Riga

Our semesters finished this week so we packed up the car and headed west. We were out of Russia before the sun showed up for its brief daily appearance somewhere over Estonia for us. (The train eventually showed up as well, we waited for more than a minute as we realized the lights stay red for a long time for the very slow moving oil trains)

It was a little chilly, the car thinks it was -17 at some point, but the news told us that it was -30 in Garmisch Germany right now, which is where we are eventually heading, I hope it warms up there by the time we get there.

Our destination for the first day of driving was Riga, Latvia. Driving through the Baltic states has been fun, the roads are in better condition then the Russian roads, yet are still quite small and slow going, but the scenery is very pretty.

I wonder who lives in the smokestack? Does he have to pay for his heating?
Nikki could hardly contain herself with excitement as we approached the Latvian border, having been to Estonia over the summer, Estonia was old news to her. But Nikki had never been to Latvia before, so a new country was added to her list yesterday.

There it is, the Latvian border. With no real border points the EU has made country crossings a little less dramatic.

Here is a bridge in Riga, well decorated for the season of course.

The city skylight of the Old town behind the river.

Nikki must know that word in every language, it didn't take long for her to discover the souvenir shops, and off for pottery, pictures and amber she went.

The view from the other side of the hotel. We will be here for two nights and then off to the next stop, Poland.