I think I have been spoilt by Tallinn and the hostel I stayed in there, as I just dont like Riga as much. It is beautiful but it just feels a bit big and spread out. The hostel I am staying in is nice, but nowhere near as friendly as the one in Tallinn plus the common areas are always full of old local men which is a bit off putting. It only costs around £9 a night but there doesnt seem to be many travellers here. Its very strange as its mainly locals who stay. A couple of times, local women have checked in at odd times for just like 12 hours and basically just slept the whole time! Its a bit weird!

Yesterday, I just went back to the old town and had a few drinks and an early night. I have been watching series 2 of making a murderer on Netflix but I cant seem to get into it as much as the first series, and the episodes are too long so I keep falling asleep!

Today I went for a wander around the art noveau area which has some lovely buildings. The architecture here is really pretty. Its still really snowy and its lovely wandering around looking up at the old buildings and just taking it all in!

I then walked through the big park, which is meant to be really good in summer but it looked so pretty in the snow too!

After walking around for a few hours, I stopped for a beer in a belgian bar and had a cherry beer - nice change from the guinness!

I was pretty hungry so used google maps to find somewhere nearby and saw a place called street fries that did some veggie bits. I had Shakshuka which is basically baked eggs in a spicy tomato sauce, with feta. It was amazing!

I headed back to the hostel and spent an hour chatting to my new dorm mates - two guys from France (shout out to Nial and Guillame!!) who arrived the night before and were here until the next day. They were then heading to Vilinius which is where I will be going on Monday!

I had a nice hot shower (I have been really impressed by the showers in the hostels so far) and headed back out about 9pm and walked into the old town passing a frozen river on my way - its that cold!

Went to a couple of bars and facetimed home for a couple of hours then ended up back in Kiwi bar, which is where I was the other night. It was quite quiet to say its Thursday night so I wasnt going to stay out but then the two French guys came in! Next thing we were doing shots of Jager! ha ha I am easily pursauded!

We sat chatting for ages, they speak great english! We are so lucky that everyone communicates in English, it makes everything so easier and means I can chat to almost anyone!

The snow was really coming down again and before I knew it, it was 5am and the bar was closing! We started our way back to the hostel but then found a karaoke bar that was still open so had a couple of drinks in there! I didnt get up to sing! No one needs to hear that!

We then wandered back to the hostel but got distracted again by a casino/sports bar - there are loads of them around the city and they are open 24 hours. They look a bit seedy from the outside but we went in anyway! It wasnt that bad inside actually, we had a beer and ordered breakfast - it was 8am!!

We eventually got back to the hostel about 9ish and I jumped straight into bed. Then I realised the french guys were packing their bags - their bus to Vilnius was at 10.30!!!! WTF?? Crazy cats! I said au revoir and curled up in bed, not envious of there 4 hour bus journey at all!!

Another good day and night, with ace people!