Tomo Riga

... snot from dripping down my face because
I definitely wasn't going to breath!! It seems that the Latvians have
figured out how to sell more animal body parts than I thought existed.

The
cheese room was equally amusing. Thorstein had told me to go to see the
"circular" women selling and eating their cheese. They had observed
that the sellers often exuded attributes of what they were selling. It
was quite the sight, these older,short, round women standing behind ...

Riga made for a nice stop in the Baltics. The old area has lots of cobbled streets, and 3 big green-copper churchs. It also has a museum covering the occupation of Latvia, that we stopped into to learn how the area has been occupied from all sides. Lastly, we checked out some of the Art Nouveau buildings on ...

... the cab and noticed it was after 7am. My alarm was still on Ghana time. We got to the airport about 40 minutes before my plane left but they wouldn't let me check in. Katherine knows how it goes. I was too much in shock to bring out the tears. I went over to the Air Baltic desk to see if they would change my flight. They would and it wasn't even that expensive but their next flight to Hurghada was December 6th. Unfortunately my dive boat leaves its dock for the ...

... mushrooms etc on top. He said that his Mum would be amused because as a child he always grizzled about having to have chokos sometimes. I opted for the same meatball but with something that turned out to be barley & ?? It was OK, but not as nice as the barley we had recently with hazelnuts in it. We each chose a small sweet something, without really knowing what it was. Mine turned out to be a sort of coconut & orange biscuit - very nice. David's pastry had some cheese ...

... people were taking blood from the children to send to help the German soldiers injured on the front line! Finally we walked through the Russian memorial which has photos of what this concentration camp actually looked like. The memorial took us up stairs to the top of the wall to be able to look over the entire area. It is so sad that a place of such beauty was used as a place of such horror and brutality. Our last place we visited was the Rumbula ...

... etta niin venalaiset kuin latvialaisetkin nationalistit, jotka yleensa vihaavat toisiaan, pystyvat tassa asiassa yhdistamaan voimansa ja vihaamaan yhdessa meita... Turvajarjestelyt oli tehty sikali hyvin, etta mitaan konflikteja ei syntynyt. Marssin vastustajat huutelivat herjauksiaan satojen metrien paasta, eivatka paasseet marssialueelle. Kukaan muu ei kuitenkaan myoskaan nahnyt marssia kuin poliisit ja sen vastustajat... Lehdistoa tosin oli ...

... in the hotel room! How ace is that?! Sorry this is a little rushed. The internet cafe I'm in is shutting in 1 minute and i want to finish. More will follow soon on our escapades in St Petersburg!! So much love, Iain.Xx-x x x Sarah's message in a (Balsam) bottle: Balsam is dangerous, Ladas are filthy and don't walk around Russia in flip flops nuless you want people to look at you like you are wearing flippers. (love you lots with extra aed bonus sunshine)

... Very beautiful, but in my opinion not really comparable to Tallinn. For the evening I met Kristine, the Latvian girl from HC that is crazy about Rio and wanted me to bring her some postcards and Jorgen, the Norwegian guy from the meeting, joined us as we met him by chance on the street. I really enjoyed my stay in Latvia, mostly for the people, but the little I've seen of the land is very nice too. On to Vilnius (photos at a later time).

... market. In fact, later we found out it was one of four old Zeppelin Hangars from World War I, converted into markets in the 1930's. It was huge. Inside the market we were met with an unusual sight - never ending stalls selling every kind of meat imaginable. Sausages seemed to be the main item on offer, but other things were on display too. Huge shanks of meat, small cuts of steak and even red-tinged, white strips of something resembling lard were being sold by rotund ...

... Ekaterinburg Bref, de quoi faire des gueuletons de folie pendant les 3 jours de train jusqu'a l'etape suivante. Nous ne sommes que tous les trois dans le compartiment, bientot rejoints par Amanda (canadienne rencontree entre Beijing et Ulaan Bator) qui fonce direct vers Moscou. Amanda voyage avec trois russes, dont l'un la demande en mariage alors qu'un autre fonce a pas force vers le coma ethylique (mais ne serait-ce pas la meme chose au fond ?) et que le dernier, tout ...