Happy Birthday Derek!

Well Derek, here in Riga your birthday is almost over! Time is relative hey?

Last night I went out and celebrated your birthday :) Had a few drinks at the pub attached to our hostel then went down the street to a place called the Opium Cafe. I saw no drugs there so disregard the name. We mainly went there because it was free to get in. When we got there, there weren't a lot of people there but we started the trend by dancing and by the end of the night the DJ was playing classics like Ice Ice Baby, Jump Around, Spice Girls etc. I haven't sweat that much in a long time.

Speaking of which it is really hot here. At 2 am when we walked home it was just nice out. The hostel room on the 2nd floor however wasn't and I had a fitfull sleep. It didn't help matters that 2 guys came in at 6 am, had to make their bed and pack their bags, only to sleep for an hour and then get up and make more noise to leave. I love when people go through their phonebooks on their cell right by my head.

Up at 930 am and into the shower. Took a cold one but it wasn't enough to prepare me for today. Deanna and I walked to the Galleria mall and bought some fruit for breakfast then went back to the hostel for a free orange juice and to wait for our guide to take us on a 3 hour walking tour called "Eat Riga". Our tour guide, James, was an architect fanatic but who can blame him. There are so many interesting buildings in the heart of Riga. So 6 km later we were pretty sweaty and I popped into McD's for a greek salad (cheap!) for lunch.

We wandered around old town a bit, coming upon many weddings in progress. They do the same thing as they do in Florence with the locks. A couple who gets married will write their name on a lock and attach it to an iron bridge in the park. We came across a couple doing just that on our tour.

Anyways, we found the tourist information booth and right beside it is the museum of occupation so we decided to tackle that. Not the best thing to do when you've just walked so much in the heat and they place has no air conditionning. I didn't do as thorough a job as I would have liked but it was a great museum. May have to go back tomorrow and re-do the last bit when I have better concentration.

By this time it was basically supper time so we sat down to eat at what we thought was a decent restaurant but Deanna and I both had crappy meals. An old German man sad next to us and started up a conversation after seeing Deanna's rock hard rice. He told us the food in Riga was terrible. He comes to Riga every month for one day for business and he hates it. He was a nice man but hard to understand.

It is Saturday night and the stag and staguettes are in full force. I can't believe how hard core Europeans are about those things. Latvians especially hate the Brits for their stags as they all get out of control. We'll probably go out again tonight but we don't have plans yet.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to tour the old town on a self-guided tour and try a Black Balsam as Jeff says I should. It is a warm concoction of grasses picked on 24 different days in the year and over 100 herbs. It is rumoured to have cured Catherine the Great. We shall see. Things were a lot different back then, haha.

Anyways, that is all for now. Once again have a happy b-day Derek! If I could find a pay phone I would phone ya but I have not seen one yet :(