Sleep, glorious, GLORIOUS SLEEP!!

SLEEEEEP! God we needed it! Getting off the bus was one of the most glorious things we have done yet, but there was a problem, we didn’t have the address for where we were staying. So, we wandered about the station looking for an information booth that might be able to tell us, but it was only 8am, so no one was up and about. We were looking at a map, trying to see if anything looked familiar when the neurotic woman made a mad dash up to us (really, she ran) saying “maybe I can help?” and all I could think was “NNNNOOOOOO!” and then stare at the orange stain that was around her mouth from some breakfast thing she was devouring. My heart sank, and then I realized that I was being very judgmental and that it was very kind of her to offer help. We tried to explain our problem to her, she nodded, her very ferocious fringe not moving as her head bobbed about (that held my attention for awhile) she suggested we share a cab with her, we explained we didn’t have an address, she said it did not matter, we asked if there was a McDonalds around, she pointed us in the direction, we thanked her and left. We know that McDonalds always has WIFI. We found maccas open and serving… their regular menu. I found it really disconcerting to see so many people stuffing greasy big macs into their mouths at 8.30am, it actually made me feel a little ill! We had our coffees and found our hostel address on the web and moved on, it really wasn’t far.

Our hostel is called “The naughty squirrel” and is lovely, cozy, clean and modern! We up graded to a private room so that we could sleep, and sleep we did. We fell into bed at 9am and didn’t wake again until 5pm, then didn’t actually get up until 6. It was so wonderful!

We made a quick wander through the streets of Riga, looking at a few little stores, walked through the park which was lovely and green and homey, and then found a little coffee shop where we ordered a fresh orange juice for myself and a Macchiato for Chris… we were asked if Chris would like rum in his Macchiato. We were surprised you could have rum in this, so we said yes, we’d give it a try and then we were told you could get two for the price of 1, okie dokie, we were in!

Then the drinks arrived juice for me and two refreshing looking clear drinks with mint and lime for Chris. There was some sort of mix up when ordering obviously and despite macchiato being on the menu they didn’t understand our request. Oh well, we drank them none the less!

After this and a quick detour to the supermarket for edible goods that will last us our stay we head back to the hostel where we watched a DVD and then bed.

written by

Chris and Emily on July 1, 2009 from Riga, Latvia

from the travel blog: Europe 2009

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