Concordia Jurmala

... Another brilliant moment. (I hope people adjusted for the millions ways that things can go wrong and when things actually go smoothly it is typically the result of luck, or things actually being planned well. I definitely have my moments but am not really that big of an eff up. usually.) Fortunately I had left an hr and a half to get there, so I was still 30 min early. I loaded up on Latvian trail mix and boarded the boat. Holy ****, this ...

... carb nature of many of the meals is balancing the missed meals, small portions and exercise. Maybe I will weigh myself on the baggage scale on my next flight J

The bars are dead. I went to a few of the "hot" bars around 11 PM. Not more than a couple people in any of them. It is the middle of the week but there must be something else going on. I was going to go on a hostel pub crawl but they canceled because of a lack of people. Perhaps it is cafes or ...

... sent our invitation, documentation of our flights to and from Europe and our Passports to the Russian consulate in Sydney and about 2 weeks latter (not including the days off over Christmas and New Years) the passports reappeared in the mailbox, visa enclosed. When we got to Russia we both got through customs in a matter of moments - we spent more time waiting in queues, and as I have just described, on the way out our suitcases were sighted briefly and our passports stamped ...

... look like they are going to break at any second. I wish I could correctly explain these trains. I have never seen so much disparity is one town/country ever before. The terrible ride was completely worth it. The beaches were beautiful. On one part we found a trampoline like structure which Paige and I decided to play on. I felt like a 5 year old, it was wonderful. I little local girl was playing on the trampoline when we were there. She was sooo adorable and excited to ...

... eight people that I knew from around Europe. It was a bit surreal because no one had organised to meet there, but we all just happened to rendezvous together. There were the crazy Dutch guys from Kloeden camp, the weird American guys, the Aussies and the Latvian from last year. We were drinking for an hour and then I decided that I should walk to my hosts house. Before I arrived in Riga, my host had told me his address and I had it written down and ready to go ...

... boom as well well as an influx of Russian mafia money. There is a real risk in this part of town of colliding with a fellow tourist who like oneself is transfixed by the sculptural adornments on these buildings and not looking where they are walking. Intermingled with these building are also examples of the shorter two story wooden buildings that they replaced, these too are now protected by UNESCO status. With the weather so good I ...

... is a city that has many memories of the past, and a new generation that is trying to forget them. The economy is booming, with the Latvian currency almost being on par with the British pound, so it's not cheap but definitely worth a visit. Although we found Riga a safe and welcoming city, we didn't go out partying at night. If you are going to then there are many words of warning. There is a large semi underground mob scene in Riga, which is partly ...

... you don't know what price they've just rattled off in Latvian. It's a nice feeling to know that people are honest with you. Really glad I decided to head up here and check the place out though I wish I had a month at least to wander all over Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and get an even better sense of the Baltics. One final note as well, despite being told that Eastern European girls are gorgeous, and never really seeing that while traveling through Slovenia, Poland, Czech, and ...

... della notte. Di dormire non sene e' parlato. Anche Riga e'una citta' modello, stile baltico/tedesco, super pulita, in ordine tutta perfetta. Anche qui le similarita'con Belgio e Olanda sono notevoli, al punto che la voglia di tornare a casa si e' fatta sempre piu' forte... Basta treno, stavolta abbiamo optato per l'aereo... Questa mi sa che e' la conclusione della nostra Grande Fuga. Non vediamo l'ora di rivedervi tutti!

... club in the Baltics...a 2000 person club! It was something you would see in the movies...with girls dancing on poles and cages for people to dance in, different rooms for different music and lots and lots of Russians (Riga is about half russian and half latvian). PLUS we got in for free with the hostel where normally you would have to pay $30CDN to get it. This place was absolutely amazing, I have never seen anything like it. The next day was not a very nice day with ...