Latvia: now, and in ten years

We started the day with the MOST fabulous breakfast!  We had these amazingly light Latvian pancakes with maple syrup... Mmm. I absolutely must get that recipe!  They were similar to German palatshinken, but even more tasty.  

Then we got back on the train to Riga!  Of course now that we knew where we were going, it seemed to take no time at all and we were back to our home away from home, the Metropoli hotel.  We took the day to do some last minute souvenir shopping and sight seeing. But when we were all shopped out, we decided to take a cruise of the canal system.  

The boat pickup we found was under a shopping mall in a concrete stairwell that screamed "drug deal gone wrong" to me... And I was feeling a little skeptical.  But after not much time at all, a very jolly looking wooden boat came to pick us up.  There was an informational tour going on in the back, but it was in a language other than English or German... So we were out of luck!  But the boat ride itself was really very entertaining all on its own. We knew enough of the city by then to be able to figure out where we were and what we were seeing.  For much of the ride we were out in a much larger river, which meant much larger waves. The driver seemed very unconcerned as he ate his lunch and drove us through some fairly large swells... All i can say is thank goodness none of us were prone to sea-sickness!!

At the end of the ride, things calmed down and we wound our way through some beautiful parks that surround the canal.  Really, Riga is a phenomenal city.  Aunt Silvya brought up the point that this city really hasn't been out from under occupation for that long... It is really just beginning to recover what it once was and to define itself as an independent city.  I would love to come back in maybe 10 years to see what kind of progress it has made!! I have a feeling that Latvia is going to become one of those destination spots, just like France or Italy.  

So we had one more night together, before heading to the airport the next morning.  We had a very long and silent ride back with a very surly and large Latvian man... But he gave us a smile as we left! So I think we got to him :)

I have to finish by saying thank you to Silvya and Valerie for allowing me to join them on this amazing adventure!! I probably never would have had the opportunity or the guts to go to latvia on my own.  They listened to all of my stories, and allowed me to be a total chatty cathy!! It was so wonderful to spend some quality time with people I love, when I am so far away from home.  What a blessing!!  We had tons of laughs and made wonderful memories... I'll miss them as I continue my trip!! But I am so glad I was able to meet up with them :).