Riga

Ok, so over a year ago i read a lovesick rant about the isolated innocence of riga, and decided i had to go to latvia. But the guy who wrote that must have visited pre-ryanair, because nowadays the place is full of drunk britons.



Still, i loved the place.



Especially the 'cocktails' made with icecream and some strange caramel-like tea...



... and the street art (could this be boho?! :p)



... and the sunset over andrejsala district (where the cool cats hang and create aforementioned street art)



... and the heart wrenching museum of the occupation of latvia. did you know Latvia lost 1/3 of their population during world war two (you can read cheerfully about what the soviets did here, remembering that one week - yep, count the days - after stalin's mass deportation of 1939 the nazis attacked and within three weeks had fully occupied the country).



But its ok, things are better now. Laura Bush left some comforting words in the museum's visitor book "may our two nations... remain friends of freedom and democracy for ever". Ahem.



And those decades of soviet rule did count for something. I got a russian visa in two days!