1/7 Day 20 More Relaxing in Riga
My cell phone alarm went off at 9:30 am. I went downstairs and enjoyed a nice breakfast. I was tired and went back to sleep for a couple of hours.

RUSSIAN RESTAURANT

At 12:30 pm, I was out the door and headed to the Russian restaurant that was across from the bus stop. I was the only person in the place, which was actually kind of nice.

A far TV blared some Russian pop hits on their version of MTV. Not bad stuff, seriously. I might look for a CD at the market tomorrow.

The man handed me a menu in English which wasn’t very useful as it said “blah blah blah style chicken,” for example. I picked a soup that was more expensive than the others. Then a mid-to-high priced main dish, a surprise dish with beef…

The mystery meal consisted of a delicious cabbage soup and a main entrée of breaded beef covered with ham, mushrooms and cheese. It was served with fried potatoes, a carrot salad and a red cabbage salad. Very, very good. All of it.

It’s traditional to have vodka after a meal in Russia. (Actually, I think it’s traditional to have vodka throughout the entire day, in Russia, but that doesn’t matter.)

The waiter asked me if I wanted a 50 cl or 100 cl glad of vodka. Small, please. (Foolish me.)

Dang, the vodka was smooth. I sipped it. I ordered another and wrote some more postcards, enjoying the Russian rock. Then I had another another before paying. “Spasiba,” I said smiling and leaving him a hefty tip. Cheapest meal in Riga and perhaps the best.

RIGA

I headed into Riga using the infamous “19” bus, which I calculated arrives every 4 minutes or so. Efficient and cheap. SORTA (of Cincinnati) are you hearing this?

I walked around and stumbled into a Russian orthadox church that was breathtaking. The ornament in the church was breathtaking.

In the entranceway, was a framed picture of Jesus. People stopped and crossed their chests in front of the picture. Several even kissed the ornate golden frame.

I get the impression that these are truly people of faith. I really respect that. I have no doubt that they live a life of God and are not hypocritical, as some of the bible thumpers of the US South are.

I managed to find my favorite café (“coffee nation”) and ordered a large cappuccino, in Latvian and took a seat, enjoying true high speed access.

I kind of wandered around the town for the next couple of hours taking pictures at a slow pace. Some poses I took several times, to ensure the proper exposure and content.

On accident, I found a post office and bought some postcard stamps. As I placed the stamps on the postcards, I realized that I had too many. I did the calculations and I had more than Ls. 4.90, so I went back to the kind woman (who had deeply died blonde hair and gaping, grimy teeth.) I told her “too many” and gave them back to her. She counted my postcards and realized the mistake.

She flashed her pearly yellows at me and said “thank you,” in English.

BAD NEWS: A TRAGIC PASSING

I’m sorry to inform you of a tragic passing. It will not affect the rest of my trip and I will not fly back, but I thought I would let you know.

At approximately 6:05 pm Riga time, “little inexpensive Wal*Mat alarm clock” was run over by a tram. It was dark and I did not see the exact event, however, I did hear the “pop,” and I cringed as the tramcar passed by.

The local police are investigating the death and they believe that there may be foul play involved as “little inexpensive Wal*Mat alarm clocks” do not just appear on tram tracks.

“Little inexpensive Wal*Mat alarm clock” will surely be missed.

(By the way, when I took this picture, “little inexpensive Wal*Mat alarm clock” was blinking, for no apparent reason. He wasn’t playing with a full deck of cards.)

Before I got on to the bus, I spotted two men walk out of the restaurant/bar across the street. They were holding hands. And waving their attached arms back and forth. Brothers in arms, perhaps.

BUS RIDE AND A GOOD DEED

Tram bus “19” was very, very crowded as I got on. I made my place and hung on tight.

The very next station, a mid-twenties guy hopped on, just as the door closed. (I thought for sure his back foot would be caught in the door. I saw that happen once in France.)

He caught me looking concerned as he was drunk or perhaps drugged out. His eyes were bloodshot.

I guess I was pretty believable as a local, as he started talking to me in Russian. He was telling me about a lot of stuff. At one point he asked me a question. I nodded, not knowing what I was nodding for.

Inevitably, the bus kontoller woman approached him, asking him for the 20 sentimas (or $.40.) He didn’t have it. She got kind of mad and there were some words. He gave some excuses. She was about to throw him out.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the 20 sentimas and I gave it to the woman.

She didn’t like it very much as I was interfering with her job. She tore off a ticket and abruptly gave it to me, glaring in my direction.

The guy smiled and continued to talk and talk. I tried to focus on something else on the bus, like the interesting signs up above, in Latvian. He felt obliged to give me something, so he gave me a tiny tangerine. “spasiba,” I said, as he rambled on more.

Fortunately, he didn’t ask me too much. At one point he said something, which, made a couple of the people kind of blush/smile. God only knows what it was. Reading the group, I smiled and laughed. Remember the Chris Farley skit where he was on the Japanese Quiz show? Was kind of like that.

I think at one point, he asked me if I smoked. He had some matches, so I figured he does.

I think I hear he and another guy questioning if I “razieme” or understood what was going on. I could be wrong, there’s something similar in Polish. It didn’t matter to the guy who continued to tell me of his baggage, I assume.

Right before my stop, I pulled out my cigarettes and offered him one (you have one stick out from the rest.) He grabbed it in gratitude, asked me something as I got off the bus. Before returning to my hotel, I bought a couple of Russian beers to go, from my favorite Russian restaurant. (I tipped the guy again. I don’t tip to show off. I ship to show thanks. I hope people understand that. I probably accounted for a good percentage of his tips for the day.)
- posted by Matt @ 1:45 PM