The bus ride was amusing. A bunch of guys were trying their best to make a 4 hour bus ride into a party….at 9am….with a rather militant bus conductor. After a bit these guys gave up and sat with these hilarious hangdog expression.

I watched 2 movies; one good, one awful. I’ve already forgotten what they were.

This hostel’s a little shaky, but in an excellent location. Five minutes to the top of old town.

I was lucky enough to get in on an English tour of the main Roman Catholic cathedral. The crypt was neat.

As is usual for the Baltic states, the history only goes back until about 1300, when the pagans were conquered, this time by the Poles. So everyone’s Catholic, and the snacks are different. But still similar to Latvia and Estonia.

Tomorrow is my last day sightseeing. I believe I’ll end my day with some champagne. 

On Monday I start for home, and whatever awaits me there.

❤❤❤❤

I had such great plans….and then the day started happening.

All I really did was walk around a lot, take the free tour, and see a movie. It was a good movie, by the way.

I missed seeing some of Riga, but let’s just say I’ll catch it next time?

Bus to Vilnius on Saturday.

Here’s why Riga is awesome…

• My hostel is a 5 minute walk from the bus station
• Lots of thrift shops
• Art nouveau buildings everywhere 
• Folks are almost friendly
• Free tea and coffee at my hostel
• Cheap washing machines (you’re welcome, airplane seat mates)

I found just what I needed here; a night in doing laundry and drinking tea.

Sightseeing-related, I found the greatest bunch of shops with actual handmade items. Not like that Chinese crap I found in Russia. Lots of cool wooden toys and felted wool.

Also had time to see a few local highlights. The most important was the museum of the local KGB headquarters for Riga/Latvia. Not particularly a pleasant topic, but it’s important to see actual historic sites before they’re whitewashed. The Soviet occupation is still very fresh in everyones mind for sure.

Tomorrow is my only whole day here so I hope to achieve a lot.

Good night!

Very nice, indeed.

Okay, what a great little city. Good metro service (trams), enough parks, free city Wi-Fi.

The major art museum was a good deal, there’s a lot to see. My favorite was a temporary exhibit of mostly drawings and etchings of the seedier side of life: sex, drugs, STD’s, alcohol, death…you get the picture. Very dark and depressing.

I pretty much ran out of must-do’s, so I just wandered around the biggest park all afternoon. There’s a beginner Japanese garden; I’d love to come back in 10 years and see how it develops.

My evening was spent talking to a gal from Slovakia. She’d just spent a year living on the isle of Wight and had all sorts of terrible things to say about it lol. Also she had lots to say about the refugee issue in the newest eurozone countries, and their quotas as well. Very insightful.

Now I’m at the bus station waiting for the bus for Riga. It should take 4.5 hours. We’ll see…. (ominous rumbling)

Have a great day, everybody!