Around Riga

Trip Start Sep 05, 2008

Trip End Jan 01, 2009

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Where I stayed

Dodo Hotel Riga

(Riga hotels)

Flag of Latvia Riga, Latvia
Saturday, December 6, 2008

I have a confession to make. I have been eating at McDonald's. It is the cheapest place I can find to get a filling meal here and they have free wifi so I can check my email on my iPod while wolfing down McNuggets. I only admit this now though because the first two times I went in I couldn't find the ketchup or mayonnaise. Finally the last time I went I asked at the counter. They actually charge you for it! And the ketchup is 25 cents more than the mayonnaise. I went with the mayonnaise. Also, they don't call it mayonnaise they call it sour cream, but it is most definitely not sour cream, thankfully. Seems very strange paying for condiments at McDonald's though. I guess it is to recover from the expense of giving free wifi.

Yesterday was raining quite a bit. It seemed warmer to me though so I went out with my camera and went into some churches. For some reason they don't have the towers open - at least not in the ones I tried - and I think they are really missing out on a money maker there

Dome Church

. I paid 2 lats to go in the Dome Cathedral which I saw had a huge tower and seemed worth the price. But I got in and looked around and then tried to find the tower stairs and couldn't. When I asked they told me it is out of bounds. Very disappointing. The view from the top must be breathtaking. But I will never know for sure.

Once my jeans were well soaked I decided to go into the mall to find some new jeans. One pair isn't going to be enough and the shorts in my backpack are probably going to stay in there for a very long time. But I couldn't find any cheap suitable jeans. The women here tend to wear skinny jeans with really high obnoxious boots. I don't have high obnoxious boots with me and didn't think skinny jeans would look so great with my Pumas. There is definitely a common fashion going on here though. Women tend to wear their skinny jeans and boots with sometimes beautiful and sometimes frightening 3/4 length coats, and usually with a beret on their heads. They all also seem to be bottled blonds with penciled in eyebrows. They eyebrows have been a big concern for me because mine are a mess right now and I was hoping to get them waxed when I got here. But then I noticed how the women here don't seem to have any eyebrow and I decided against the waxing. Instead I bought some tweezers and cleaned myself up. It seemed the safer way to go and it is definitely an improvement over my bushy brows

Christmas time at Dome Church

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I spent enough time in the mall to get sufficiently dry before venturing out into Old Town again. I decided to try this local chain Double Coffee for dinner. It is pretty swank but I got a ham and cheese crepe to go. I think this was a bad idea. It is one of those things that should be eaten right away. When I got back to my room it was ham and cheese and grease. Live and learn.

Today I am flying to Poland which is slightly warmer than Latvia. I have been wanting to see Warsaw for awhile now so I am looking forward to it and trying not to think about what I would be seeing in the Red Sea right now.