What better way to celebrate Little Lady's and my birthday than a vacation. Well it was a vacation for us. It was a work trip for S but we tagged along. The day after Little Lady's birthday we packed up and were on a plane headed for Riga, Latvia. We knew it would be cold and dark when we were there but we felt we were ready for it. What we were not ready for was Little Lady's bad attitude about being there. It took us a while but we figured it out. She thought we had moved yet again and that the tiny hotel room was our new house. She didn't seem to grasp that it was just a temporary thing. Oh well we will get back into the swing of travel soon. While in Riga we enjoyed the few Christmas Markets that they had. We wandered the town. We ate amazing food and we visited the zoo twice. Public transportation was easy to figure out. Everyone we came across spoke English and were perfectly happy to switch into English when talking with you. We saw plenty of Christmas lights, and even visited the Central Market. This market is housed in 5 old Zeppelin Hangers. Each one has a bit of a different theme, one seafood, one meat, one produce, one baked goods, and one odds and ends sort of things. There was also a market going on outside around the hangers too. It was very fun to walk through and we loved eating our way through it. During the day Little Lady and I wandered the city. We played on any playground that did not include sand. She has decided that she hates sand. Well not as much as the snow pants we tried to get her to wear but still she is not a fan. She also was not a big fan of actually going into any of the buildings. She chose to scream, cry and just melt down whenever we tired to enter anything. I in the end figured that if I forced it then she would just make both of us miserable and it wasn't worth it to me. So I didn't go in and just spent the time walking around outside. Once S got home from work we would go out to eat and we ate at some amazing places and the prices were good. We had Sushi, Italian, Pizza, Asian but no Latvian. There were plenty of places and they would have been good for us but without the resources to stock up on snacks for Little Lady it was a no go in finding food she would eat on their menus. We are not sure where the picky eater came from but it is getting tiring to deal with. After an exciting week in Riga, we boarded the plane back to Warsaw on my Birthday and returned to our house where we ordered Indian for dinner and just relaxed in our house. All in all it was quite the experience and I would love to go back in the summer when we can really enjoy the city and not need to be bundled up to do it.
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| A guy dressed as Santa came around giving people vegetable to feed to the bunnies of Bunnyville. |
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| We spent lots of time checking on the bunnies |
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| First Carousel ride in Riga. |
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| A statue of a field commander I think.... either way I liked the lighting on it. |
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| Walking through our first market |
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| And just like in Germany 2 years ago. She sleeps through the market |
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| This tree was made of wood and had candles hung throughout. |
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| This cat house was in the larger Christmas Market. It had cats in it that were up for adoption |
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| The main Christmas market near the Dome Cathedral |
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| umm....yeah.... |
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| The playground across the street from the hotel...it was nice until she realized it was sandy |
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| A swing ride in yet another country |
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| Checking out bunnyville in the day light |
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| There were statues all through the gardens |
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| An old fort that was part of the old city wall. |
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| We visited the ducks every day after we visited Spot the Bunny in bunnyville |
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| I did not use zoom to take this. These ducks got close |
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| a bridge covered in locks |
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| reindeer display |
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| A map of all the Christmas displays |
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| The old city wall |
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| A view of the Christmas Market at the Dome Cathedral during the day |
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| One of the kitties up for adoption |
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| Little Lady finally was awake to see the kitties we visited them almost everyday too |
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| Another chance to see and feed bunnies |
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| Which she loved |
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| St Peter's Cathedral peeking out behind these buildings As you can tell we really did not see the sun at all and it was light (like this) from around 9 ish until about 3 |
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| The town square |
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| The blackheads house. Little Lady thinks it is fun to stick her tongue out |
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| Town Hall |
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| St Peters Cathedral. We tried to go in. They allow you entrance to the entry way then it is 7 Euro to go in and go up into the tower. |
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| There are gardens and parks all over the city |
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| Little Lady loved this playground the most |
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| The Freedom Monument |
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| We made it to the Zoo twice. She is like her Aunt Vickie...Let's go! |
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| Little Lady named this horse Sweet Baby |
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| He was very friendly and yes I know she could have been bitten but after petting him for quite a while he was as gentle as could be. |
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| Linx |
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| Consulting the map again to determine what she wanted to see next |
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| The beautiful frozen lake |
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| The giraffe house was awesome. It was two stories so you could be eye level with them or go down and see their feet |
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| Enjoying the playground at the zoo...ok maybe not. she said it was too wet. |
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| The seals were having thier water drained and cleaned so they were hanging out on the leaves. Little Lady calls them the scootching seals because they were scootching along the ground. lol |
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| Momma Tiger |
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| Cub #1 |
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| Playing with Cub #2 |
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| They were just as curious about us |
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| So at home seeing the animals. |
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| The one time she was smiley was at the zoo |
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| A new obsession with flamingos. We spent at least 20 minutes watching them. |
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| St Gertrudes |
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| Alberta Street. One of the most photographed streets and often used in movies. |
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| I was not that impressed |
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| Handicapped assessable playground |
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| We found this snail and I thought it was odd then we found another one later |
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| So worn out |
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| The site of the first Christmas tree. Apparently a bunch of drunk fraternity brothers from Blackhead house decided to decorate a tree one year. Then they lit it on fire. lol Somehow the decorating part caught on...not the lighting it on fire thankfully. Though the fact that this was the first Christmas tree is in dispute by Tallin in Estonia as they think they had the first tree. |
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| Near the old palace |
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| The Powder Tower where ammunition was once stored |
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| Visiting the ducks again |
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| This time we took Daddy to the zoo and we found another snail |
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| The animals were not shy. We had to restrain ourselves from touching them. |
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| Little lady loved getting up close to the animals |
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| Including the llamas |
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| Though sometimes they got a little too close |
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| some piggies that were interested in us too |
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| Tried for a family photo with the pigs...then they moved. lol |
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| In the Meat Hanger |
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| The produce hanger. This places were huge |
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| More produce |
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| Enjoying some warm fresh cinnamon rolls in the bakery Hanger |
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| Blury but this is us having fresh from the fryer donuts! |
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| Enjoying some Uzbek Bread. Which is Samosa like triangles of dough filled with different things. We enjoyed Lamb, with pickled vegetables, potatoes, and onion. There was also a pumpkin kind and a spinach kind. I want to try the spinach next time. |
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| S finally was able to get out and see some sites on Friday and Saturday. So Little Lady and I showed him around town. Here he is in the town square. Which was completely destroyed during world war II and was rebuilt from original plans that were found. |
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| We found Santa. Little Lady was not amused. |
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| The Russian Orthodox Church of the Nativity (I think I need to double check this one) |
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| The sun came out for a few minutes on Saturday morning. |
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| Saving bye to Spot bunny |
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| This is spot...or well the one we decided to say bye too anyways. There were a few that looked alike |
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| He came over to say goodbye too. |
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| Balancing is such a fun pasttime |
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| Enjoying the sun in her face for the first time in what feels like forever. lol |
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| She refused to smile. S decided that turning her upside down made her frown a smile anyway |
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| Enjoying another carousel |
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| We found a new hat for S |
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| The Cat house. The guy that built it was turned down by the church for something so he put the cat on top with the butt facing the church. |
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| The decorations were always changing. They added the hearts to the top of the wood tree. St Peters is in the background |
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| We watched them place these giant snowmen in the park with cranes one day so I had to have a picture with one. |
