This week I have been mostly doing work, setting work, marking work and travelling to Latvia.Yes, I went to Riga, the capital of Latvia, with my friend Katie and we had a great time. I've always wanted to go to Latvia (I have a thing about the Baltic countries - 2 down, 1 to go!) Riga is stunning and well worth a visit. And there was about four inches of snow there - it was nice to see a country where it could snow and the entire country isn't crippled for two days. (Seriously, every time it snows in the UK we act like we're Portugal or something and are dumbfounded that it could snow here, here in Northern Europe of all places...)
After a large McDonalds meal we set off to explore the town (large I'm afraid because I'd forgotten the Latvian word for 'small'). And it was 
beautiful (Latvia that is, not the McDonalds meal). And because the pound is worth about the same as the Latvian Lat, there was no converting to be done. Which was nice. And yes, we did try Latvian food too - we only went to McDonalds because it was the first place we saw and we were hungry people!
beautiful (Latvia that is, not the McDonalds meal). And because the pound is worth about the same as the Latvian Lat, there was no converting to be done. Which was nice. And yes, we did try Latvian food too - we only went to McDonalds because it was the first place we saw and we were hungry people!And thanks to Katie for waiting while I spent so long in the bookshops - I should never be allowed to go to a country where the books are that cheap!
Katie took this next photo, which is why the top of the church was cut off (Honestly, how hard is it with a digital camera?!)
If you look very carefully, you can see Katie sitting on the window ledge! I loved the story behind the Salvation Army's building in the middle of Riga. The Salvation Army built it in the 1930s, but the Germans and then the Soviets blocked the work of The Salvation Army and took the building. An old Latvian Salvation Army officer waited for nearly 50 years until, as Latvia got its independence, she was able to stand in line to prove the building belonged to The Salvation Army and get it back. And now it's finally being used for what it was intended for seventy years ago. That's pretty cool.
It was really cold!
5 comments:
Hi John (and Katie)! It was really nice to meet you for those quick few minutes in Riga. Hope you have a chance to come back for at least 2 days so we can show you more! Glad you loved our city - everyone should take advantage of those cheap flights!
Hi John
Good to see you on Sunday. Hadn't realised you had just come back from Riga otherwise we could have talked loads about that. I went there a few years ago on a fact-finding mission for Chelmsford Corps. Had a great time, met some great people and found a couple of wonderful restaurants I could have told you about.
Take care
Garry
...yeah, I hate it when I forget the Latvian for small too...
Could I just point out that it's really hard to take a good photo when there are cars and people going past all the time, on top of the pressure from the impatient person in the photo saying 'HURRY UP, I can't smile forever!!!'
You summed up the day pretty well, although you forgot to mention our Fight for Moral Justice (aka. the stop people pushing in the airport queue campaign). I don't think I've ever been so angry in my life (although we were quite tired by this time!) Some people are just so rude...
Oh, and John? EMAIL ME THE PHOTOS! Please.
Tell me about it, Andy! The Latvian word for 'small' is 'mazs'.
See if you can use it in a sentence today.
John
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