2 posts tagged “latvia”

Yesterday, I did a whole bunch of sightseeing in Riga in the morning.

From there, I walked over to the Central Market, which is contained in three former zeppelin hangars near the riverbank. You could buy almost anything there. I got some dark rye and sausages and cheese and sat outside to have lunch.

In the outdoor portion, you could get clothing and fruit and beer and pirated CDs and DVDs, too.

Walking through a park, I saw that the bridges were covered with locks. I eventually found out that when a couple gets married, it's traditional to write their names on a lock, lock it to a bridge, and throw the key into the water, to symbolize the permanence of their union.

Then I went over to Albertas Street to check out the amazing art nouveau buildings.

I happened upon the fantastic teahouse mentioned in the previous post, then went to dinner at a dada-themed restaurant (waitresses in outfits slightly reminiscent of dada theatrical costumes, dada art themed decor, and so on). It was a little depressing, since it was part of a chain of well-turned-out theme restaurants, and shows, I suppose that almost anything can be made into a trivial restaurant theme.

After dinner, I went to Hamlet's, a small second-floor theatre space and bar run by the Latvian Actors' Association. There was a jazz quartet playing -- sax, guitar, bass, and drums. the crowd was small but appreciative; it was, after all, Monday night. I drank scotch and amused myself during the occasional long, meandering solos by making up a back-story for the young, stylishly-dressed couple at the table next to mine who sat the entire evening entirely impassively, with blank expressions and no drinks, not conversing with each other or anyone else. The quartet finished the night reading some charts the drummer had brought, and they gave some of their best performances of the night.

I've reached Riga, Latvia -- though just barely. You see, I was saved by a Phileas Fogg error. I took the city bus that goes to the international bus station in Tallinn to get on my noon bus for Riga, but I got on going the wrong way, ending up on the outskirts of town before asking a fellow passenger why the bus station was so far from the center of town. After some directions from a nice old Russian lady (*gesturing a whole lot* "So I just WAIT over THERE for the BUS back THROUGH town to the BUS STATION?" "Da! Da, da, da, da.") I reached the appropriate bus stop to go the other way, but my watch told me it was already 11:30 -- hardly enough time to get back and on my bus by noon. I stopped into the flower shop on the corner to see about calling a taxi, and the woman at the counter, after checking a schedule on the wall,  kindly informed me that I wouldn't need a taxi, because the next bus came at 10:37. I asked whether her clock might be mistaken. Then she began, slowly and patiently, to explain daylight savings time to me.

Just as Phileas Fogg thought he had lost the bet at the end of Around The World in Eighty Days but was saved because he'd forgotten about the international date line, I thought I'd miss my bus but was saved because I'd forgotten about daylight savings time. (It's amazing how easy it is to miss when you can't understand the radio, TV, or newspapers.)

So, after a perfectly pleasant five-hour bus ride, I'm in Riga. It's very cold, but that's all right. The city is beautiful.