Latvia - Riga

Day 182 - Sunday, July 22

I arrived in Riga around mid-afternoon and after checking into Cinnamon Sally's, which was a great hostel, I went out an explored a little bit. I got some traditional Latvian food, which, like the Scandinavian and Estonian food before it and Lithuanian, Polish and Slovakian food I've had since, consisted of potatoes, meat, grease, cheese, cabbage and more potatoes. I think there's probably a good reason you don't see many traditional Scandinavian, Baltic, Polish, or Slovakian restaurants in the US. The food is probably not why people choose to visit.

I was planning to spend the next day doing another free tour and my camera was almost dead, but when I went to find my battery charger, it was nowhere to be found. Yes, I'm not joking, I lost yet another item. My best guess is that I left it in Stockholm. I debated trying to email them and get it sent to me, but I figured finding a replacement would be quicker, easier and about the same cost as getting the other shipped to me.

I left the states on January 21 and arrived in Fiji on January 23, so I decided to split the difference and call July 22 my 6-month anniversary. Hard to believe it's already been that long. It's flown by, but I'm definitely looking forward to being back in the States in a few months.

Day 183 - Monday July 23

I brought along the dying camera on the free tour, and decided I would only take a picture if it was something really picture-worthy. But, then the tour was over and I hadn't taken any pictures. Oops. To avoid a blog post with no pictures, I've once again borrowed from my friend google:

From Latvia & Lithuania

From Latvia & Lithuania

From Latvia & Lithuania

History lesson for the day: the airplane hangers in the photo above were built by the Germans during WWII, but Germany lost Latvia before a plane was ever built there. Now they function as markets with unnecessarily tall ceilings

My mission for the afternoon was to find a replacement camera charger. First stop: electronic shop at the mall where the tour ended; they told me I need to go 5km outside the city center to the Elkor service center. Next stop: Elkor store by the hostel, which is a large electronics store (kind of like Best Buy), and they told me I could go to their service center to get a replacement Panasonic charger (as the other person told me), or I could buy a universal one at another store that's only a few blocks away. Next stop: nearby store with a universal charger, but it was really bulky, didn't look like it would be as easy to use, and was like $50+. Not ideal. Ten kilometers (5 each way) isn't that far if I'm jogging right? So I decided to get some exercise and jog out to the Elkor service center. Turns out I should've called first - they didn't have it, but they told me that there is a Panasonic service center less than 1km from my hostel, but that it closed in 30 minutes. Ugh, that would've been nice to know before I ran all the way out there. Next stop: Panasonic service center, where I show up soaked in sweat because I had to full-on sprint to get there before they closed. It appears I'm finally in the right spot; there is replacement Panasonic stuff everywhere. Sweet. There was a bit of a language barrier but I get across what I need and show them the battery. They do some searching on the computer and tell me they don't have the exact one I need, but one of the others they have might work. They bring out 13 different chargers for Panasonic camera batteries, but none of them work with my camera battery. WTF Panasonic?!?! You can't maybe use the same battery in more than one camera? Ugh, so annoying! I decided to just use the old camera (with the non-functioning LCD screen) for a few days and try to find the correct charger in Warsaw.

After that failure, I joined my hostelmates for some beers at the hostel and then went out for a bit, but turns out there really isn't much going on in Riga on a Monday night. I did find a pretty sweet Russian dumpling (aka Pelmeni)shop on the way home though. Pelmeni are definitely a staple of the Baltic backpacker's diet.

Day 184 - Tuesday, July 24

Tuesday the weather was beautiful, so I headed about 30 minutes outside of town to Majori, which is a beach on the Baltic Sea. As beaches go, it's not going to win any awards. But I hadn't kicked back and relaxed on a beach since Vietnam, so it was a nice change. A few photos:

From Latvia & Lithuania

From Latvia & Lithuania

From Latvia & Lithuania

Upon returning to Riga, I got some dinner in old town and took another couple of photos of the churches in the old town, bringing the grand total of photos from Latvia to like 6.

From Latvia & Lithuania