Elefant Hotel Riga

I don't know where the hell I am.. I feel like Riga is this awesome mix
where Bolivia meets Prague! I think I'm going to spend another day or
two... I'm sort of falling in love with this city.

The
Norwegians and I went out for breakfast in the Old City. The restaurant
was completely rustic-ed out. They had freakin stuffed ducks hanging
right above the salad bar. Good thing there was a shield above the
buffet! My first experience with Latvian food.. what I had ...

... is very different from the other Northern European cities we have visited. There is a lot of beautiful old buildings and statues which are in good need of repair. The Soviet style statues are in contrast well maintained and typcally are situated within the large open squares. Dave and I are heading for a walk around while we have a chance. Tomorrow we head to St.Petersburg... not many drives left on this trip.... sadly... Some ...

... the entrance gate I saw a bunch of parents and children, as well as two or three ponies docilely standing around, waiting for some mother or father to decide to give his kid fifteen minutes of the Wild West and cowboy life. As that was not why I was visiting zoos, I passed the whole thing by, bought my ticket and got in. What to say about the Rīga zoo? In many ways, or maybe in almost every way, it was just another zoo, like almost any other you can visit in Europe. On ...

... geezer did have some Scottish blood in his veins, but only as a descendant pretty far down the line from the guy who had once upon a time arrived and settled in what is today Latvia. His chief achievement was playing a major part on the Russian side as a Field Marshal and Minister of War in the defeat of certain Corsican plunderer who was passing through almost two hundred years ago. Right across the street from the Esplanāde there was the Kronvalda parks, another green surface ...

... golf buggy that you pedal yourself. Great fun was had as we weaved in and out of the traffic and pedestrians,waving at the locals as they dove for cover from Nat's steering!!!! A well earned ice-cream later and we took a stroll along the magnificent beach, and dipped our toes in the Baltic Sea to cool off. We did stop short of the full swim unlike some, just like Scotland it was the young kids and OAPs that ...

... nothing seems to be old - the buildings have all been done up, the drainage etc. What this means is that like Uzbekistan it looks very 'fake' and not really lived in. I guess thats obvious when one walks around as every store is either a coffee shop, a bar or a strip show. This bar culture stems from the start of cheap flights to Riga from other parts of Europe - mainly Briton and on the day we were there (Saturday) we got to see many ...

... the books in each room. It was still cool to walk around and see all the newspaper clippings, traditinal costumes, silver, artwork, stones, tools, and so on. There was a room upstairs that had a display of about 30 photographs from around the world that were amazing. So cool. After that I headed back to the hostel for a shower. Met up with Cass, packed our bags, went out to find some food, and then came back to the bar and finised our night as we ...

... 16th, blown up in the 17th and rebuilt twice in the 18th, renovated in the 19th etc, but the foundations are 14th. . . . . . . " We have had a fantastic day just slowly meandering through the streets, and ended up at a lovely outdoor cafe for beers, that turned into dinner, that turned into a bottle of wine, that turned into Justin carrying me home! Had a great day! Love Riga!

... we spent such a short time in the city and most of what we did is, as always, fully covered in the attached pictures. But if I was to summarise Riga it would go something like this; arrived from Tallinn and quickly got accommodation in the beautiful Old Town Hostel (7 lats a night), hit the streets with our cameras (what did you expect us to do?) for some night time exploring, had a few beers in the hostel that evening, woke early the next day to purchase ...

... excited at being there, their behaviour drawing wry smiles from some of the tourists who were trying to get that perfect holiday snap. I really like Riga, it is about the size of city I like. There is obviously a lot more to it than meets the eye as well. The Russian population of Riga outnumbers the Latvian population and the guide book says everyone lives in harmony. However I have heard from some sources that there are a few problems, such as ethnic ...