We just cooked them up in a pan with some oil, salt, and pepper. They were rather mild in flavor, but were quite tasty. We also got some of the local Latvian cheese that is made during this time of year for Midsummer festivities. It is not strong tasting, and has carroway seeds in it, making it taste like rye bread. It's a definite change from the Camambert we had in Vilinus! That stuff stunk up the whole hostel and made us enemies. And, to top it off, we got a kilo of the local cherries. Yum yum!

 

We were accompanied on our market tour by Jerome and Vic. Jerome, we met in Vilinus on our first day there, and Vic is a buddy of his that teaches English in Riga. Super cool people to hang with.

Obviously, the evening was spent watching World Cup in the hostel. The Mexico vs Netherlands game was entertaining. Tomorrow the plan is to go to the Riga Aviation Museum. Depending on your interests, it will probably be either a completely engrossing post, or the most boring of the summer. We'll see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Riga, The German Searcher

I feel that this post must be without pics and have it's own entry. We were sitting out in the common room in the hostel minding our business when this German lady showed up. We heard the "ding - ding - ding" of huge hostel doorbell. Soon enough this little old lady showed up to the counter. She spoke no Latvian, no Russian, very little English, and all German. The hostel worker tried his best to communicate with her and we overheard from the next room. Obviously, she needed a room and had a reservation, but for 6 nights. Wow! Most people are in and out of here in a few days, and we thought that we were some of the longest staying guests. Then I heard it....

She is here on a research mission to find info on her father. I got out of it all that she was raised in East Germany and was separated from her father at a young age and is now in search of details of his death. She must be in her mid to upper 70's which puts her at a very young age during WW2. She was torn up emotionally and pulled out her guidebooks and translation books for help. This is a trip that she has been planning for some time, and now she is here. She was in tears talking about this and trying to ask the hostel host more questions.

I couldn't get all of the conversation, but picked up on a few things. After viewing the Occupation of Latvia museum, I have a little better perspective of what happened historically in the area. This is my summation... This place has been ravaged by the Soviets, then the Germans,and then the Soviets again. Her father could have been anyone, but one can only guess. He could have been sent out of here to Siberia in a work camp, he could have been a Jew or a non believer in the political regime and exterminated or sent to Siberia, or anything. Whatever it was, he was probably killed a long time ago, and now she is searching for more information. What compelled me to write this as a single blog post was this women's emotional reaction to the hostel employee's information and their interaction.

I saw an emmotionally scarred daughter in search of her family history. I went into the kitchen with my close to nil German skills and attempted to ask her where she was going and what her plan is. My God, she is a kind lady and tried her best with me. We went back and forth with English, German, French, and even hand signs. I attempted to show her on the map where we were and the location of the Occupation of Latvia museum. That was all cool until I mentioned Stalin and Hitler. She put her hand over her mouth and said "no, no" and started to cry a little. Obviously this is a soft spot with her, and with a few million more! "OK, I understand", I said and left it at that. I was trying to get across that this museum might help her in her fact finding mission. I did not intend to make anyone cry. Oops.

We saw her at breakfast and a few other times. She is mostly just gazing out the window, into the sky and pacing around the hostel.

This evening, she came back and did the same. I wish I had better German skills to ask her how everything went. I can tell a little bit from her body expression. Wow! I can surmise that she is trying to come to some sort of closure in her life, and this trip is something that has long been in the plans. I sure hope she was successful and can still enjoy this beautiful country.

 

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Riga, Latvia Day 2, A trip to the Baltic Sea!

I can not help but start with the pics from last evening. The sun was setting and cast a wonderful light on the orchids in the window of the hostel. I tried a few settings and liked these the best.

Today we set out to Jurmala on the Baltic Sea via train from Riga. We had a short walk from the hostel to the train station. We just had to purchase the tickets and get to the train. Sounds simple huh? Well, you have to look around for the correct ticket windows that sell the tickets to the correct destination. After some searching we took our best guess and got in line to purchase the tickets.

Our destination was the little beach stop of Majori. Back in the day it was the place for Soviet sunbathing and spa treatments. Today, it is still popular and a beautiful beach to visit. The pic below is the first sight I have ever had of the Baltic Sea. The water seemed calm and the weather was perfect.

Katherine figured out how to take a panoramic shot with her iPod. Cool huh!?!

We were surprised to see a beach football game. So, we decided to stay a bit. It was a FIFA event and some sort of championship. The players were really good and the action kept us entertained for a while. There were even cheerleaders during the half and a Russian announcer. What a nice alternative to World Cup played on grass. Beach football is something to see!

Just when we thought that beach football was awesome, we headed down a bit and found a killer game of beach volleyball. These players were skilled! We just sat back at ate some Virgina peanuts and enjoyed the weather.

A cool kind of bus stop thing that we saw on our way back to the street from the beach.

Then, we came upon this sight. A delapidated communist era block housing project right on the beach. It was all roped off and falling apart. Trees were growing out of the top and birds were flying around inside.This place was creepy!

Mmmm. Lunch on the beach watching beach football.

Gman waiting for the train back to Riga.

Here it comes.

This is the view going back to our hostel from the train station.

We got back with plenty of time for dinner which consisted of items from the market. The Brazil versus Chile game was going to be on, so we had to get the TV set up and tuned in for the great game. It turned out to be amazing. Penalty kicks for the win! A few non-football fan guys even came into the room to watch. What a great day.

 

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Riga Day 1

Today started out with another run out in the rain. We got up about 8 o'clock and hit the streets, winding and winding around. Our route took us through some cool parks in Riga and also some stop lights. No one crosses through the red light like in NYC, but waits for the walk sign. Weird.

Katherine in one of the parks with the canal running through the middle.

When we finished the run we decided to walk a loop around the hostel. This is a shot from a weird old parking area. This teller booth looks a little run down, but was not out of commission.

This is the entrance to our hostel from the busy street.

On the way to the free walking tour we stopped for some kebabs. That would be donner kebabs from a Turkish restaurant, well at least Turkish in food, the attendants were Latvian and spoke English.

The free walking tour lasted 2.5 hrs. I can never miss one of these gems in a new town. They are just too good. You get a local to show you around the city and have always felt like we needed to give a tip at the end. Awesome!

Old street named after Richard Wagner. Cool. But it got renamed during the Nazi occupation. It still stands with his name.

Katherine and our guide, Anita. She was super cool and full of knowledge.

This pic is of the markets. Hopefully, we will go through them all in the next day or two. They are old Nazi Zepplin hangers cut down to size.

Radio tower in the background.

Called Stalin's birthday cake, but actually a building for the academy of science.

Flowers in the garden during the walking tour.

Two typical Latvian women. They know how to rock it!

After the tour we went to the Occupation Museum. Latvia has been overtaken many times, especially by the Germans and the Soviets. Watch out who is trying to take your stuff.

This is a popular park for playing chess that we ran through in the rain this morning. We were here again this afternoon, and as I checked out my map, these old dudes were getting busy with some serious games of chess.

This meal was at a cafeteria style restaurant. Just get a tray, load it up and pour some beer!

After running 4 miles and a walking tour of the city, we are beat. More to come tomorrow. The plan is to hit the coast. We will have to take a short train or bus ride to get there.

 

 

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Vilnius to Riga and USA football

Today we left Vilnius and had to head north to Riga. This is just a short bus ride of less than 4 hours. We will be going to a different country though. Countries here in Europe are so close it's like going to different states in the USA. We were sad to leave for sure.

Katherine in front to the Home Made Hostel. We highly recommend.

The Lux Express was quite nice. Plenty of leg room, a restroom, and available snacks. I got caught up on some sleep and blog work on the ride, but the scenery kept me from my work at times.

This is Katherine at the Riga bus station crossing over to the market. Note the large hangars used for the different markets: meat, milk, fish, produce, etc. They are recycled Nazi Zepplin hangars cut down for enclosed shelters. Pretty cool.

We got to the hostel and put our stuff away. Then we headed out for a walk in the city before the USA versus Germany World Cup match. I was in search for the perfect place to watch such a magical event.

We heard some jazz in the town and had to take a brief break to give these guys a listen.

Then it happened. We found an Irish pub to sit down with a tv and watch the game. I saw lots of tables that had reserved signs on them. The hostess said that lots of German fans were planning to come to watch the game. This was bad news for me as I was wearing my glorious USA away jersey. The crowd was nice and knew where I was sitting for sure, especially when I had to use the restroom and walk through all of them.

The match was very entertaining, but it would have been better if the USA had won. They didn't. It ended 1-2, Germany winning. Ouch! But, my forecast was a 0-4 with a Germany win. Good for us. Now we have made it to the round of 16!

Tomorrow will be a morning run, followed by a walking tour of the city of Riga. Gotta get some rest.

 

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Vilnius, Lithuania last day

Right when we were really starting to love this place, it was time for us to prepare to leave. We did a last bit of exploring on foot and bought post card stamps. The bus tickets had to be purchased and we had to pack our bags.

That's me putting the super cool Lithuanian stamps on the cards. To get one, all you have to do is put a comment on my blog. Right now I am up to 12, but maybe more soon?

Our walk took us past the lunchtime stop on the walking tour where we met the funny man. We kept a lookout for him, but had no luck.

Late lunch was at the wild game restaurant called Lokys. I heard that they serve a beaver stew not to miss. It was quite tasty. Katherine's quail was delectable too.Yum yum.

This is the train station in Vilnius. Quite nice inside too.

This is the bus line that we took to Riga, recommended by Jack and Matilda. Super easy to buy the tickets and we even got seat assignments. I hate fighting for two seats together.

That night at the hostel four dudes came in from Denmark and Finland that were in town for a wedding. They were definitely in the partying mood and did not come back until 6 am. Good for them! We had to get up about that time to catch the train.

Lina was not there to say goodbye since she headed out for a week to Cyprus. She was excited to go somewhere that has some heat. We are cold here, and it's the summer. Winter must be brutal!

We said goodbye to Renata, who will be looking after the hostel while Lina is away, and headed off to Riga. It's always exciting showing up in a new place with new things to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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