What a lovely day I've had today.

I started off by going out for an early morning walk to retrace the steps of the orientation tour of Riga. I walked up the street from the hotel, stopping to have a proper look at the Russian Orthodox church and noticing fleeting patches of snow on the ground, melting into the contrasting green grass. I passed the Freedom Monument and the Opera theatre where Mikhail Baryshnikov made his debut.

I entered the old town and walked to the House of the Blackheads, which was an old guild of unmarried merchants. It is the most beautiful building in all of Riga. It is built of lovely red bricks and has lovely wrought iron work on the top of it.

I walked to the church of Our lady of Suffering and through to the Radio building where Latvia's Independence was proclaimed. I sat in the square for a while, there was a man playing a flute and I was all alone with no one else around in this wonderful little place, sitting in the sun.

My last stop was the so called Cat's House, across the road from the guild head quarters it has two statues of cats on the top. This one is my favourite building in Riga. Its so cute. Once upon a time the owner of the house was expelled from the guild across the street, so he turned the cats to face with their bottoms facing the guild. He only turned the cats back around when a court ordered that he be let back into the guild.

I then went back to the hotel to do some printing across the street, and then went up the street and sat in a coffee shop to use the WiFi and do some research and other bits online.

I then went back out again and did a couple more laps of the town, just to make sure it had all really sunk in. It was really nice just walking around and listening to my music, I got back to the hotel at about 6:30pm and was thoroughly exhausted from my lovely day.