Two days and nights in Riga

Long days and short nights...
And I will have to tell you about them later. That much so far: new friends, nice people, and a wonderful city, world heritage!
Ok then, here it goes:
Friday, July 28, 2006
Friday morning I packed and said good bye to Winnie. In chat I met Theriel who will be in Riga on sunday. We might meet. Lari is in Riga then, as well, so if we're lucky we can all enjoy some stroll around the old town, and a beer or two.
Under the balls I met Maikel, shared the costs for our travels, and talked him into coming with me to the ferry to meet Pulina and the others. He lend me a helping hand with my luggage. I really should learn to travel light!
Pulina, Sami, Stella and Anni were already waiting. We hugged Maikel good bye, and took the ferry to Tallinn. Here a car was parked for us. We hoped to make it to Riga and the Painting Party in time for the fun.
First thing, we did some sightseeing in Tallinn - we hadn't meant to do it, but we got lost rather easily all thru theses days. ;-)
Somewhere on the long journey we got some beer and snacks in an Estonian supermarket, open until 11 pm every day. No need to do so, it turned out that quite a few shops in Riga are open 24/7. And cheap as well! Incredible...
Saturday, July 29, 2006
We made it to Riga around 1 am. Antra met us close to her place and led us the way to the party. We agreed to meet again in the morning. The wall painting had turned to body painting, and the first guest we met in this beautiful old, but rather shattered building was Lari, painted a nice Jack Sparrow.
Dovi was there, Evecooper, and quite a few others I knew from Berlin Beach Camp. Pulina met one of her best friends from Venezuela - she had lived in Caracas with Helge for a long time, and was so happy to see Rohiman again.
Body painting was good fun, especially to the painters, not as much to the painted. My colour was pink, and it didn't rubb off easily, and it doesn't go well with red hair either. Sigh...
The merrily drunk and painted crowd wanted to enjoy Riga nightlife, and went off to a bar. We finns didn't, so left to look for a nice sleeping place close by Jurmala beach.
We should have stayed - the party continued all the weekend.
Instead we got lost like for three hours, and when I finally took over and suggested a break and rethink on our plans, everybody was too exhausted to do any more driving, and we stayed at a patrol station for coffee, and Sami, the driver, fell asleep at once.
At 7:30 h we left my bags at Antra's place and went downtown Riga for breakfast. Two more coffees later, we strolled through the old town, not getting lost once. Well, I had my maps and chose my ways. ;-)
On the main street I discovered the "Pelmeni", a restaurant-like place serving cheap soups and - you guessed it - pelmenis. My lunch was 1,12 lat, which is less than 2 euros, and it included six varieties of pelmenis, juice and coffee (again). But Riga is expensice compared to the other latvian towns, we were told later.
We met Petteri from Helsinki, who's staying in Riga ever so often, it's like a second home to him. Together we decided on today's plans, and went to the beach. We actually found it quite easily, this time! Later we met Rohiman and Ieva, who agreed to host me. Antra's place had been a bit small and a bit crowded, and I preferred Ieva's couch to the kitchenbench at Antra's.
Ieva showed us around Jurmala, a favourite summer holiday resort since last century, and the posh villas owned by rich Russians. Majori, the fun center, is crowded with holiday people, enjoying the 40 km sand beaches and restaurants. Life music everywhere. Ohh, don't we prefer silent wild beaches!
We found a nice place for our finns to sleep, and I took the train with my new found hosts back to Riga. We had a lot to talk about, Ieva having worked for the Latvian Red Cross and organized international meetings.
Nice, cozy coach, nice deep sleep - ahhhhhhh
Sunday, July 30, 2006
I missed my toothbrush! I should travel light, and always take my one and only backpack with me!
Otherwise I woke up refreshed and ready to go with Rohiman to meet my fff (favourite finnish friends) at our breakfast place "Cili Pica" right between the university and the german embassy
But first I took the bus to Antra's, got some nice coffee, my bags, toothbrush included, and a ride back to Ieva's.
After breakfast Pulina left to meet another hc-member and friend from Venezuela, our lovers Sami and Stella were locked like siamese twins and prefered to walk on their own, and Anni and I had great fun enjoying houses and narrow streets and monuments and museums. She will come back for sure to stay a bit longer, and I will just stay. Aren't I always the lucky one? ;-)
Early in the afternoon we hugged each other good bye, promised to meet again as soon as possible (definitely in chat), and I enjoyed walking around some more in Riga old town. A nice rain cleaned the air, colours and houses looked even more beautiful than before, and the sweet stray cats running around everywhere added to the picture.
If only the cheap air companies wouldn't go to Riga! English and german in all the pubs and open air restaurants. What about latvian?
Back to Ieva and a nice chat on mutual adventures when working on international meetings, and I called it a day.
More fun tomorrow: Lari and Theriel will be in Riga!!!!!!!!! Yeahhhhhhhhh!!!