i have some time to pass before my train to cesis, so quick update. yesterday was sort of blah in riga, walking around the old town. . i quote my rough guide:
"nineteenth century german guidebook writer, j.g. kohl, could easily have been addressing today's tourists when he compared [riga] to a 'huge mass of rock, bored through, with holes for houses,' adding that 'the temperature of the town is that of a cavern, and there are parts of it which the sun has not seen for centuries.'"
well, yes, it was built in the middle ages. and the temperature...i didn't find it cavelike, it is quite warm here compared to reykjavik and helsinki. it is also the southernmost place i am visiting, so i can't expect that to last. not that i am complaining. anyway, back to old town, it is very nice, but i've learned that i'm just not a huge fan of medieval architecture, though i am a lover of cobblestones and narrow alleys. there is a beautiful park right outside the old town where i sat for a while by a river and watched people pass by on paddleboats. then i got lost trying to find the bus out to the home of my couchsurfing hosts for the night but of course i made it there eventually.
i fell in love with nora and normunds instantly, they are both incredibly sweet, funny, helpful, hospitable, and all the rest of those positive adjectives. they have a beautiful, clean flat about 1/2 hour outside the city with a huge window that looks out onto nothing but trees, 2 parakeets, and a great projection system for watching movies on their wall. when i arrived, they were cooking a meal of potato pancakes, a raita-like substance to put on them, and peppermint tea. two of their friends, an equally delightful couple, showed up for dinner and there was a lot of converstaion in english and a lot in latvian that they would then translate for me and we all laughed a lot and compared our respective cultures. then we watched a hilarious and sad short documentary on this old man who lives on the border of latvia and estonia and hasn't much, but makes the most of what he has, what a personlaity. normunds and nora then made it their personal mission to plan the rest of my baltic trip for me, which occupied the next hour or two. they have been basically everywhere (and i mean everywhere) either by bicycle or defender, in latvia...estonia and lithuania as well. they are so much better than a rough guide or lonely planet!! so, next stop: cesis, a castle town northeast of here. i was going to stay with nora's cousin, but there were complications with that, and there were no couchsurfers who could host me, so i bit the bullet and i am going to pay for my lodging for the first time since i have been here, but it will be worth it. i plan on staying at a lovely-looking little guesthouse and spending all day tomorrow exploring the castle and the nature, since cesis is located in the middle of a gauja national park. maybe i will even rent a bike...must always get back on the horse and all.

today i woke up at 7 when chico and pedro the parakeets were uncovered and began chattering....what a clever and subtle way to wake me up! N 'n N made me breakfast of latvian black bread topped with butter and homegrown tomatos and coffee, and sent me to the bus stop. they both bike to work everyday, so nora met me in the city at the train station and helped me book my train and showed me the platform from which it will depart- she says it is very difficult for a foreigner to figure out, so she probably saved me about an hour of time! i really hope these two decide to come to new york some day so i can repay their kindness!
i went to a huge huge market which was phenomenal. they have seven seperate buildings made from recycled zeppelin hangars from one of the WWs. each one has it's specialty- meat, poultry, fish, dairy, veggies, etc. all the fruit sellers were outside. i later learned that this is supposedly the biggest covered market in europe. i sat in front of st peter's cathedral for a while in the breeze listening to a street musician- a 10 year old boy (all the street performers here are 10-20 years old!)- play a most hauntingly beautiful staccato piece on his cello, then at noon i met up with this 'alternative tour' normunds had told me about when i told him i often prefered abandoned buildings and cemeteries to monuments. the company (just 2 guys, really) is called eat riga and they are dedicated to showing you things you will not find on a tourist map, and avoiding at any cost walking by a mcdonald's. we walked for 3 hours and along the course of our roving we went to an off-the-map flea market consisting mostly of stolen goods and heaps and heaps of metal parts, the old russian and jewish districts- which are 'not such great places to hang out after dark anymore', a building that housed first the lativan police, then the gestapo during wwII, then the kgb during the russian occupation. oy. we also walked around the new city, which no one tells you about really, and it's STUNNING! there are over 600 art nouveau buildings! riga is such a beautiful city, if you look up. alex, our guide, told us that tourism is the pillar of latvia's economy, and the tourist board does not promote any of these areas because they are not as good or intersting or safe as the old town. but wow, i disagree, they are SO much better. what a treat!

there are two guys outside dressed up like babushkas, one playing a horn and one a tuba, they have only two songs in their repetoire, i think. they have played the lion sleeps tonight twice and currently this is the third time they have played eye of the tiger while i have been sitting here. that us my cue to leave riga. onward, to cesis.