And while I'm on the subject of food...

I actually found pecans in this town. They're at one upscale grocery store. They're about $12 for a cup. Ridiculous. If I were a pecan dealer, I'd give my clients a better price than that.

But since it is now possible to buy them here (even if it requires a week's salary), I decided I'd introduce them to my Russian coworkers. So I brought in some pecans (that I'd ordered from the US) and some walnuts to show the difference.

My young female friend was somewhat hesistant, but when she tried them, she loved them. She said walnuts and pecans are like dark and milk chocolate- same basic taste, but one's a bitter variant and the other is sweet.

My two male coworkers claimed they couldn't tell the difference. It didn't stop them from eating the entire bag, however.

I shouldn't have told them where to get them. I could have made a killing.

Ask and You Shall Receive

When Jonathan and I first learned we were moving here, one of my biggest initial concerns was whether or not we'd have access to salsa. Don't laugh. I really, really love salsa.

Before hitting the panic button, I decided to wait until we got here and see what was available. Turns out, practically nothing. I didn't realize Heinz made salsa. That's what's available here. It tastes like ketchup.

I immediately went on a rant of self-pity. When people asked me how Russia was, I'd respond, "Beautiful, but there's no salsa." I didn't realize how many people were paying attention.

Next thing I knew, gifts of salsa were being bestowed upon me from near and far. Jonathan brought me some from an American store in Moscow. Friends and family from the states shipped it to me. Coworkers who went home for visits brought some back with them. And before I knew all that was happening, I agreed to split a case order with a friend.

Suddenly I had a shelf in my kitchen bending from the weight of salsa. I have never felt so loved.

Jonathan swore I'd never be able to eat it all before we left here. "We're going to be taking this with us to our next post," he said. "Next time be careful what you ask for."

He was wrong.

Ten months, and many tacos, burritos, rice and beans, fajitas, and huevos rancheros later, I have run out. As I type this, I'm sitting down to a plate of nachos that I made using the last drops of my last jar of salsa. Mmm-mmm.

But please don't send me more. I just ordered a whole mess of it from netgrocer.com. :)

Flashback to Riga, Part 2

Okay, one dinner, a load of laundry, and a mess of server problems later, where was I? Oh yes, we'd taken our walking tour of the old town.

After seeing the Riga Castle, we left the old town itself and took a walk on the shore of the Daugava river. The clouds from the snow were still lingering, and the sun was starting to set... it made for a really glorious sunset.

Here is the castle from the other side, as we approach the river...



Here is the view across the river...



Here is the Saules Akmens, or "Sun Stone" building...



and this is the Vansu bridge.



Here is another bridge...



and the sun finally going down.



Earlier in the day we'd been by the Dome Cathedral, the oldest church in town, started in 1211. We heard there was a free organ concert that night, so after a hearty dinner, off we went.

The cathedral outside...



and in.



The next day we took a slower pace and went over a few things we'd missed the first day. First stop was the classic meeting place, the Laima clock. It was donated by the Laima company, which is Latvia's premier chocolate company.

Here's the clock, and some local musicans braving the cold.



Near the Laima clock is the Freedom Tower, which was constructed in 1935 and miraculously made it through both WWII and the Soviet occupation, when "freedom" was sort of a dirty word.



Speaking of freedom and the Soviets, our next stop was the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia. The history of the takeover by first Soviets, then Nazis, then Soviets again was quite sobering; and after over 50 years of occupation, the progress Latvia has made in the last 15 years is incredible.



After that we went to a market near the square, where little old women were selling the usual Baltic fare- linen and amber- and the odd matroishka here and there. Obviously the Russian influence isn't entirely gone yet...





But at least Latvia is now free to mock their former oppressors. :)



We finished out our day by heading to the modern part of Riga, which has plenty to occupy locals when they get tired of seeing tourists gawk at their cobblestone streets. We specifically sought out movie theaters- in Russia everything is dubbed, so we take every chance we get to see a movie in English.

Our final day the snow returned, but again it was gentle and beautiful, so no complaints.

Here's me in the park, with my parka (haha):



The park again, with the Freedom Tower in the background...



A statue near the Occupation Museum.



We tried to go back to the Occupation Museum, but it was inexplicably closed. I wondered if it was from the snow, but I get the feeling that Latvians are heartier people than that.



After one last quick jaunt through the old town, we had to catch our train. Overnight wasn't as bad as before, since we crossed the border before our bedtime, and we already had the wet towel trick down. Still, going from the clean pure Baltics back to Russia is always a shock...



and while it's always good to be home...



we hope we'll get another visit back to Riga soon. It's still a bit of a hidden gem... here's hoping it stays that way.

Flashback to Riga

Yesterday I started looking through some of my recently developed pictures from Tallinn when it occurred to me that I never blogged about our trip to another Baltic capital- Riga. But hey, it's never too late, right? And I figure I'd better get this info out there before I a) forget and b) go on our other upcoming trips and have even MORE to write about.

As I just pointed out, Riga is in the Baltics- it's the capital of Latvia. It's the largest city in the Baltics, and was founded in the 1200s. Certainly there were settlements there before then, but apparently it was officially declared a city in the 13th century, since it celebrated its 800 year anniversary in 2001. After being taken over by the Soviet Union in the '40s, the population of native Latvians was swamped by Russians, and today Latvians are still a minority in their own capital. Still, they've done quite well for themselves since regaining independence in 1991.

We opted to take an overnight train to Riga, just 'cause we'd never slept in a train before. Here are our accomodations...

Here's the train hallway:



Here's me in our room, with one seat/bed to each side:



Here's the snacks they put out to tempt you with (which are NOT free):



Here's me bedding down for the night. I love that my scrubs matched the sheets.



It didn't turn out to be quite the delightful night of sleep we'd hoped for. First of all, the train makes multiple stops throughout the night, so at 1:00 AM or whatever the train will come screeching to a halt to pick up more passengers in a village. To make things worse, it was stiflingly hot in our car. The heater under the window was CRANKED and there is no way to control it. Besides being too hot to sleep, I practically got a nosebleed from it being so dry. Thus in the middle of the night, I had Jonathan get one of our included towels sopping wet and drape it over the heater. It didn't make it much cooler, but at least it wasn't painfully dry any longer. I can't understand how Russians don't have problems on trains like that. They eat pickled mushrooms and throw back vodka, then go to sleep in an 85 degree, bone-dry room, yet wake up without a hangover? They truly are a superior physical specimen. Anyway, just as we'd settled down in our humid room, the train stopped at the border for customs. The customs agents came through all the rooms and opened the doors and threw on the lights and demanded to see passports and asked us all kinds of questions. Then the train crept forward several yards until it was officially over the Latvian border; then Latvian customs agents did the same thing. All told, it took about an hour. After all THAT, at around 5:00 AM, we finally drifted off to sleep. At least for 3 hours until we approched our destination.

We had a jolt of energy, though, when we looked out our window at freshly fallen snow-the first of the season.



Once we arrived in town, we found our hotel, took a brief nap, then hit the town. Riga is a beautiful city, and the snow made it even more so.

Here's a street near our hotel...



and the park we walked through to reach the old town.



We found a great booklet with a planned self-tour around the old town, which more or less defined our events for our long weekend. The entire Old Riga is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; some of its buildings date back to the 13th century.

Our first stop was the main city square and the House of Blackheads. The Blackheads were a guild of unmarried foreign merchants; the guild was actually started in Tallin before spreading to Riga and beyond. Unfortunately the original house was destroyed in WWII; this is a replica.



Next to the House of Blackheads is St. Peter's Church. The tower has burned and been rebuilt many times, but is plenty safe today; it even has an elevator to take you to the top for a great view of town.



Inside St. Peter's:



Views from the top.







Riga was once surrounded, as many medieval cities were, by a large fortress wall. Most of Riga's is gone, but there are parts still around, include the Gunpowder Tower, which now houses the Museum of War.

Here's the tower. It's really quite large- notice the man in the lower right corner.



Here is a remaining part of the fortification wall...



and at the end of the wall, the Swedish Gate, added in 1698.



Through the gate and around a corner you'll find the Three Brothers, a row of houses considered to be the best example of medieval residential buildings in Riga. The oldest is from the 15th century.



The Brothers are quite colorful, as are many buildings in the city. Here's a row of shops near the fortification wall:



and more residential buildings in Old Riga.



The walking tour ends at the Riga Castle, completed in 1515, and now home to Latvia's (female) president and the History Museum of Latvia.



Whew, remembering all this is hard work. I'm going to take a dinner break and continue with the rest of Riga in part two...