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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