Latvian Adventure Day 1: Traveling to Europe
So I have begun another international adventure! This time I am heading to The Homeland (aka Latvia) to participate in Dziesmu Svetki, a gigantic week-long event wherein the entire country pours into the capital city for singing and dancing and other merriment. I will attempt to keep a little travel diary as I have done on my past couple trips abroad, but I have to admit that, looking at our rehearsal schedule (we are participating in the main dance event), I may not actually have time to post much once the madness begins. But in the meantime, here's a report on day(ish) one!
I am traveling with my brother (Bro) and our buddy, who I will call Vin. Our parents suggested to my brother that he should take advantage of the trip to see some more of Europe. Bro didn't want to make the extra journey alone, and I couldn't afford much more time off of work, so we came up with a compromise solution: Leave Thursday night instead of Friday (only one extra day off of work), and fly into Stockholm, Sweden, instead of Riga, Latvia. Take one day to sightsee, then take a ferry across the Baltic Sea to Latvia.
I can't think of anything interesting to say about the flight itself. I had trouble sleeping because my knees hurt. We all watched The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (it was funny). Or at least tried to. The entertainment system kept malfunctioning. Layover in Heathrow was nice. Every time I return to England, even it I never leave the airport, I feel all nostalgic. This is a boring paragraph.
The serious awesomeness started when we landed in Stockholm. This country is BEAUTIFUL. The air is so fresh. The people are all unnaturally good-looking, and are so blonde they make me look like a brunette (shudder). The trains are quiet and clean and easy to navigate. The architecture is astounding. Everything is just awesome. And we've only seen a couple blocks so far! I'm especially happy with our hotel. It is perfectly located, well-stocked, and we have a pretty sweet balcony overlooking some spires and whatnot. We did dinner at the hotel bar, mostly because we didn't have time to try anything else, and boy was that a great decision: the food was to die for.
Today's only big touristy thing was a trip to Ice Bar, a bar built entirely out of ice. The walls were ice. The bar was ice. The lamps were ice. The art was ice. The tables and chairs were ice. The glasses were ice. It was badass. They outfit you with a "cape", which I thought would be just a light wrap or something. Nope nope. These were Arctic Explorer outfits. Like heavy-duty gear. Each Ice Bar "experience" only lasts 40 minutes, because otherwise everyone would just freeze I guess. Our 9-9:40pm group consisted mostly of Asian tourists, who were tickled by the whole experience, and who lent an interesting juxtopostion to the thumping music chic atmosphere the bar seemed to be trying to portray. But a bachelorette pary soon showed up and started a mini dance party, so we could at least pretend we were no longer in a serious tourist trap.
It is now just past midnight, and it has just now finally gotten dark outside. We've been sitting around enjoying out hotel room's balcony and the unbelievable fresh air. I'm about to attempt sleep, but I don't know how well that is going to work, considering it's only 6pm East Coast Time. Tomorrow is a big day. We have to squeeze in as much Stockholm sightseeing as possible before catching out cruise ship (oh, yes, did I mention that our ferry is in actuality a cruise ship?).
Photos are posted on Facebook already, so go check them out.
I am traveling with my brother (Bro) and our buddy, who I will call Vin. Our parents suggested to my brother that he should take advantage of the trip to see some more of Europe. Bro didn't want to make the extra journey alone, and I couldn't afford much more time off of work, so we came up with a compromise solution: Leave Thursday night instead of Friday (only one extra day off of work), and fly into Stockholm, Sweden, instead of Riga, Latvia. Take one day to sightsee, then take a ferry across the Baltic Sea to Latvia.
I can't think of anything interesting to say about the flight itself. I had trouble sleeping because my knees hurt. We all watched The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (it was funny). Or at least tried to. The entertainment system kept malfunctioning. Layover in Heathrow was nice. Every time I return to England, even it I never leave the airport, I feel all nostalgic. This is a boring paragraph.
The serious awesomeness started when we landed in Stockholm. This country is BEAUTIFUL. The air is so fresh. The people are all unnaturally good-looking, and are so blonde they make me look like a brunette (shudder). The trains are quiet and clean and easy to navigate. The architecture is astounding. Everything is just awesome. And we've only seen a couple blocks so far! I'm especially happy with our hotel. It is perfectly located, well-stocked, and we have a pretty sweet balcony overlooking some spires and whatnot. We did dinner at the hotel bar, mostly because we didn't have time to try anything else, and boy was that a great decision: the food was to die for.
Today's only big touristy thing was a trip to Ice Bar, a bar built entirely out of ice. The walls were ice. The bar was ice. The lamps were ice. The art was ice. The tables and chairs were ice. The glasses were ice. It was badass. They outfit you with a "cape", which I thought would be just a light wrap or something. Nope nope. These were Arctic Explorer outfits. Like heavy-duty gear. Each Ice Bar "experience" only lasts 40 minutes, because otherwise everyone would just freeze I guess. Our 9-9:40pm group consisted mostly of Asian tourists, who were tickled by the whole experience, and who lent an interesting juxtopostion to the thumping music chic atmosphere the bar seemed to be trying to portray. But a bachelorette pary soon showed up and started a mini dance party, so we could at least pretend we were no longer in a serious tourist trap.
It is now just past midnight, and it has just now finally gotten dark outside. We've been sitting around enjoying out hotel room's balcony and the unbelievable fresh air. I'm about to attempt sleep, but I don't know how well that is going to work, considering it's only 6pm East Coast Time. Tomorrow is a big day. We have to squeeze in as much Stockholm sightseeing as possible before catching out cruise ship (oh, yes, did I mention that our ferry is in actuality a cruise ship?).
Photos are posted on Facebook already, so go check them out.