Sveiki, Hello in Latvian, from Riga!

I am currently sat in a small side street medieval restaurant about to enjoy a Cesar Salad and Chicken Wings :)

This morning I woke up at 6am and had a quick shower before getting a taxi with my stuff to the bus station. I then boarded the best bus I have ever been on. As I'm on holiday I had paid €5 extra to be in first class at the back of the bus and it was well worth it! I had my own huge reclining chair, own tablet with Internet, free wifi, plug socket, water and a breakfast bar! :) The bus left Tallinn at 7am and for the first hour or so I caught up with news, local and BWFC, on the Internet. I then had a nap before looking at flights to come home from Dubai at Easter and a load of other things on my to do list. After about 2 hours we arrived at the Latvian Border, I was all set with my camera to get a picture of the sign but bloody missed it!!

We then drove through Latvia to the capital Riga and out of the window it looked pretty much like the rest of Estonia had looked, a little run down and shabby in places.

I've just finished my lunch :) Lovely!

The bus arrived in Riga at 11:55am after being held up by roadworks through Latvia. I had done my research and planned to go on the free walking tour of the city at 12:00pm. That meant I had 5 mins to get off the bus, find my hostel, dump my bags and get to the meeting point.... I did it! :) I walked as fast as I could to my hostel, baring in mind that my right thigh is still very sore after getting cramp whilst pole dancing last week. I then threw my bags in the baggage drop and ran as fast as I could to the meeting point. The group were just leaving the square so I followed and tried to get my breath back after a little sprint in scorching sun and around 25-30 degrees!

The walking tour was ok. We went out of the old town around the outskirts of Riga and stopped off at the main market, the river and the most interesting part an old Russian building which is now called Stalin's Birthday Cake :) We then made our way back to the old town where the tour ended and I visited the Freedom Monument before finding this place for lunch. This afternoon I plan to explore the rest of the old town which I don't think will take too long. Then I fancy a pizza for tea before an early night. I have to leave for the airport at 5:30am tomorrow! :)

I'll write a bit more later but for now that's it, cya :) x

Good evening...
I'm just lay in my hostel on the bottom bunk of a 4 share room. This is a mixed room so tonight i'm sharing with a girl from South Korea and a girl from Denmark! Yes she does know who Chung Young Lee is! It was a bit of a surprise when I walked in to find bras and knickers hanging everywhere to dry!!

Anyway... This afternoon I walked around the rest of Riga Old Town and to be honest it was very disappointing. There isn't much here at all and the place is full of renovation and road works! This afternoon I decided to have a massage and have then just chilled :) Tonight I have cooked my own tea in the hostel which I bought from the supermarket. Whilst I was cooking an old French woman walked in so I took the opportunity to parle Français! She lives just outside Lille, once worked in a hotel in Morzine and is travelling Europe for 3 months on her own... Not bad for an estimated 70 year old!! I found this out all in French! Another guy then walked in and he was also French, he actually complimented me on my speaking! I then finished off my cooking my 5* pasta and sauce before joining the French guy outside to eat. He was with another lad who heard me speaking French and was very surprised when I said I was from England! I haven't even had a drink and people think I'm French!

Tonight I plan to listen to the Bolton v Burton Albion match on the new BWFC player app and I've just had a good catch up with the FG on FaceTime, her very first FaceTime!!

I'm glad I've been through Latvia and around Riga today but I won't be back on a hurry. Tomorrow I'm getting the 5:42am bus to the airport and then it's back to the luxury of 'The Fun Bus' after a trek across Paris and train or two around France!

Bye for now :)
X