A Rainy Day in Riga

The only thing that could have cheered me up after last week was a much needed vacation! We decided to go to Riga, Latvia for a weekend trip, since it’s only four hours away from Vilnius. We got on a bus at 7:30 on Saturday morning and arrived in Riga around noon.  Then we went and dropped our stuff off at the hostel we were staying at, which was only a couple blocks away from the bus station. It was my first time staying in a hostel, so I was a little nervous  about how it was going to turn out. However, it actually turned out to be pretty nice. The staff was very friendly and the rooms were clean and comfortable, We were put in an eight-person room, so we only had one roommate who wasn’t part of our group. It was this 34-year-old British guy.  He was pretty nice and didn’t seem creepy, which is really all you can hope for. Then we spent the rest of the day exploring the city.

Doesn't this look like Amsterdam, Mom? 

Riga is so beautiful. I don’t know if we’ve already become too accustomed to Vilnius, but it seemed  even better than Lithuania. There were definitely a lot more tourists and we heard much more English being spoken. The locals just seemed friendlier too. I don’t know why, but it was a great change of pace. The first big thing we saw was St. Peter’s Church. We didn’t pay money to go inside, but it’s really its tower that is the most famous. Then we went to Town Hall Square and saw the House of the Blackheads. It was such a cool looking building. However, then I read online that the original was bombed to the ground during World War II. What we saw was really a reconstruction built in the nineties. All well. It was still really cool.

St. Peter's Tower

The House of the Blackheads 

After that, our group broke off. Paige, Rusty, Alona, and I went the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia. Emily, Maggie, and Camee (aka The Shopping Group) went to the big market and pretty much stayed there all day. On the other hand, my group went to all the awesome historical sites. The museum was pretty small and it was mostly reading signs. But the history of it was really interesting. The Baltic States were so worn down by the Soviet Union that when Germany invaded them, they actually considered it a liberation. It’s really amazing to learn how such a small region of Europe was affected by the war.

After the museum, we went to St. Mary’s Dome Cathedral. Paige was really excited about this. She was telling us that it was the first building in art history to use a pointed arch design instead of a round arch. And the church was gorgeous, especially the little courtyard area outside. After that, we saw the Three Brothers. All that really is is a collection of three really quaint-looking houses .  They were so cute though. Afterwards, we even saw a set of figurines modeled after them in a gift shop. I wanted to buy them so badly, but I really couldn’t justify it. Paige and Rusty bought them though. I’m so jealous.

The Three Brothers 

After that, we saw the Freedom Monument and found this really pretty park. It was so nice and peaceful. The weather was perfect; a little rainy, but not too cold. We saw this cool bridge with a hundreds of locks. I know they do this a bunch of other places as well.

The Swedish Gate

The Freedom Monument

On Sunday, we went to Rundale Palace. It was basically modeled after Versailles. We had to take an hour bus ride to the city it was in, then another 20 minute bus ride to the palace. The inside of the building was all right, but it was basically what you would find in any old mansion. The gardens were magnificent though. We even saw this group of people dressed up in these eighteenth-century outfits. It turns out, they were a singing group from France that had just put on a performance. It was really fun to enjoy the nice weather and see the pretty flowers. It made me feel nostalgic for the real Versailles.

The front of the palace

The back of the palace

The French singers

Random Chinese style bathroom

And Maggie thought I needed more pictures with me in them, so she took this

When we were waiting for the bus back to the main city, this random guy offered to give us a ride. And for some crazy reason, we accepted. It was the most uncomfortable experience of my life. Seven people cannot fit inside a tiny, European car. I guess it did get us to the bus station faster. But I am never doing that again. That night, we discovered  the best restaurant ever. It’s called Wok to Walk. It’s basically a Café Rio type of place for Asian food. You pick what kind of rice or noodles you want, your meat and vegetables, then your sauce. I got egg noodles with pork and yellow curry. It was the most glorious thing I have eaten in a month.  The good news is that they have one in Vilnius! The bad news is that the restaurant chain is only in Europe. I tell you though, people would go wild for this in the U.S. It needs to come there.

We got up early again on Monday and took a bus back to Vilnius. It was such a good trip! It really rejuvenated my spirits and made me excited about being here again. There aren't many people who have the opportunity to go to Latvia, so I just tried to take it all in. I can only imagine what the week long vacation will be like now!