Just a Regular Day...

So I thought I would challenge myself and try to document what would I consider to be a typical week day.  I always start the day with a coffee, checking out the street. Our flat is on a major street with tramlines on the cobblestone but it's surprisingly quiet and I cannot believe how much I've taken to living downtown.  There are shops, grocery places, markets, parks, all within a 10 minute walk from home.

A view from our apartment.

The day really starts with a walk with the dog.  Lincoln and I have walked all over Riga. Interestingly, dogs are welcome in most places.  We have taken Lincoln into cafés and restaurants.  At one restaurant, we asked if we could bring the dog inside.  The server looked quizzical when he responded, "Is your dog behaved? Then yes." It seems that if there isn't a sign saying "no", then it's allowed.

Passing the National Opera house on a walk.

I still am surprised everytime I enter our building, the colours and patterns on the wall make me smile, particularly knowing our flat is quite modern.

When I pass by our mailbox, I always peak inside but very few people write letters so I'm quite often tempted to start writing letters to myself!

I was particularly lucky on this day, as I had a newly found friend, Ilga, show me around to a few unknown places (to me).  We started the "tour" at the Vidzemes market.  It was the first in Riga in 1876 and has seen better days.  It would seem that the rise of the grocery chains has led to the demise of this grocery market.

Entry to the market

The meat pavillion

Next on my educational tour included a visit to the Riga Central Library.  I have walked by this building umpteen times and I had no idea that this was here.  We had to go to the 7th floor and coming off the elevator was this non-descript door.

My heart jumped for joy seeing the books inside.  The library did not have a huge selection of English books but with a passport, I could open up an account and borrow books.  I was told that the late fee was 1¢ per day.

That evening we took a walk to Vec Riga (old Riga).  Every day there are more Christmas lights on the streets which really stand out.  Considering that the sun sets at 15:44, there is a lot of darkness to shine in.

We made our way to the little Christmas market and had a very healthy sized "karsts vins" (hot wine).  G had an enormous Nutella crêpe, followed up by gingerbread made right in front of us in an outdoor oven.

What I didn't mention in this write-up was the so-called mundane things that I do during the day.  Who wants to hear about taking care of laundry, mini-grocery shops and making dinner?!