Mahinda’s Little World

Fifth day, fifth (and final!) part.

Once I’ve finished typing it all up, I’m going to go back and spruce the posts up with some pictures, courtesy of Wayne and (hopefully) Pete. It’s going to be pretty definitive!

The Leeds and York boys left while I was pretty much asleep (or semi-asleep) on Monday morning, to catch their flights home (Andi and Wayne were going back to Manc, with the plan being to cab it to Pete’s, recover Wayne’s car, then mosey on home to Leeds).

That left Martin, Theo, Pete and me to enjoy our last day in Riga. Yes, dear readers, I might blog about other stuff soon!

Lazy Monday

We awoke to find that, for once, Andi’s shoes had not been placed back in the room this time…this was probably because he was wearing them while flying back to Blighty.

Our flight was the late one, leaving Riga at something like 10pm…the day was set up nicely for relaxing. We checked out, and decided that DeLacey’s was the place to break our fast.

The sun was absolutely streaming down, and we had rather fine lunches (I had some very tasty pork with potato pancakes), washed down with coffee and juice. No beer just yet - in my case, I would be driving later so had to avoid the temptation.

Theo and I went out in search of Latvia football shirts, etc., leaving Pete and Martin chilling out in DeLacey’s, watching the cricket highlights. Naturally, I found them highly unpleasant, hence my desire to get the hell out of there

The pair of us had a pleasant stomp round the place, and Theo finally got his shirt in a sports shop within the train station complex. I tried on a hockey shirt or two, before deciding that the baggy style really wasn’t me.

Went back, met the others, and we moseyed over to the small restaurant/café in which we’d had brunch on Saturday. The sun was high, and absolutely roasting - easily the best weather of the trip*. Sitting in the sunshine with coffee, then some cold lagers, and life was good.

* Contrary to the dire pre-trip forecast, we’d had very little rain and mostly temperate conditions. Woo!

We chatted briefly with the two Aussie (?) girls on the next table, who were on the same flight as us, but not before the little nut girl made her final appearance. She was walking along the street with a friend, and I caught her eye. I grinned, raised an eyebrow and gave her a slight nod - she smiled and giggled to her mate. She went past, and obviously the temptation was just far too much for such a complete extrovert - while behind me, she waved (I think) happily at Theo and Pete then, after I’d turned round, struck a sort of "ta-da!" pose. We clapped. It was a lovely little touch towards the end of what had been a lovely weekend.

Evening drew on, and we were hungry, so decided to try the ZupZup! Lounge for some soup - hence the name! I had a perfectly palatable goulash, while Pete had soļanka, a local speciality that’s basically a tasty beef and veg soup. The pair of us also went for random local (non-alcoholic) beverages, which the lovely waitress couldn’t explain - his tasted of liquorice, while mine was basically Vimto.

It’s a pity we didn’t discover ZupZup! earlier, as it was a very funky place indeed - probably a top spot for a bit of chilling and/or dancing of an evening. The photo gallery on the website seems to confirm this

Next time!

Before I finish the write-up, it’s time for a couple of meanderings…

Hattrick

There was very little Hattrick discussion through the trip, which some might find surprising for what was, in essence, a Hattrick Boozer.

It came to a head when we realised that we’d all rushed back to Frank’s on Sunday evening to check our results. We didn’t even think about it.

It’s a pity, really - some of the major boozers, e.g. Pete, Wayne and Andi, are getting a bit bored of the game itself. I suppose that’s what happens after a while - your team reaches a certain (high) level and you just can’t be arsed to improve it further.

I’m some way short of that level, thankfully

Beer and Girls

Many (most?) of the little comments through this write-up have been about the prettiness of the Latvian girls, and the cost of beer.

Okay, so the Latvian girls were amazingly pretty…although something does seem to happen when they hit middle age…c.f. Spanish peasant women…but I really wasn’t obsessed with the price of beer. It’s just something I noted mentally.

I did manage to try as many beers as possible on the trip. The main two seem to be Aldaris and Cesu, with variants thereof - the dark beers were especially tasty. Why we don’t get dark lagers over here, I’ll always be unhappy about. They’re just so nice. Like lager but with more taste. Bocmanis was probably the best - a 7% beauty, almost black, that was pretty much a cold fizzy porter. Believe me, it’s better than it sounds. Aldaris Porteris was also very nice indeed - porter by name, cold fizzy porter by nature!

Other brands I remember are Lacplesis (but with more random accents on half the letters!) and Bauskas.

The honey beer, Medulus (I think), that Dr. Tim had recommended, was disappointing. Available in Alus Seta (aka Lido), it turned out to be a light golden lager with a hint of honey - nice enough, but a far cry from the hearty meady brew I was hoping for. Well, I should have expected that to be the case - Tim likes his lighter fruitier brews, while I like my ales dark and mucky .

Obviously, many English tourists (including the oft’ mentioned British tossers) don’t venture further than the pint (well, 500ml) of standard lager - when asking for the dark beer by name, barmen usually queried me, saying "that is dark beer" in an "are you sure you want this?" manner. Oh well.

Vana Tallinn

I’ve been raving about this stuff for years, ever since I first tasted it in Tallinn (Estonia), back in 2000. Quite simply, it’s my favourite drink ever.

Unfortunately, it just cannot be found in the UK for love nor money (except for one time when I found it in Valvona & Crolla, a rather fantastic deli in Edinburgh)…until now! These guys have started importing it, and it’s available from some North London off-licenses (and a gentlemen’s club…but I’m highly unlikely to encounter that outlet on my travels).

For now, though, I brought several bottles back from Riga, and there’s more to come when I visit Tallinn in August. They’ve now got a Vana Tallinn cream too - think Bailey’s but better. I first saw it in "I Love You", and bought a measure instantly - I loved it, and the others were impressed too. Mmmmm.

I also bought a small bottle of honey liqueur, "Medus Balzam" (medus meaning honey) - I wish I’d tasted it beforehand, as it’s absolutely lovely.

Riga Black Balsam

Unlike it’s Estonian cousin, this stuff is absolutely vile.

Don’t believe this page, which tells you that it’s great. Do believe me, though - it’s absolutely rank.

If you like Jagermeister, try it. Otherwise, just run away.

Older Women

Almost forgot about these!

Having returning to Frank’s late on Saturday night, I was in the computer room when two drunken women were led in by one of the stag do crowd. They were all very excitable, took a couple of photos, then left. Very bizarre.

Down in the bar, there they were again - the two of them, plus a third, had returned to the hostel with one of the groups of British tossers. They were obviously a cut above the stag do crowd - dressed a little classier, for a start!

Anyway, Wayne and I got chatting to one (I really cannot remember her name though). She was quite chatty, and not particularly impressed with the stag party, really. It turned out that they were three childhood friends from Bedford (I think), who were staying at one of the classier hotels for the weekend. Her son was 18 and about to go travelling - I’d never have thought she was that old, to be honest, and her two friends looked younger. Anyway, the woman was worried, as she’d never been in a hostel - she’d seen films like The Beach, featuring cockroach-infested hellholes, and was just a bit worried. She was very chuffed indeed to find Frank’s clean and hospitable.

Sunday was due to be their sightseeing day, and it was about 4am already. One of the girls was flirting outrageously with the stag crew.

I next saw the three of them in the airport - it turned out that two had returned to the hostel shortly after dawn, with the third returning, ahem, a bit later.

Anyway, back to the plot…

Home, Jeeves

After ZupZup!, it was pretty much time to head back to Frank’s, get our bags out of the saferoom (as unlocked by one of Frank’s gorgeous girls, who happened to be a former Miss Riga!), and catch a cab to the airport.

It was all fairly uneventful - Pete and I got front-row seats in the plane, which was an experience. Plenty of legroom, for a start.

Oh, top tip - in Riga airport, the first two duty-free shops you come to don’t stock any recognisable brands of cigarettes. Instead, it’s the one about 3 minutes’ walk further, just before the departure gates, that’s the one to use. Unfortunately, I didn’t know this at the time. Still, 4.20Ls for 200 cheap-and-nasty fags can’t be all that bad!

Duty-"free" is definitely more expensive than regular shop prices - my Vana Tallinn was 5.50Ls rather than 4.50Ls, and 200 Marlboro weighed in at 9Ls rather than about 7.50Ls. Details, details.

Got back to Stansted just shy of 11pm, collected bags, and picked up the bus back to the Bishop’s Stortford FC car park. Drove the 200 miles home very carefully, deposited Pete back at his place, FINALLY got home, and slept for what felt like the first time in years.

What a trip!