Destination: Riga Fixation!
Well hello again. Well just writing to give you an update on our adventures. We have been in Riga Latvia for almost a week now. I have enjoyed our stay here greatly. The city is very cheap so its nice to be able to spend less money and still have a great time. Well let see. First and foremost our accommodations. We have been camping at a great place called ABC campsite. We stayed in one of their hotel rooms the first night. Best 60 bucks I spend this trip. I think I can say that this is the best room I have seen for the money. It came equipped with a king size bed. A TV, desk, fridge with food in it, closet, heated towel rack in bathroom, hair dryer, and a really cool system for electricity. When you come in you slide your room card in a slot near the front door and it switches on the electricity to the room. Dang how come this third world country has cooler stuff than us. AND FOR 60 bucks!!!! Well. The place also features a full gym we have used every night, a pool, sauna, awesome conference rooms. And the best for last. I think one of the best restaurants I have been to. You see we have eaten there about 5 times and we have both gotten something different each time and everything we have been amazed at how good it has been. It does not taste like food from home not by any means...But its kind better. Its a gourmet meal with that fancy crap around your plates and stuff for about 4 dollars a person!!!!! Well enough about our accommodations.
Riga city is a neat place. It takes a day or so to get used to. People don't speak English, we sure don't speak Latvian. The systems around here are a little hard to get to used to but cheap. For example the bus. Cost 40 cents to ride. But there are no signs for the bus stops you just have to know where to pick it up. Also the post office is like a crazy house. Its a post office, western union bank, exchange office, stationary store, and who knows what the else.... This is the central post office I'm talking about. FOR THE CITY! But after a day you get used to it and you start to settle in. We are pros now. Able to get around and enjoy each day. We have been doing lots of walking. One day we were told about a store that might sell our camping fuel we walked about 8 miles round trip for nothing. They didn't sell the right stuff. Old Riga city is really where it is at. There are great little shops and great places to eat. And now I save the best for last. My super theatre.
Warning the following is very "Geeky" and may cause boredom to some. You have been warned...
Best one I have seen in all of Europe. First you walk in and the digital sign board tells you what is showing in three languages, Russian, Latvian and English. It also tells you the times for the whole day and how many seats are available. Ok so that's kinda neat. Now you walk to the counter and purchase your tickets. When you do, you buy it at a time price. What I mean is from 10 - about 2 your tickets only cost about 3.00 US. By night time they cost 6.00. So if you get the movies early you can go see the film for 3 bucks!!!. Now you have paid your bill and choose what seats you want. On a digital screen on the counter you see a picture of the seating arrangement and you pick your seats. No more waiting for 40 mins before the movie to get good seats. Did I mention that all the theatres are stadium seating with DTS sound and huge screens. See photo of amanda by a typical screen. Most of the theatres seat 400 some over 800. Well that's enough theatre mumbo jumbo. I warned you. Back to Riga.
We have seen some great buildings. Went into a church following some organ music that lured me in and took a picture of the great ceiling. The bridge crossing the Daugava River is also a cool sight. I see it every morning. Well that's all for now. We are doing well. Eating well. Sleeping in our cozy tent.
Now... The pictures:
My super theatre:
Riga city is a neat place. It takes a day or so to get used to. People don't speak English, we sure don't speak Latvian. The systems around here are a little hard to get to used to but cheap. For example the bus. Cost 40 cents to ride. But there are no signs for the bus stops you just have to know where to pick it up. Also the post office is like a crazy house. Its a post office, western union bank, exchange office, stationary store, and who knows what the else.... This is the central post office I'm talking about. FOR THE CITY! But after a day you get used to it and you start to settle in. We are pros now. Able to get around and enjoy each day. We have been doing lots of walking. One day we were told about a store that might sell our camping fuel we walked about 8 miles round trip for nothing. They didn't sell the right stuff. Old Riga city is really where it is at. There are great little shops and great places to eat. And now I save the best for last. My super theatre.
Warning the following is very "Geeky" and may cause boredom to some. You have been warned...
Best one I have seen in all of Europe. First you walk in and the digital sign board tells you what is showing in three languages, Russian, Latvian and English. It also tells you the times for the whole day and how many seats are available. Ok so that's kinda neat. Now you walk to the counter and purchase your tickets. When you do, you buy it at a time price. What I mean is from 10 - about 2 your tickets only cost about 3.00 US. By night time they cost 6.00. So if you get the movies early you can go see the film for 3 bucks!!!. Now you have paid your bill and choose what seats you want. On a digital screen on the counter you see a picture of the seating arrangement and you pick your seats. No more waiting for 40 mins before the movie to get good seats. Did I mention that all the theatres are stadium seating with DTS sound and huge screens. See photo of amanda by a typical screen. Most of the theatres seat 400 some over 800. Well that's enough theatre mumbo jumbo. I warned you. Back to Riga.
We have seen some great buildings. Went into a church following some organ music that lured me in and took a picture of the great ceiling. The bridge crossing the Daugava River is also a cool sight. I see it every morning. Well that's all for now. We are doing well. Eating well. Sleeping in our cozy tent.
Now... The pictures:
My super theatre:
Our room at the ABC:
Amanda in the bathroom taking full advantage of the free hair dryer. Also note the heated towl rack behind her.
More of the bathroom and Amanda
The cool electric card thing.
More of the room:
Church architecture:
The bridge over the Daugava River:
A man playing a mysterous song on his sax in front of the War memorial museum:
A commerical shoot in Old Riga:
Some great accoustic guitarrist in front of a cafe: (The music echoed through the city)
Some religious iconography:
A view from the park: (Great with a good sandwich and a book)
Amanda working on her gradschool stuff:
A strange lad stretching in the airport:
A view from our plane ride over:
And lastly how I wake up every morning. It was a little cold that night:
Good bye for now!!
P.S. See the updated pictures below...I added them to Amanda's post.
posted by Seth and Amanda | 9:12 AM
1 Comments:
a new ipod thingy came out...it's called the ipod nano and it's thin like a credit card. or something. me still have my cd player. still, it's an improvement on when i used to ride my bike around with the speakers blasting music in high school. chris still makes fun of me for that. why did i mention all this? i guess i thought you'd want to know after all of your mdmh 3.17 with digital crapface mumbo jumbo. you know you can see movies for 3 dollars at the academy theater in old town, right? and that is where i saw bridget jones: the edge of reason, and a million other higher-quality films. i just saw serenity. you would probably like it, but i couldn't help doing hyperspeed in-brain analysis the whole time, esp. now that i'm taking feminist film theory. "orientals" take on bladerunner was apt...
all love (i miss you guys so much)
livi
p.s. not to add extra guilt trip, but are you really going to get married over there? i need to see you get married so that i can continue to believe in love...sniffle...tear-shaped guilt trip...sniffle...
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