Another busy day. I set out this morning to have a more restful day by being more strategic…me, strategic? It never turns out that way for me. Had a nice coffee this morning, so nice I had 2. Then I decided, in my wisdom, that I’d get a ticket for the Hop On Hop Off bus to save myself some legwork. But it just didn’t work out that way, in fact I should have given the 25 Eu to one of the homeless people I pass every day, it would have been better used. On I got and the fucking bus didn’t stop. It just plowed on and on. I had headphones but half the time I couldn’t see what they were talking about. It mainly covered the ground I’d plied on foot yesterday.
But eventually it came to the Cathedral stop and I spied the Radisson Blu which Kat had told me had a great view and a nice coffee from the top. So I leapt off the bus. But guess what, it was pouring again by this time. Not to be thwarted I made my way to the big, plush Radisson. I walked in looking like a drowned rat but no-one asked me to leave. I saw the skyline café and made a beeline for the lift feeling excited. Babooom…café not open until 3pm. So disappointing. I got a brief glimpse of the view as the lift descended. There was the Cathedral nearby but the Bus was supposed to come every half an hour so I was scared I’d miss the bloody thing if I went into the Cathedral. It was still pouring so I huddled under a tree getting wetter and wetter and waited for the bus. ONE FUCKING HOUR later it came by. On I hopped.
There were 2 things I wanted to cover today and the HOHO Bus was supposed to get me close to the first, the Central Market. But at that stop it was on the other side of a massive expressway. So I had to go down into an underground passage, then up and walk to the market. Fine…by this time it had stopped raining. The market was fun…I’ll send some photos. They really love their berries. Even Elle would be left gasping and defeated by the amount of berries of all sorts. The market is indoor and outdoor. The indoor part is housed in WWI Zeppelin Hangers. Of course there was lots of interesting browsing to be done. They have a food hall with all manner of things to eat. I sat at a table with an Italian Family. I had soup in an edible cup, weird and very unstable. Photo will come. Anyway, the Italian Family loved that I was travelling alone and how old was I???? Blah, blah but they were very sweet and they passed my lunch break pleasantly.
The second thing I wanted to cover was the Riga Ghetto and Holocaust Museum. It was not far from the market. So I walked down to it. I don’t know why I do this to myself. Somehow I feel I need to acknowledge the evil every time I travel. Riga was a centrepoint for the massacre of Jews in WWII. Not only the Latvian Jews but Jews from other western European countries were transported to Riga for execution. There was one of the rail carriages used for transportation and a little wooden house where 30 people were forced to live, that has been moved from the Ghetto to this museum. Enough said, I had to do it and I did. Between the Nazis and the Soviets, both of whom set about eliminating the Jewish people, the population of Jews in Latvia is a fraction of what it was.
No more finding my way back to the HOHO Bus, I’d had them. Yesterday when I caught the tram I cleverly hadn’t swiped my ticket, just in case!! Best move ever because I got on the tram to take me back to the Opera House…familiar territory. BUT, by then the heavens really, really had opened. This time for real with thunder, lightning and bathtubs of water. I got off the tram into this. Massive puddles to wade through to get to the Opera House where everyone was sheltering. I waited and waited there for the rain to ease but it was stubborn. So eventually I had to brave it. I was already soaked and you can’t get much more soaked than soaked…or can you??? It’s a good thing that being wet doesn’t really bother me, I do know I’ll dry and up here it does seem to let the sun through eventually.
I found shelter by stopping and (should I admit this?) ordering myself an Espresso Martini. Well, there, now I’ve said it. By this time it was 5pm…another big day. So I decided to eat early and then just go home. I found this place that I noticed because of all the people lined up. It was a grab your tray and line up to be served. This meant fill your glass of wine from amtap like the beer…wine as bad as it gets while still being drinkable (to my shame), I often wish I was a beer drinker. I had chicken stroganoff. This place was so popular because it was so cheap. But it suited my needs tonight. I’d had two nights of nice food so I could slum it tonight. I was sliding my tray along when I did a proper ‘Budhsie’. Like it really rivaled the worst clangers. I swiped the glass of wine which was int front of all the food being served and it went EVERYWHERE. Onto the food, all over the bench and all over my tray. I was totally mortified. My face was the same colour as the wine. Anyway, no-one turned a hair. I got millions of flimsy serviettes and mopped up my tray, left the bench for them and calmly refilled my wine glass.
Then back here to the Super apartment that has lost a bit of it’s super status by not having any hot water. Never mind, I’ve alerted them to the problem and if the worst comes to the worst I only have tonight and tomorrow night here and I can stay dirty until Vilnius. I’m all out of stories for today. I seem to have been going forever. When I’m wet and tired I miss everyone even more xxxxx