Riga, oh Riga...Latvia, that is...!

We arrived home, this afternoon, from our weekend in Riga, Latvia. It is across the Baltic sea from Stockholm and is an overnight journey by boat. Holly molly, what a wet and wild ride it was! I have to say I am not completely turned off from winter boat travel, but it was not the "crusie" I experienced to Estonia, last Fall. We arrived at the ferry terminal and received an upgrade to an "A" class cabin. That was nice, it meant that we got a window in our cabin. We cruised around the boat after settling in. Saniya and Rowan immediately found the play area equipped a special room filled with balls and a slide. We had a few beers and a relaxing evening. Then, the boat a started rockin'....! Around 9:00 we went to put the kids to sleep and were going to stay up and have wine. Well, by the time we got back to our cabin the boat was tossing us around we could not even stand up. All of us, except Rob, had intense seasickness and threw up all night. This was a huge ship and was tossed around the sea like a toy boat. It was quite the experience. We woke the next morning with no sleep and felt like we were recovering in a bad hangover kind of way. I had read that the weather in Riga was going to be around freezing and windy. I never really equated that to mean that there would be wind on the sea as well.

Our time in Latvia was good. We found a self service pancake bar where you go up and choose your pancakes and fillings. It is there "fast food". Saniya was happy as this is her favorite food. Old Riga is beautiful. The buildings are all refurbished and feeling very similar to Tallinn. They had great prices for us to shop so Rob bought some shoes and we stocked up on a few things that are really expensive in Sweden.

Also, the boat is this funny "duty free" zone. Many people take the ride just to get tax free liquor. So, we bought some Cuban rum that we could not get in the States, and some gin because I just love gin and tonics. The ride back was funny, it rocked, but we were prepared and no one was sick. So, it was a funny weekend. We enjoyed getting away. I think I would like to go back to Riga and spend more time and not feel like I was recovering from a deathly illness while there. I now feel like an experienced sailor and realize once again the force that nature has on us.

Our ship, the SS Vana Talinn.


Our cabin on the ship.


On deck pulling into Riga.


The crew putting out the anchor ropes before docking.




In Old Riga.



A train, really only taken for our friend, Isaac, a lover of the locomotive.


Another Riga shot.


Outside of our pancake restaurant.


A Latvian police van.


Brrrr.

Statue outside of the of Dome cathderal in Old Riga.


The "Pupu Lounge", what a place to party!


Bye, bye Riga.

The archipelago after sunrise, on our way into Stockholm.

I have lots to relay about Saniya's birthday as well, and hope to get that up in the next week or so. Bye for now!