Sunday, 15th February was upon us. Inese had kindly let me have a lie in till sometime after 10 a.m. though she’d been up since 9 a.m. or there abouts. Having got washed and changed, we settled down for brunch consisting of an assortment of sandwiches to eat and hot chocolate to drink. :D
Today’s plans were a little ad hoc but we headed out of the flat in the early afternoon and caught the next Nos. 2 tram towards the city centre. In Riga, public transport takes the form of trams, trolley buses (think tram/bus hybrid) or regular buses which were refreshingly cheap at just 0.20 Ls per journey, where 1.00 Ls = £1.01072 = $1.86881 US = €1.50493.
First stop today was to be Zelta Boulinga Centrs on Uzvaras Bulvāris. The bowling centre also featured and café and computer amusement arcade. As we came for the café… we ordered some tea, grabbed a table and passed some time.
With the tea finished, it was now time to head into Riga City via tram to meet up with Arta and Mogens as it was approaching mid afternoon. After a short ride of no more than 10 minutes and a short walk, Inese and I met up with Arta and Mogens inside Čili Pica where they had already ordered food and drinks, so the late arrivals Inese and I got our orders in too once we had settled into our seats.
Service was prompt, if rather staggered meaning some of us (read yours truly) didn’t get any food till the others had almost finished but Mogens was still diligently tackling the not exactly small pizza he ordered. The food was good and though there were four of us, each ordering a dish and a drink the final bill still only came out a little over 10 Ls which was very good value! :D On a side note, Mogens ordered something known as Kvass which though a beverage of the region, on sampling a little bit it reminded me as somewhat of a cross between Dr. Pepper and sweetened Chinese herbal tea.
With food finished and time nearing 5 p.m., it was time for all of us to head to the Rīgas Starptautiskā Autoosta as Mogens was leaving tonight to travel back to Denmark via coach having arrived in Latvia to visit a week earlier. Good-byes were exchanged and shortly there after, the coach was off on its long journey.
Arta decided she’d head off back her home considering the time, but we’d catch up tomorrow as she and Inese are to be my Vecrīga tour guides and there’d a lot of sight seeing in the old city. :D
The evening had arrived and it was decided we should go to the movies and watch something. Forum Cinemas was only across the road on 13. Janvāra Iela and on browsing what was on offer, settled on The Last Samurai starring Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, et cetera.
Now whilst the film was certainly no accurate history lesson in Samurai, it was enjoyable with a decent musical score and cinematography but I shall say no more for fear of unwittingly dropping plot spoilers… :P But considering it was a large budget Hollywood production they did portray a number of Eastern/Japanese/Buddhist/Shinto ideas accurately as opposed to the usual confused glossing over that more often than not happens. Guess you’ll have to watch it to make your own minds up.
The time was now about 9 p.m. and it was off to a cocktail bar called Neo located on the top three floors of Centrālā Stacija’s clock tower situated in Stacijas Laukums. We both got some coffee but Inese fancied some cheesecake as well since that was something she discovered and became quite found of when she and Arta were over in Vilnius, Lithuania to take their TOEFL tests back in 2002 having heard about it from countless American films.
From our vantage point, we could see the bustling streets with neon lights illuminating the city below… quite magical I thought, but once again kicked myself figuratively for not remembering the digital camera. 10 p.m. came and went and there just needed to be some last minute shopping to be done so we hopped into Rimi situated inside Origo, the main shopping in Riga and got various bits and bobs.
Now it was back on to the Nos. 2 tram and head back home. Need to get some rest as tomorrow will be up bright and early for the next outing… :D