Cruise to Riga!

It's been a while since anything has been put up here. I haven't been up to much but somehow you can end up incredibly short of time when you are doing nothing. Luckily the course load is a joke at the moment so I am able to finally take it easy.

Off to Stockholm we went, on the train from Gothenburg that only took roughly 4 hours to reach the other side of the country in pretty good comfort. Power sockets, WiFi and cushy reclining seats make it a very bearable journey. It seemed not many people were keen on sightseeing around Stockholm so it is really a good thing I had seen the place before, and also in good weather too. Big difference seeing the capital at this time of the year, gloomy and rainy with not many hours of sunlight. It is still a beautiful city mind you.

I must admit though it was a nice change being in another city and not rushing around to see all the sights and just taking it easy with a few light pub sessions and a Sunday Funday of Bowling which is always a laugh, especially when things start getting competitive.

These cruise liners are actually quite good value for money. I mean the cabins are far from spacious but the beds are ready made, and looks quite nice and has a few restaurants, clubs and bars. The only thing I just couldn't take is the constant rocking of the boat once we were out of the port, I think I was one of the only people on the boat not really drinking and thought I could possibly be the only one to throw up!

Once in Lativa, the sight was not exactly majestic. You straight away get this feeling that "Yep...I'm in Eastern Europe" and obviously the locals feel it too. All of them are so silent in public, look depressed and stare at you if you show those white squarish things that appear when you open your mouth. 

One thing I was very surprised of is the local currency (Lati) is stronger than the Euro is. 10Lati is roughly 12Euros, but of course everything in Riga was still fairly cheap. For 11 of us to have a decent meal in a nice restaurant was 90Lati (100Euro).

There was undeniably beautiful parts of Riga, and construction on the other side of the city looks like the country is really trying hard to establish itself. Apparently the city has a good reputation for nightlife too, but for me it's more or less all the same. There are some streets of the city that couldn't hide its Communist past where it is poorly maintained and locals have propped up open air stores with cheap, fake products.

Apart from a last minute sprint to the train to Gothenburg, due to waiting for the girls to get off the boat, the return journey was more or less the same and uneventful. The benefits of not being a big drinker showed through that morning since everyone looked like death while I was feeling quite fresh and awake.

As usual, glad to be back in the comforts of my familiar little Gothenburg. There is more yet to come though. I've just booked a trip to Istanbul to meet an old friend I met in Austria, then only a few days later I travel up to Lapland with dog-sledging and snowmobile activities booked! It's gonna be more than awesome and will look forward writing that blog, I will just have to remember to take plenty of photos since I never thought to take any of the boat to Latvia.