the balti-scandic shuffle

So, there was a last-minute change of plans this weekend. I opted out of going to the island of Saaremaa, and instead I took a bus to Riga, the capital city of Latvia. The plan came up suddenly over lunch with Janet on Friday; I had been invited to come again to the children's center this week (which I really wanted to do) but doing so meant that the only other time left for side travel would be the weekend. As I didn't have any actual task to do on the Saaremaa trip and I really wanted to visit Latvia, we walked after lunch to a bus ticket office and switched up the plans. Randy Eplin was quite understanding and I'll be following up with him to see how their Bible school and related work went on the island. I heard there was a big storm.

By the way, lunch Friday was at a garlic-themed restaurant in Old Tallinn, and Janet and I both liked it. Including the garlic ice cream we shared for dessert :)

Anyway, I really have to admit that this weekend I was a full-on tourist. The trip to Latvia was awesome! I finally got to see some beautiful countryside along the 4-hour bus route. Riga is great, and pretty easy to get around, with the Daugava river running through, an old section dating back to midieval times on the eastern river shore, and a big city built up around all that (still with much historical architecture). What stood out to me most was a giant Centraltirgus (Central Market) right by the river/center of town where I spent hours just watching life take place that is very distinct from my own in the US. Four or five buildings resembling airplane hangers were full of vendors, each of a theme like butchers, fish & seafood, household stuff, baked and cooked things, with the streets all filled in between with hundreds of tables. I found the sight of fruit stands next to fur hat vendors striking. There is an endless section of coats, clothes, tools, fishing reels and traps, shoes, everything basically, lots of fur and leather. You can even get sized for a bra right there in the street; that's something else I opted out of. One entire street is all flowers being sold (very popular here, and I'm wondering if it's a way to cope with the weather). I got back quite late on Saturday night, Janet and Frank being kind enough to pick me up at the bus station. The time changed here that night, so luckily we all got an extra hour of sleep, although now the sun starts going down around 4:30 and it is completely dark by 5 pm.

On Sunday, Janet and I went by ferry (and here that means huge cruise boat) to Helsinki and back in the same day. Which was OK because the weather was super cold, rainy, and windy. We still had lots of fun and checked out the major landmarks like their Senate Square and a famous fountain scuplture, the Havis Amanda. We also ate at a French-countryside restaurant and hid from the cold for a while. Helsinki is a much more modern city, with architecture closer to something you may see in a larger US city. The boat ride back to Estonia was really fun because Janet and I snacked on duty-free junk food and got in some quality friend time. I loved it.

Today I had lunch with Janet at her favorite Indian restaurant here in Tallinn. Turns out Indian food is really popular here, and that's great news for me. Really cool place, with yummy stuff, and I tried plum juice for the first time (I give plum juice 3 out of 5 stars). Then I went back to the Lastekeskus (children's center) today, though only until 4 pm because it was a school holiday so most of the kids were not at the center but out with their school friends. They did ask if I could give a dance lesson this afternoon, and dance we did! Then the kids just played and after 4 I went to a shopping center (basically a mall) with one of the Estonian volunteers from the center. We explored there and got ice cream at a little stand that Janet says is acclaimed among the internationals here as the best ice cream in the region. And it was pretty good :)

A city street view in Riga, Latvia.