Skipping through the Baltic states

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I am in Europe!! I arrived by bus from St. Petersburg and have been enjoying Riga, literally, ever since I stepped off the bus. The bus station here is the nicest I have ever been in. It is complete with an international ATM, cafe, helpful information desk, friendly bus ticket counter and an internet cafe. What a lovely surprise!
Riga is a beautiful little city. I am staying at a new hostel in Old Town. It's an old five story town-house with a bar on the bottom floor and FREE interent! Yes, I am finally living the high life. The prices are reasonable here and Riga is metropolitan without being overbearing. I went to the cinema yesterday and ice skating and out to dinner with the hostel tonight. I have a bus ticket arranged to leave for Vilnius, Lithuania tomorrow. But I am enjoying myself here so much let's see if someone doesn't talk me out of leaving. 😉
Walking through the cobbled stone streets of Riga is much like walking in a pop-up picture fairy-tale book. The streets are clean and the buildings are a bit whimsical and very charming. Despite Latvia's dark political history, the people here are friendly and seem a bit "softer" than their Eastern neighbors.
Being here these past few days has certainly taken an invisible burden off of my shoulders. Travel from here on out should be much easier as I head West. It was so nice to discover the lady at the convenient store spoke English today (yes! I said CONVENIENT STORE!! I haven't been inside a Western one in months!!), as well as the ticket taker of the museum I went to and the supermarket! Oh, happy days!

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Photos

How fitting!!
I came upon this right before I got lost in a bizzard on my way to the hostel. A friendly/strange/drunk Lithuanian lady helped me find my way by asking every person who passed us where Mikalojaus street was.

Whimsical Riga
Almost everywhere you turn there is something to catch your attention

Riga in a fog
Even without sunny weather this little city is charming

A night out with the hostel
A group of about 10 of us went ice skating and for a traditional Latvian dinner. What a life! I love it here.

Fireworks and entertianment Lituainian style
The whole town came out for the big tree lighting in old town. I don't think I have ever seen happier revelers.

Vilnius tree-lighting!
A huge event in Lithuania!! Here I am with 2 girls from Vilnius Backpackers.

The view from my hostel
Vilnius, Lithuania. We are surrounded by church bells on all sides. As a result, Sunday is not a pleasant day to sleep in.

Bridge church
This is one of the most famous churches in Lithuania. The old lady in the fur hat yelled at me after I took this shot. I guess she thought I was taking a photo of her. Why are there so many crabby old Europeans!?

Eastern Europe's largest mall
I navigated my way on city buses and through this ginormous mall in my search for a power adaptor. It took me one whole day! Mission accomplished.

Wow! Native American's at Akropolis!?!
Nah, they actually turned out to be Mexicans posing as indians. Nice. Their crappy CDs were selling like hotcakes.

Comments

[Mike Johnson]

Glad you enjoyed Riga
Hello from Patricia Tourist Office in Riga Latvia http://www.rigalatvia.net Riga is a great place to visit and even in December. Riga is the home of the first Christmas Tree of record in the year 1510 http://www.firstchristmastree.com We even have a traditional Christmas Market http://www.rigalatvia.net/cm/ The countryside is lovely too during all seasons http://www.sigulda.info Please come and enjoy! Mike Johnson, General manager, Patricia Tourist Office ... your friend in the Baltics!