Monday, January 30, 2006
Riga nights
[tags: _travel]
We've just come back from a long weekend in Riga, the capital of Latvia. Lots of Brits on booze cruise mode in the plane, but otherwise we spent a very enjoyable three days walking round the old city, taking photos, gorging on some delicious Baltic and Japanese food, and of course, downing unhealthy amounts of alcohol (try the Black Balzams if you dare...!)
Before the fall of the Soviet Union (but after the war... pick any war, they had lots) Riga used to be known for its Art Nouveau (Jugendstijl) architecture, buildings with intricate decorative faces, "natural" columns and intertwining leaves... now the capital of Latvia, along with its sisters Tallinn and Vilnius, are gaining reputations for hot women and cheap booze, which are drawing Scandinavian and British yobs in droves to its icy streets.
As with the best sorts of holidays, it's the photos we DIDN'T take that are the best ones (cue memories of the Velvets club off St Paul's Basilica - pole dancers and champagne with cherries!), but the other 298 pics we took aren't too shabby either. (As an aside, I really enjoy partying it up with my fiancé. It was nice to hang out in the I Love You cafe just doodling and drinking wine and coffee without any sense of irony whatsoever.)
Meanwhile, in the REAL world... things are settling down nicely in our new flat. After coming back early in January Van and I took a while to clean it up and get some of the furniture sorted. We still have a corner full of stuff to dispose but that can wait. It's back to work for us in the meantime.
We've just come back from a long weekend in Riga, the capital of Latvia. Lots of Brits on booze cruise mode in the plane, but otherwise we spent a very enjoyable three days walking round the old city, taking photos, gorging on some delicious Baltic and Japanese food, and of course, downing unhealthy amounts of alcohol (try the Black Balzams if you dare...!)
Before the fall of the Soviet Union (but after the war... pick any war, they had lots) Riga used to be known for its Art Nouveau (Jugendstijl) architecture, buildings with intricate decorative faces, "natural" columns and intertwining leaves... now the capital of Latvia, along with its sisters Tallinn and Vilnius, are gaining reputations for hot women and cheap booze, which are drawing Scandinavian and British yobs in droves to its icy streets.
As with the best sorts of holidays, it's the photos we DIDN'T take that are the best ones (cue memories of the Velvets club off St Paul's Basilica - pole dancers and champagne with cherries!), but the other 298 pics we took aren't too shabby either. (As an aside, I really enjoy partying it up with my fiancé. It was nice to hang out in the I Love You cafe just doodling and drinking wine and coffee without any sense of irony whatsoever.)
Meanwhile, in the REAL world... things are settling down nicely in our new flat. After coming back early in January Van and I took a while to clean it up and get some of the furniture sorted. We still have a corner full of stuff to dispose but that can wait. It's back to work for us in the meantime.
Labels: travel
Comments:
can you believe that black balzam is actually good for you??? hahahahahahahahaha
check it out
http://www.gridskipper.com/travel/riga/scary-latvian-booze-148122.php
check it out
http://www.gridskipper.com/travel/riga/scary-latvian-booze-148122.php
woohoo!!!
on a side note, I see you patronize the same gawkerblogs I do :D.
hope you enjoyed saturday's par-tay.
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on a side note, I see you patronize the same gawkerblogs I do :D.
hope you enjoyed saturday's par-tay.
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