A Bad First Impression

The bus from Estonia dropped me off at the dumpiest bus station I've ever seen. The first thought that raced through my mind was, "What the heck am I doing here?!" I had no clue where my hostel was located, but I just speed walked right out of there!!! Good thing I have a sense of direction; I was able to get to the general vicinity. But I couldn't quite figure out how the street numbers in Latvia worked. So, I decided to ask this woman....who shook her head and walked right past me. Waru's thought - "Bitch!!!". I think she felt sort of bad though...she actually came back and led me to the place. Waru's thought - "Latvia may not be that bad..."

Which turned out to be the case. The city isn't the prettiest of places. Even the old town was sort of run down. Still, it was a nice place to walk through, with a bunch of fun stores, great cafes (they have DELICIOUS strudels!), and colorful wall art.My favorite was the street full of Borats! I don't him ever going to Latvia in that movie though...

What impressed me was the large number of luxury cars in the streets! Huge Mercedes and Bentleys....I heard that a tons of Russian money flows into Latvia (I assume illegally...)

I got my first peek of Communism's history at the free Latvian Occupation Museum. Highly informative, but the exhibit featured more text than anything! As usual, I was really into it at first, but the interest waned as I kept going...I couldn't be bothered to read the displays after a while :)

The hideous bus terminal that initially made me hate Latvia turned out to be okay in the end. I went back to it a couple of times, since Riga's central market is located right behind the terminal. The market is composed of 4-5 of these massive warehouse-like things. Inside are infinite row of stalls, selling everything from produce to electronics to socks to animals. I tried to buy some cheese, but the old women there were sooooooo unhelpful.

Conclusion: I'm not exactly sure if I liked Latvia or not...