Riga, Latvia.

Hey! So now I'm going to tell you about our trip to Riga. If you haven't read my post about Tallinn, Estonia yet, you should scroll down to the next post and read it first! Just because that's the order we went in ;) If you want. Doesn't matter.
So we left Tallinn at 10:00 AM Sunday morning and got back on the bus to go to Riga. It was only a 4 hour drive, so I took the back seat again and slept the whole way there. We checked into our hostel, called "Fun, Friendly Frank's." Hahaha. Sounds like a feeding ground for child molesters if you ask me. But really, it was nice. We were pretty much the only people IN the hostel. There were maybe 5 other guests staying there too. It was really bright and nice! The stair case was waaay steep and curvy and I swear, one wrong move and you're dead. But other than that, it was lovely. Our room was right across the street from the main river in Tallinn, so we had a beautiful view of the river and the bridges! AND the reflection of the sun on the river was just divine. We hadn't seen much sun for a while :p We dropped off our luggage and started around town. We immediately wanted to find food because we were all starving. We scoped out a few places and then decided which would be the most budget friendly for a good amount of food. The Latvian currency are Lats, which are about double in US dollars. So, when something says 5 Lats for a taxi ride, it SEEMS cheap, but really it's 10 US dollars or freaking 24 Litas (Lithuanian currency). So we weren't used to spending that much in a while, since Lithuanian currency is sooo cheap. So we did our best not to spend too much. We found a nice italian restaurant and had grilled chicken with tomatoes and salad. It was nice! And a huge coke, of course. We walked around town for a while after that, looking at the beautiful buildings Riga had to offer. We noticed that NO ONE was out? Was it just because it's sunday? Heck, I thought that was only a Utah thing. We figured that maybe at night, more people would come out into the town. Well, as night came, there were a bit more people, but still it was just a dead town! I didn't understand it. And how there was like, no one in our hostel either! I was kind of bummed. The people we met in our Tallinn hostel are really what made the Tallinn experience so wonderful! So we were so excited to meet even more people in Riga. But turns out, we didn't meet hardly any! We talked with a guy from Bangladesh for a bit and a guy from Singapore, but that's it. Anyway, we went to a little cafe called "Sweetday Cafe" and ordered some dessert. The fanciest dessert ever! I got a mug of hot chocolate and whipped cream and a chocolate cake with strawberry ice cream. Just look at it:

And boy, it was good. It was milky, and cheese-cakey and creamy. And the bananas and strawberry ice cream went so well with it. I'm a foodie, that's for sure. I talk about food like it's a person. Heh :p
We went back to sleep and I slept really well! The next morning, we knew our bus back to Vilnius was to leave at 2:45 PM so we tried to get the most out of our morning. We had breakfast at the hostel, which we were SO excited for! Free breakfast for the first time was going to be so nice. We imagined eggs and bacon and toast and what not. Well, we go down to get it and it's a couple assorted cereals..and toast. It was filling, but I wish there was more. But what can you expect when it's free? We ate and then headed out to the outdoor market, which is supposed to be HUGE! Well, it was. And we saw lots of nice shoes and coats and bags and FRUIT galore! I wanted to buy some shoes, but decided to save the money for better things like travel. Haha. We wandered to another cathedral and saw some other really nice things. Then Jenna gets a text from our German friend Felix whom we met previously at the Tallinn hostel. He told her that he was in Riga now and wanted to meet us for lunch! Um OKAY! Our international friends want to hang out with us, no big deal! He told us to meet him at the Freedom monument at 12:30. We make our way over there, but had so much time to spare. We went into a cool vintage shop and wanted to buy just about everything in there! They had the cutest pair of oxfords and so many records and english books. But I've made a vow to myself to only buy things I NEED from now on. So I can have more money to spend on travelling, because that's what I've loved most so far :) We stopped at a little park right by the Freedom Monument and found a lock bridge, so we studied them a bit. Little did I know, my friend Courtney had a lock there from her previous trip to Riga! How cool would that have been if I had stumbled upon it? :) It had a beautiful river as well, so I sat and watched the ducks for a bit. We finally met up with Felix, and he took us to a restaurant called "Street Burgers." Okay, so we all know I'm very passionate about food. But Lord Almighty, look at this thing

It's called the Ghetto Burger, and yes, I finished it ALL. Every lick. It was the most amazing cheeseburger I've ever put into my mouth. And cheeseburgers are my all time favorite food. The bun was a little tough to work with, because it was so crumbly, but it was that good bread, you know? Not just a regular burger bun. 2 Super thick patties, seasoned to perfection. Real good, creamy cheese. Garlic mayonnaise, lettuce and pickles! And fries are always good. You can't go wrong with just plain ol' salted french fries. Gosh, I can't even handle it. I'd give anything to go back and have another one of these burgers. Mmm.
We said goodbye to our new friend Felix, and headed back to our hostel. We packed up our things, said goodbye to Riga, and got on the bus to head home. The ride home was only about 4 1/2 hours so it wasn't bad at all. It was so nice to have a break from teaching! It's very exhausting, to be honest. This trip was just what we needed :) Can't wait for the next one!
Hope all is well xx
-Shelbi

 Cobblestone is so nice! 

 The sky was threatening! 

 Huge pomegranates. I wanted all this fruit.  

 Freedom Monument :)