24/07/2010

Kiev, Ukraine to Riga, Latvia

I was so glad to be rid of Kiev, couldn't even get breakfast because the hotel's VISA machine (and all those in the locality) were not working. Boyrispol airport is rundown and hectic, but has TWO Irish bars- nothing else, but TWO IRISH BARS!?!?!

Transit airport like Rome- seems to be common on the continent- why do we call it that, we are all part of the same continent- a British snobbery I guess!

Anyway, I am here now resting up in the beautiful Latvian capital of Riga- the "Paris of the North" [though it is also East] it is basically a Bavarian Disneyland, but with fewer mice or German beer. There are lots of stray cats and dogs though- everyone, they look ungroomed- maybe I should leave my comb behind for them?

The hotel Kavarella is in the Northern suburb overlooking the river Daugava- all of Eastern Europe seems to have these giant rivers: mini oceans -Tram 5 comes every 15 minutes and is 400m away, it stops at Nacionala Opera, within 10-15 minutes which is on the edge of Old Town. "Milda", Latvia's own statue of liberty- or freedom monument-stands just to the right, though I completely missed this at first.

Riga's Old Town is a place to get lost in and to lose yourself in; charming, quaint architecture, gargoyles and castle turrets, small alleyways where one stumbles across a group with a Medieval caravan playing lutes or the rock horror bar "Transilvania" (correct spelling). Also saw the "Black Magic" bar- may check this or the rock horror place out tomorrow?

Police vans are everywhere in Old Riga, but their sirens like the rest of the place are quaint and cute-so not need to be alarmed. They are strigent "drinking in public" laws which stops it getting the vibe of Prague or Amsterdam. Still seems to be a hot spot for UK stag parties, though not as "thuggish" as Amsterdam, more your middle class surfer types.

All the shops, however little have secruity guards that hassle out annoying youths, not over-crowed- Riga couldn't be any safer or more charming. Not sure that the kids were actually doing anything more than "being a little loud" and "taking too much time to choose food" though.

It is here that the Christmas Tree was invented and I am reminded by the giant one off Kalku iela in the main square (iela means street) and the many banners - it was invented 500 years ago this year. Also Sergei Eisenstein was born in this city, one wonders how he came to be so mathematical and Soviet with such a beautiful fantasy world as his birthplace- but then these were different times.

The big tourist souvenirs here seem to be amber jewellery: the diamond of the Baltic, Latvian dolls in national dress, football shirts for the national team (yes, really!) and Ruski and Latvija dolls, many of us are acquainted with the typical red and yellow Russian ones, but the Latvija ones seem to be a different shape and more beautiful. Though of course you can get the typical cheesy ones of Russian presidents or football teams.

Linguistically, Riga is a world apart from Kiev (though Russian is a second language), all the signs are written in Latvija, Ruski and English. A Indo-European language it is not Germanic, Latin, Slavak or Cyrillic in nature and is common only to Lithuanian (plagiarised shamefully from the internet Latvian guide: though now not plagiarised due to the appearance of this reference) -it is however, relatively easy to grasp:

Paldies: Thank You, Visas: Chicken (not to be confused with the machines in walls that also say Visa- they do not distribute Chicken!), Kafija: Coffee, Ludzu: Please, Teja: Tea, Siera/Siers: Cheese, mineraludens: water, Apelsinusula: OJ, Merci: Sauce/ Dressing, Ja: Yes, Ne: No.

I order my Cezare salati ar visa un parme siera in Latvian (reading off the menu and understanding!) and ask for Ne merci with a Latte, the waitress repeats the order in English yet still manages to b***** it up and give me no Latte and lots of merci! Rooster restaurant, nice piazza by St Peter's Church, accompanied by Busker signing 90s indie hits including Wonderwall, he even got the whining "today is gonna be the day..." spot on: good man!

The guidebooks and websites that rave about Riga- do not do it justic- just beautiful: the perfect city. I am trying to get a tour guide for tomorrow or Monday, have to phone a few places tomorrow and should get it sorted- hopefully- there are plenty of options. It seems it is Holocaust film night on Latvian MGM- there was a film just on with William DeFoe- very moving- must remember the title when I'm back in the UK. This film may not be about the Holocaust, but it has Meryl Streep and that guy who has been in a few US Holocaust TV series like Skokie, the Latvians are dubbing over the English so I won't know. There is a teddy bear with a bleedy eye- what the hell is this movie????- must check imdb.

It is still horrendously hot here, when I got off the plane and onto the transit bus, the bus was actually microwaving me- it felt hotter than Kiev. My i-phone tells me 29 degrees at the moment (at midnight!) and it feels "mild" in comparison to earlier.

I have always thought the custom of applauding a pilot upon landing was weird, however I have noticed a trend: the safer people feel- the less they clap. When we landed in Riga- not only was there clapping, but a standing ovation and cheers! Baltic Air food- excellent for a small price, leg room- pretty good, entertainment- outstanding- for a small price. However this comes at the cost of "impending death!". The back of plane sounded continuously like it was going to fall off and just as the descent started the plane seemed to just "fall" and turn almost on its side, the lights flickered- I think my single serving friend comment yesterday tempted fate with reference to the Narrator's (he is not Jack) plane crash dream sequence.

However, I am impressed at how far I have come in terms of my fear of flying. In 2007 when I took my first flight I dosed up on Propranalol, couldn't sleep or stand up once in the air and held the arms tightly the whole way. Now I read during take off, the plane being nothing but a little inconvenience to my reading, I can eat, stand up (1st time yesterday) and it appears I can not sleep too!

Just got a text (Latvians do not sleep)- it seems I may have a private tour guide for tomorrow, 18:00 for 3 hours by car/ foot. Means I have the day to walk around some of the museums too. Sunset seems to be around 22:00 here, sunrise- we shall see.

The view from the window as described by STA is of the Baltic cruise ships docking and the forest across the river, what they neglected to mention was the noisy industrial trainline with 24 hour cattle carts going past and the cranes in the foreground. Is that them still working now? Or is that the trains/trams??