Today we actually had a very interesting local tour guide who took us around the old town in Riga. Rita from Riga is how she introduced herself to us...it was catchy. So as we toured Riga we were able to see all the things we didnt see the night before when we didnt ventur out. It was a cute little area and we had some free time to walk around and look at the shops and eat lunch. We chose to shop first, which left little time to eat so unfortunatley most people ended up eating at McDonalds. Josh and I decided not to because we had no local money and they didnt take credit cards (weird!), but Harlan (the director of the international travel study programs at the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater) brought us both back a meal because he didnt want us to go hungary as we would not be stopping for food for another 4 or so hours... so that was nice.
Getting through the borders has been easier and easier...but it will probably be difficult again when we leave Tallinn and head for St. Petersburg.
We got to Tallinn around 6:30 pm and had a little room mess up, but after we straightend that up Josh, Edwin and a guy named Jon took the bus into the old town here. We were a bit confused as everything is written in either Estonian or Russian, so we didnt know where our stop was. We got off when we noticed that the bus was returning to stops we had just seen a little bit ago!! We had a little bit of a treck to get to the old section, but we made it and walked around looking for a reasonably priced resturant. The exchange rate here is pretty great (about 12.5 Estonian EEK to 1 US dollar) but things are priced to compensate for that in most places.
Things are good and we are here for 2 nights so we are able to head back and see more things tomorrow and we dont have any long bus rides, at least not until we leave for St. Petersburg.
Love ya.
So please tell me that you found wonderful and exotic things to shop for, that made it worthwhile to have McDonald's for lunch (which, of course, I would do if I was starving, too ... but ... yuck!) :-) It was VERY nice of Harlan to bring meals for you two, though. Under the circumstances, I agree that even McDonald's is better than going hungry for 4 hours. By the way, what is the LOCAL food like, in these areas?
ReplyDeleteRita from Riga sounds like she was fun. "Perky" is the word that comes to mind.
Enjoy the 2-day break from long bus rides. Hello to Josh! I look forward to your next message!
Hugs and love, Mom