We made it to Riga, Latvia! Hurray! After some minor hiccups with the Russian Border control we got everything worked out and nobody got kicked off the train without much hope of continuing on with our adventure. I call it an adventure because since when is it relaxing to travel in foreign lands where they may or may not speak a language that you speak. So far we have found people that speak English and so things have been really easy. Of course there is the time that Marci and Courtney got yelled at in Latvian because they were playing around in a tree that was probably 200 years old and had moss and what not. But then we just walked away and nobody was the wiser.
When I think of Riga there are a couple things that I think of. Here they are: I think of Old Riga which is a section of the city in the middle where there are cobblestone streets and cobblestone sidewalks that are skinny like alleyways. There are also a number of open squares where either the Soviet history is prominent or the Independent history is seen or many other parts of Latvian history. There are also a lot of street musicians. Whether it is the saxophone player in the walkway under the streets or the band on the Latvian Square that makes it hard for Marta (our tourguide) to share her knowledge about Latvian history or the opera singer that is kind of close to McDonald's or the accordion player by the Freedom monument. It is kind of difficult for cars to drive on the cobblestone streets so there are bike taxis all over the place. There are young guys that ride these taxis around and offer people rides. They even play music as they drive by. Tonight I overheard Gungnam Style by PSY on one of the bike taxis.
A little bit about Latvia and about Riga that I learned from Marta on the tour that we had. There are about 700,000 people that live in Riga which is a fair proportion of the 2 million that live in all of Lativa. Riga is the center of learning, history and everything important pretty much. On many of the churches here in Riga there are roosters. These roosters are good luck for Riga. Supposedly each morning when a rooster crows all of the bad omens and demons are dispearsed and this leaves all the good spirits in Riga. Another animal that is seen on top of at least one building in Old Riga is a cat. There was a fight between guilds many many years ago. A very rich person then bought another building on Old Riga and put a cat on top of his building. But to offend the people of the guilds he put the cat's butt to them. Outraged, the guilds forced the other guy to rotate the cat. Resolution? The cat was turned.
An important monument, if not the most important monument to a Lativan, is the Freedom Monument at the top of Old Riga. Latvia was an independent nation in the early 20th century. The Soviet Union overtoke Latvia pre-WWII. During WWII, Latvia was controlled by Nazi Germany. Post WWII, Latvia was then controled again by the Soviet Union. The Freedom Monument was erected during the first indepence and was not torn down while under Soviet or Nazi occupation. During Soviet times the three stars respresent the three Baltic States in the arms of a Soviet woman. But now signifies Fatherland and Freedom, at least that is what the inscription "TĒVZEMEI UN BRĪVĪBAI" which is on the front of the monument means.
Last thing to talk about is the hostel. This hostel was awesome! The workers at the hostel were all very helpful and they spoke English which helps things a lot. Not to mention they are all very good looking. The hostile was also very well placed. It is in Old Riga which is where a lot of the really cool stuff is. Another plus is that there is breakfast every morning from 7-10am. That means that there is cereal with milk, bread for toast with butter and jam, tea and coffee. That is very nice. The one drawback has been the other poeple in the room with us. Last night they came in at like 3am, drunk and were trying to find some stuff. They made a lot of noise but that was the only interruption. I have high hopes for tonight. Speaking of sleep now is a good time for me to actually go to sleep.
When I think of Riga there are a couple things that I think of. Here they are: I think of Old Riga which is a section of the city in the middle where there are cobblestone streets and cobblestone sidewalks that are skinny like alleyways. There are also a number of open squares where either the Soviet history is prominent or the Independent history is seen or many other parts of Latvian history. There are also a lot of street musicians. Whether it is the saxophone player in the walkway under the streets or the band on the Latvian Square that makes it hard for Marta (our tourguide) to share her knowledge about Latvian history or the opera singer that is kind of close to McDonald's or the accordion player by the Freedom monument. It is kind of difficult for cars to drive on the cobblestone streets so there are bike taxis all over the place. There are young guys that ride these taxis around and offer people rides. They even play music as they drive by. Tonight I overheard Gungnam Style by PSY on one of the bike taxis.
A little bit about Latvia and about Riga that I learned from Marta on the tour that we had. There are about 700,000 people that live in Riga which is a fair proportion of the 2 million that live in all of Lativa. Riga is the center of learning, history and everything important pretty much. On many of the churches here in Riga there are roosters. These roosters are good luck for Riga. Supposedly each morning when a rooster crows all of the bad omens and demons are dispearsed and this leaves all the good spirits in Riga. Another animal that is seen on top of at least one building in Old Riga is a cat. There was a fight between guilds many many years ago. A very rich person then bought another building on Old Riga and put a cat on top of his building. But to offend the people of the guilds he put the cat's butt to them. Outraged, the guilds forced the other guy to rotate the cat. Resolution? The cat was turned.
An important monument, if not the most important monument to a Lativan, is the Freedom Monument at the top of Old Riga. Latvia was an independent nation in the early 20th century. The Soviet Union overtoke Latvia pre-WWII. During WWII, Latvia was controlled by Nazi Germany. Post WWII, Latvia was then controled again by the Soviet Union. The Freedom Monument was erected during the first indepence and was not torn down while under Soviet or Nazi occupation. During Soviet times the three stars respresent the three Baltic States in the arms of a Soviet woman. But now signifies Fatherland and Freedom, at least that is what the inscription "TĒVZEMEI UN BRĪVĪBAI" which is on the front of the monument means.
Last thing to talk about is the hostel. This hostel was awesome! The workers at the hostel were all very helpful and they spoke English which helps things a lot. Not to mention they are all very good looking. The hostile was also very well placed. It is in Old Riga which is where a lot of the really cool stuff is. Another plus is that there is breakfast every morning from 7-10am. That means that there is cereal with milk, bread for toast with butter and jam, tea and coffee. That is very nice. The one drawback has been the other poeple in the room with us. Last night they came in at like 3am, drunk and were trying to find some stuff. They made a lot of noise but that was the only interruption. I have high hopes for tonight. Speaking of sleep now is a good time for me to actually go to sleep.
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