The only snow left now is the small pile in out empty swimming pool in the garden, the ground is officially green and the trees are starting to become green too. A whole lot of little spring flowers have been popping up these past few weeks. I realized I've never seen a Spring so distinct before, back home the seasons just roll into each other, not too much different than the last one, but here after such a long, dark and cold winter all life is literally springing up, leading into summer.This weekend was sure proof of summer, 22 degrees in Tallinn . . . not that I was in Tallinn. This weekend we had another YFU trip. This time to the capitol of Latvia, Riga.
Luckly it was also very warm in Riga, about 20 degrees, which meant that finally after months of cold we no longer needed to wrap ourselves up in bug jackets and hats.
The trip started early Friday morning, I met with some of the students coming from Tallinn and we took a bus down to Tartu, where we then met all the rest coming on the trip. We had our own little bus waiting for us, so we all piled in and were off driving further south. We spent our first night in Estonia, staying in a local school in Rõuge, which is a small countryside town. On our ride down to the school we stopped in a few places. First was a little village museum. We got a tour around and I did my best to translate some of the stuff into English for a girl who had come with from Germany. She is a new intern at YFU so she doesn't yet know Estonian.
 |
| Part of the village museum |
We found a nice park where we stopped to have some lunch and then drove on to a sandstone cave somewhere near our destination in Rõuge (On the map I've put up Rõuge is not shown but it is just a bit South of Võru) By the time we arrived at the school, we were all very glad to be out of the little bus for the day. We went to a cute little bed and breakfast for dinner and then did some exploring around the area.
 |
| Our group stretching our legs after a long bus ride |
|
The next morning a few of us were up super early and out in the little town again, all with our cameras out and clicking. Back to the bed and breakfast for some food and then again into our little bus for another long drive to Valga. Before catching our train, just for a bit of fun, we drove across the boarder into Latvia, exchanged some money and then drove back into Estonia. It was just passing a little pole which was stuck in the ground to say this side is Estonia and this side is Latvia. On one side people speak Estonian and use Euros and on the other side people Speak Latvian and use Lats. It was cool to just drive through to another country, if I tried that in New Zealand I would drown! Back in Valga we caught a train which then took us to Riga. It was a hot day and we were on the train for about 4 hours on our journey. When we arrived in Riga we found our hostel where we would be staying for the night, found our rooms, dumped our bags and then got a tour through the city.
 |
| Latvian flags flying |
Riga is a big city, well bigger than Helsinki but still smaller than Stockholm. Buzzing with people and noise. A lot like Tallinn's old town, Riga was also set up and ready for tourists with restaurants setting up tables in the old streets and a lot of little wooden stalls everywhere selling amber made items like jewelry and other little souvenirs . Latvian flags were flying everywhere. As it turns out it was the 'restoration of Independence day' in Latvia and to celebrate, a large stage had been set up, live music flowing through the streets. We all found our own places for dinner, I stopped with a group of Germans at a pizza place, the waiter laughed when we ordered, all talking out at once because we were so hungry.
 |
| Large screens set up to show the stage |
|
Sunday morning our breakfast consisted of all our left over foods and snacks from the previous day, which we laid out on the table and everyone just helped themselves. We went out for a quick walk around the city again, then back to the hostel to clean up and get our bags. The people who had come from Tartu or South Estonia had to leave then by train but the rest of us still had the afternoon in Riga. We decided to go for a boat ride on the river. To get to the river though we had to pass through the big city market. We made a line and hurried through the city market to get to the boat on time. The market seemed to go on forever, past souvenirs, clothes, food and fruit and fish and flowers (a lot of flowers) and eventually made it out the other side and to the river. After our ride on the river it was time to get to the bus station and start our journey back up to Tallinn. We crossed the boarder into Estonia without even realizing it and were then driving alongside the sea and home again
 |
| The concert still going as the sunset |
|
 |
| Riga from the boat |
|
