Liga’s cat has finally warmed up to me, along with her daughter. Today was a curriculum day for Alise, so she came with us to have a plane ride.
Isn’t this gorgeous? It’s the cafe that Liga’s friend Ernest runs, along with a small hotel and a charter lane business.
He worked in Europe for a few years, flying planes, then he said that he realised that if he wanted to own a place by a lake, Latvia was the only place where he could afford to do it.
Liga was telling me that there’s a groundswell of young people moving out of the big cities like Riga and moving back to the little villages that they originally came from. They open cafes, small businesses, bed and breakfasts, and the countryside is being renewed.
Ernest and his wife have been here for a few years, slowly renovating the old mill house.
This is a man made lake, apparently, but it’s been here for a few hundred years, I think.
It’s definitely a good place to put down roots.
We had a brief tour of the place, then we set off for the airport.
Here is our Cessna. I can fit under the wing!
Alise did her own thing while we were waiting for the plane. She slept for the entirety of the two hour drive, so she was raring to go.
Liga was happy to give her spot to Alise. She isn’t great with heights.
This was my view.
Here’s the runway…
This was only a portion of the solar panel farm. It covered a lot of ground.
Alise was loving it. She was taking photos and sending them to her parents and friends.
“You could pick up the buildings and put them in your hands,” she said.
We flew over the widest waterfall in Europe- Ventas Rumba. It’s a whopping 2 metres high, but hey! It’s the widest!
Latvia clearly has a thing for renewables.
James isn’t all that fond of heights. It was an educational experience for Alise, learning some new English swear words.
Actually, it was good that James was scared. It gave Alise something to focus on, and while we were laughing at James, she forgot to be nervous and she just had fun.
Over the Baltic Sea.
Alise took this photo for me as we were coming in to land. But first, we buzzed Liga, standing on the ground.
Once we were back at the airport, Ernest took us for a quick tour of the planes. There was a Soviet MIG plane outs, as well as this one.
“ It doesn’t matter if it’s a Soviet plane, tank or car,” said Ernest. “ The measure of thumb is one kilometre per litre of fuel!”
Gliders.
Ernest gave us free booze and some coffee beans. James’ beer was a live beer. It turned out to taste really good, so they said.
I stuck to the best apple cider I’ve ever had.
Yum. I wish we could get this back in Australia.
Home again, home again.
James was really keen to hit the gay bars of Riga, so Alise was dropped off at her aunt’s place, and the three of us went out.
The gay bar was pretty dull, so after an hour or so we grabbed another Bolt and went into the city to a bar.
Liga translated some of the designer beer names.
6.Tapeworm killer
9. Beer from the swamp
I’m not drinking beer. They were hopping into it.
Beer is a big thing in Latvian culture. James accidentally put his foot in it when he looked at the board, and asked for a LITHUANIAN beer.
The barmaid stared unblinkingly at him and said, “Try again.”
He didn’t realise what he’d said, so the scene was repeated.
Oof. He finally got it right.
The three of us, just before we hit the nightclub.
Of course, if there’s a space to dance, I’m going to take it!
One girl asked how old I was, and when I told her, she said, “I hope I’m still doing things like this when I’m 62!”
“You will if you want to,” I said. “ It’s just a decision.”
Shots at 3AM. Why not?
This was an interesting conversation. This boy is of Russian descent, and has a huge disconnect in his life between his family and their political sympathies, along with his own inclinations.
“In Russia, they kill people like me,” he said. “I don’t want anything to do with Russia and the war, but my parents…”
The Russians have been here for at least a couple of generations, up to a couple of hundred years. People are heavily invested here. It’s not an easy thing to resolve.
Dad joke of the day:
If I had your dance moves I’d shake it too! (I actually do still dance, but…). I’ve never put the Eastern European countries on my travel radar, but they look fascinating. Thank you for documenting your travels!
It has been a fun week to end the trip.