Riga

Staying once again in a lively small hotel in the old town. Riga is not quite as cutsie as Tallinn but is old and has an interesting story to tell. We went to 3 churches and 4 museums today. All quite small and manageable! Not trying to do the Louvre and Notre Dame. One told of the history of occupations- not jobs but who has taken over! Very sad for them. It's like they have never been able to do their own thing. As they are on the Baltic- like Estonia they were wanted by the powers. Enough history.
We walked and I observed that the museum guards were all "older"women. I hope they are paid but if not then they have a dry quiet time where they can read, knit, snooze, follow you around and generally waste time!
Last night we walked around the quiet streets- this is off season  so not heaps of tourists. We found a nice Latvian restaurant and promised  ourselves not to drink vodka- for a change. So what did we do? After the wine we thought we should try the local drink called Balsam. Enquiring what it was from the waitress she told us all the locals do in fact drink it to ward off the colds. Good enough for us we say and so 2 small glasses appear. Well it was a cross between cough syrup and a reay bad ?/$!'kh.


This afternoon I lost my new red beanie bought in Tallinn. It's so hard juggling coat, scarf, hat, gloves, bag, umbrella, camera! I managed to drop it somewhere but no worries the street markets were on and I now have a dusty pink beret.
We also went to the Museum of Decorative Arts. They had a special exhibition of clothes in the art deco style from Europe and America. It was divine. I haven't seen the Valentino show at Goma yet, but this was good. Reminds me - who wants to see Valentino when I get back? There is an uplate on Nov 12 .
Tonight is the big night. We are meeting Merkus to hand over Irma. Will let u know tomorrow how it goes. It seems we will be alone again.
Tomorrow we leave for Vilnius.

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