OK, so I took the long cab ride into the Old Town of Riga. Pretty easy to find the hostel--Argonaut Hostel. On the way, saw lots of Soviet-style buildings, many with spraypaint all over them. The nightlife around this part of the Old Town seems to be really good, but I got in and showered and went to bed pretty soon. It was past 1:30am when I tried to hit the sack. Not a great night of sleep--but interesting. 10 beds in my room and I was on an upper bunk. 2 guys were sleeping already and the other people slowly [View Full Entry]

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OK, so I thought it would take all day to see the sights in the Old City, but nope. First grabbed an omelet and got an espresso in a nice little pub. Then, I took some advice and made the first elevator up to the top of St. Peter's Churhc and was the only one up on top of the tower. Great view of the whole city, but cold and windy up there. When I went down, the line was so long for the next rides up. Pretty cool to have the whole top of the tower to myself. Next I [View Full Entry]

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Hello, After the miserable night bus ride, we arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania. Night busses are the bane of our existance, but sometimes they are out of necessity as was mentioned in the lat blog post. We arrived in Vilnius around 6am, and we trudged over to our hostel which was called the VB Sleep Inn. The hostel is essentially an overgrown house where you have to take your shoes off at the door and everyone hangs out and talks to each other. It was a great atmosphere. We dropped off our luggage and started walking around Vilnius which is supposed to [View Full Entry]

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Pictures of Latvia , shot since 2002 - 2006. Also few from Cesis and the surroundings. Conclusion : After spending the first 12 years of my life in Latvia I guess I can not give you a objective conclusion. I go to Latvia at least once a year every year since 2002 and It's always absolutely worth it, of course. [View Full Entry]

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Hi guys, Another blog entry since we have free (albiet very slow and unreliable) internet access at our guesthouse here in Riga. I thought Vilinus in Lithuania was beautiful, well Riga is even more so. The buildings and architecture here are totally amazing. They are definitley restoring the city to its former glory, the communists really did not do much to enhance the beauty of the place. We arrived yesterday to find it was some sort of special festival for the beginning of summer with music and stalls etc. This weekend was also museum weekend, once a year when all the [View Full Entry]

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Het was leuk om even terug te zijn in België maar onze voeten begonnen te jeuken en het werd tijd om terug te vertrekken. Om middernacht landen we in Riga. Te laat voor de bus nemen we een taxi naar het Elisabeth Hostel. We vermoeden dat de bestuurder ervan droomt de Letse Senna te worden. De straten van Riga zijn gelukkig niet zijn Imola. Een supervriendelijke madam ontvangt ons met een brede glimlach op dit nachtelijke uur. De dag erop gaan we na een goede nachtrust de stad verkennen. We lopen wat rond in de Oude stad. Het is er niet [View Full Entry]

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We disembarked the MV Oceanic II (The Scholar Ship) on April 19. On April 21 it was renamed the Mona Lisa (it's original name) and chartered back into a cruise ship for the summer. And then the captain ran it into the ground. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/05/04/latvia.cruise.ap/ http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=DhIROlJsjpE [View Full Entry]

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When Latvians go to the sauna, they keep their swimsuits on. I found this out the hard way when I was standing stark-naked in the middle of the main room of the sauna, with everyone else being dressed and staring at me as if I was the first guy they had seen without clothes in their entire life's. Well, the people I had asked to find this place never mentioned that fact to me, so... Altogether though, it was a very relaxing afternoon. Especially the "salt sauna", where there was a huge basket full of salt to rub your skin with, [View Full Entry]

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Well here is a place I have wanted to go to for a long time, and was really impressed by the city and its history. I went to a museum in Estonia on the occupation of the Baltic States but you didn't see as much there as you did in Riga the capital. As for the history of the area is,well I think this would tell it better then I could http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Latvia (I know but its true and you all know it..) Any way there were all sorts of things to see and do in Riga you could even go out [View Full Entry]

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My dear reader... and my dear myself... I am writing this post during the reflection time in Kick off 2008 in Riga, my first conference managing experience. I feel so weird... but I also feel proud. The reality was not even close to my expectations, but I see that it still somehow became amazing! Just 3 minutes ago 11 delegates and 6 facis were doing the counting game. And I was totally taken aback. They managed to reach 80 with the second normal attempt. I was and still am so impressed... seeing how much they have mixed with each other and [View Full Entry]

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