Random thoughts as we leave the Baltics

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In Peterhof, a beautiful palace outside St. Petersburg, Russia, there are fountains that spray people when they step on stones. They appear to be random and automatic, but are in fact operated by a bored looking teenager, sitting on a bench, and pressing his foot down on a pedal.

We've only seen one squirrel in the last month, in the gardens at Peterhof, St. Petersburg, and it was red!

In Russia, the mullet hair cut is alive and well; I think we counted close to 25 in one day.

The women in Russia are known for wearing high heeled shoes. They must have been insulted by my wearing Tevas (my "rain" shoes), because most of the women were giving me and my shoes dirty looks!

We read in a guide book that they do wacky things in Lithuania...one evening we were eating dinner at an outdoor cafe. We had just been served our meal, when we noticed our waiter leaving the restaurant with his backpack on, with no word to us. Later, when we wanted to order dessert, we called a waitress over to bring us menus. She brought us menus, and told us the kitchen was closed and we couldn't order anything. Why even bring the menus???

At another outdoor cafe, we were entertained by the table next to us: two men (that seemed to be business associates because they were discussing, in broken English, a possible trip to New York) and two women. During lunch, one of the guys was kissing one girl on the leg and kept referring to her as his "sexy lady". We assumed that one, or both, the women were "working girls

We returned to Riga today and saw a classic car show in the Old Town.

We've had really great Indian, Turkish, Greek, and--get this-- Mexican food in the Baltics!

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