Jurnieks Riga

... pretty
unexciting. It was this massive "pick your own" weighted plate deal.
All labels were in Latvian and we had no idea what we were eating, they
have some strange looking food. (so do we I guess.. Cheetos?) One of
their staples is a traditional black bread which I tried, turned out to
taste like mild rye. :( I did in fact have some excellent cheese
though. I put a little bit of everything questionable
(non-meat-looking) on my plate and it was.. ok. I can't ...

... on the ferry crossing from Finland, David cashed 20 Euro into Eeks (so we'd have money for a taxi). He took 1 20 Euro note and came back with a handfull of notes - 296! He gave me about half & I'd have felt wealthy except I knew how little he'd cashed to get them. Eeks subdivide into cents. In Latvia, by contrast, their currency is Lats, and there is 2.5 Australian dollars to the Lat. Petrol is more expensive than in Estonia too. Anyway back to Viljandi. The castle, as I ...

... get a proper translation of the certificate which is something I will be really happy to have. I have added the copy of the certificate to this blog. If you are a reading this and are a Russian speaker, please feel free to translate or add some comments on the certificate. Then, to make our day, and visit, Ilya phoned a local tour guide, Lena, who was actually available to take us around on a tour for the afternoon. What a stroke of luck! We met Lena at ...

Aamulla oli Amnestyn ja paikallisen HLBT organisaation Mozaikan tapaaminen. Oli kiinnostavaa nahda Mozaikan ihmisia ja kuulla heidan mielipiteensa Pride marssin onnistumisesta. Mozaikan ihmiset toivovat edelleen myos ulkomailta tukijoita. Seuraavana vuonna jarjestetaan myos Baltic Pride. Toivottavasti Suomestakin on paljon osallistujia. :) Tapahtumassa puhuttiin tietysti muustakin toiminnasta ...

... hydrocarbons of an airplane. Though, because I'm meeting a friend in Vienna, I must fly rather than take a bus or train, which would be preferable. In any case, I'm delighted to cross the Baltic via Sweden's gorgeous tree lined waters, with lovely homes and rock strewn shores. Reminds me a lot of coastal New England. I hope to be back here again, to explore more of this fabled land of Vikings and trolls.

... for more drinks. I don't think I was protesting too much though. Every night at 12:30 one of the guys takes everyone out to some clubs. I wimpily used this as my chance to duck out and go to bed so I wouldn't sleep away the next day. I should add that in the morning I also went to St. Peters church. I looked through the "Spring" Sculpture display the had then took the lift to the top for a view of Riga. So before the guns, beer and poker, I at least started off in a church :)

... similar in Scandinavia. Ukrainian guy took off to nearby Cesis, another typical village in the national park with medieval castle remains etc. We had thought about doing Sigulda and Cesis in one day but turns out we were pushed for time having missed that earlier bus but it could be done. And that was that. Not really a Switzerland after all. But then maybe that's what Switzerland looks like on a cold dreary and windy day when there is very little green about?

Well the truely crazy Latvian experience has continued. Chris and I travelled for 3 hours each way yesterday to Liepaja to sleep the night in an ex-soviet prison. We were the only two people in this place where from 1905 until 1997 people were interogated by the KGB. Pretty scary place. Sleeping on wooden beds as the prisoners did in a cold, dusty, dark jail cell was an experience compared with the norm hostel and beers situation. Unfortunately there was not an ...

Approaching Riga International Airport on a dark February evening, I noticed the snow outside for the first time. It was blowing past the wing in ferocious streaks of white. I turned to Jodie, wondering whether to tell her. After all, it had taken some ********vincing to get her to go to Latvia. I recalled our conversation on the subject. "Come on," I'd said. "It'll be an experience if nothing else." "Really?" she answered. "So convince me to go to a place I've never even heard ...

... ou trone un temple taoiste que je ne vous decrirai pas : l'altitude n'est que de 1600m, mais cette fois je me suis arrete essouffle a 1500, avec juste l'envie de savourer le paysage. L'element determinant de cet echec fut sans doute de se taper une quatrieme fois sous la pluie une quatrieme montagne sacree taoiste. Un peu marre finalement, rien de m'oblige a passer ma vie a faire des randos sous la pluie... Sitot arrive a Pekin neanmoins, j'ai repris une serie de quatre randos ...