2012 CELEBRATION TRIP

 

My iPad countdown tells me that it is 1 days, 18 hours, 6 minutes and 45 seconds to take off on our 2012 Celebration Trip to South Africa - or perhaps I should say to Cape Town. There are two reasons for this. In the first place it will be our only port of call this time and secondly, Kapenaars  (as those who live around Cape Town sometimes call themselves) often regard their patch of earth as being very different from the rest of the country, as indeed it is, and one which should have declared its Independence some centuries ago. The folks from the North of the country – Johannesburg and thereabouts – flock to the coast at around Christmas. It was at this time some years back when a bunch of wags set up a “border post”  demanding passports and visas from the Transvaalers, who were singularly unamused.

Although I don't usually keep a diary for trips back 'home', I thought it might be interesting to try and do that for this trip - as if I were a tourist and not a returning native. So here is a bit of back story and motivation for the 2012 Celebration Trip.

We were last in Cape Town in 2009 for Rab to celebrate, jointly with good friend Lola, a significant birthday. We had a great time and for those who want to see a bit of the countryside, there are some views here . The party was great fun all round. Good friends, good food, good wine and plenty of singing. Rab usually sets this off with her well loved rendering of "Land of Hope and Glory" and it goes downhill from there. I set them all blubbing when I toasted the old girls and said that it was wonderful that we had this chance to get together because, given our combined ages of almost 1,000 years, and our multiple health issues, we had to accept that the chance of us all meeting again were slim.  Of course everyone missed the point which was that we should be gloriously happy that we had this time together, not sad that it might end. But such is the fate of the optimist I suppose. We are all still here, and no doubt this will be pointed out to me and I  will be told that I was wrong.

In fact we had no real intention of returning to Africa, although I would love to get up to Zimbabwe and Lake Kariba again – or perhaps visit the Okavango Swamps. But….Rab says that with no hospitals there or thereabouts and my dickey heart, that’s not going to happen. In vain I point out that it would be a good way to go, surrounded by the most beautiful views and countryside, but sadly she is unmoved by these excellent and logical arguments. But…we acknowledge that physically and financially we have a finite number of long trips in us and there is a fair number of places we still want to see. There are some members of the family, including our dear son, who tends to get out the old violin, metaphorically speaking, when he hears us saying that kind of thing. As he points out, we have been going on 'last trips' for at least twenty years. But.... I think it focuses the mind on how important it is to enjoy today, in case there is no tomorrow. We may not have another trip, this may be our last, let’s make the most of it, I say.

We were tossing up two self-drive options last year – the Mountain States of the USA or Southern France/Northern Portugal when we were diverted by the thought of a cruise. I’ve described that decision making process in the piece I posted on this blog on   Monday, September 12, 2011 - Back on theMarco Polo What I didn’t mention then was that  the e-mail from Malaysian Airlines with a Special Offer: One Week Only!! which essentially gave us two tickets for the price of one could also be used to get to Cape Town AND, so we calculated, that would mean we’d have enough points to get yet another ticket – five for the price of two.   So we booked there and then to be in Cape Town with our pals for my BIG 70 – or as I tend to think about it my “Best Before” or “Use By” Date, based on the biblical three score years and ten - in February.

No sooner had we booked and as we were on the point of paying our non-refundable fare than we got an e-mail from my sister-in-law saying that her daughter – Rab’s godchild – was getting married in March. Quick change of plan – celebrate my birthday a month late and get to the wedding. Done! Then came the e-mail from my sister announcing that she was getting married again three days before my niece. Hence the title The Celebration Trip.

 

What we didn’t know then was that Malaysian would stop flying to Africa, which left us in a bit of a spot. Of course they offered us some optional flights with other airlines, the best of which would have seen us on the move for about 32 hours as we flew from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur, to Singapore, to Johannesburg, to Cape Town changing aircraft at each stop sometimes with several hours on the ground. We rejected that and for some time it seemed that our best bet would have been to trade the tickets in for the French/Portuguese option. We had been considering in the first place. but in the end we were able to negotiate a deal which sees us back on Qantas.  For many years we flew Qantas happily. It is a great airline – or was back then – but the hub is Sydney, so virtually all International flights go out of that city. We face the option of getting up at 4.00 am to get an early morning flight up there or going up the day before and overnighting in Sydney. We’ve chosen that option. We also have to change planes in Johannesburg, which is a bit of a schlep – the last thing you need is to sit around for a couple of hours on the ground waiting for a local flight after a fourteen hour international one.

So there you have it. The boys are going down to their luxury kennels tomorrow. It will be a first for the pup, but with Rudi as an old hand and his natural exuberance, we don’t think he’ll find it too hard. He may miss out on his treats though – he enjoys his food more than any other dog we’ve ever had.

KUALA LUMPUR Wednesday February 14, 2007

 

Well, we’re almost home now after a wonderful holiday. The flight down from Stockholm was excellent and we managed to get about three hour’s sleep. With only one hour to boarding and then a mere eight and a half hours to Melbourne, there’s not long to go now.

There was no more snow in Warsaw when we left on Sunday. After the usual substantial breakfast we were just hanging around in the bedroom aiming to leave at about 11h30 for our 13h30 flight. I had put my watch on South African time mode for some reason and was wondering why Rab was getting a little agitated when it was only 09h20! She soon put me right.

We had a last ride in a somewhat hair-raising Warsaw cab and he dropped us off at Departures. Unfortunately the aircraft was leaving from another terminal about  300 meters away so we had to go out into the rather cool ( - 7°C) morning and drag our bags along there through the snow, ice and slush.

The flight was good and comfortable and we caught the Express train into the city from Arlanda where Lars and Gerd were waiting for us. They were so pleases that the trip was successful and enjoyed the stories of our travels.

Me and my pal Axel - the Bengtsson's grandog

We didn’t do much yesterday – just got the pictures downloaded and had lunch at a vegetarian café which was very good. In the evening we went to the restaurant at the end of the line and Rab had the biggest pizza ever seen, which was also delicious. We had popped  in to see Helena and Axel on the way and had a glass of champagne with them. This plus two bottles of wine made for a very merry evening! In fact we had a good laugh on the way home.

On a previous visit we had missed the last train, so we made sure we caught it this time. Gerd was saying how, in all the years, they had travelled on that bit of the line they had never been asked for tickets, so they were well ahead of the game. As she was telling us this story I saw a ticket inspector loom into view behind her and tried to signal this  to her. I guess he didn’t speak English, but her face was a picture when she saw him 

Saltsjobaden - a lovely spot and looking glorious in winter

It was snowing gently this morning – a nice farewell touch.

That’s where my diary for this trip ended. As is so often the case, I never get around to finishing the entries off completely. There’s always a rush in getting home, picking up animals getting the house straight, catching up on mail etc.

We love to travel but it is always good to get home and into our own bed.

WARSAW Saturday February 10, 2007

I didn’t write up this diary yesterday because we had a bit of a rest day as it was snowing most of the day. We started off by giving Jen a ring as it was her birthday and the Poms were going into their usual spin about the sky falling in because they had a bit of snow. 2,000 schools closed: 6 or 8 airports non-operative: trains delayed because the flakes were too big. They seem to have these problems every year and one of the talking heads claimed that the problem was that it snowed so rarely – well, apart from every winter that is!

The Polonia Palace Hotel

We caught a cab to the Gestapo HQ expecting, I think, something as well done as the Uprising Museum, but it wasn’t anything like that: just a series of cells and one office preserved as it was. Awful to think that an estimated 100,000 people were ‘processed’ through there. The area around the building was mainly parkland, looking really beautiful after the steady snow.

Comfortable, if cool, cushions on the seats

We caught another cab to the shopping centre Arkadia – we hadn’t realised that it was only officially opened yesterday. Rab enjoyed wandering around again for a bit but most of the shops had designer clothes and so were of very little interest. There were girls dressed in a  variety of gold lame outfits everywhere as part of the opening promotion. Some of the outfits were distinctly unusual! We stopped off at the ice cream shop at the end of the mall again and thought we’d try a milkshake. Big problem to explain but we finally got them and they were delicious.

We walked back to the hotel as it wasn’t far away and had a light lunch in the room after I had gone to the local supermarket to pick up a bit of cheese and bananas and a bottle of genuine Polish Vodka for Matt. (I saw why there were warnings about the beer in the visitors magazines. The cans were 500 ml and the alcohol content was 8.5% - so drinking one can of that would be the equivalent of about three Aussie standard beers.)

In the evening we went to another restaurant - Grandmother’s Cupboard. I had venison and Rab had pork, both of which were delicious. Rab had an awful cough and barked a lot during the night although she says she feels fine.

After another splendid breakfast we checked at the desk for a city tour as I had  not been able to find one yesterday despite phoning all the numbers in the In Your Pocket guide book. One of them had told me that they were not running because of the shortage of visitors in winter. Turned out they were wrong and there were two tours today – one at 10h00 and the other at 14h00. we booked the latter.

It had snowed heavily overnight and was still coming down quite heavily when we woke up but by the time we went out at about 11h00 it had stopped. It was pretty nippy but we didn’t feel cold. We mooched around the supermarket and other shops, buying a couple of drinks and some make-up for Rab and some Fahrenheit Aftershave for me in a spray bottle for me (I have been looking for it for years but it is simply not available anywhere in the world!). we also picked up some magazines and I went along to the Internet café to read my mail. The magazine shop had an enormous range of papers and magazines in dozens of languages – remarkable.

We had to wait for the tour guide to pick us up at the hotel and when she finally appeared I left the rucksack with Rab’s extra warm gear in it behind. We phoned the hotel and they confirmed it was safe  but it left us short of a few items and although it had stopped snowing and the sun even shone briefly it was freezing cold at -11°C.

We hadn’t realised either that the tour involved leaving the relative warmth of the minibus to walk in the Arctic conditions.

Chopin Memorial

The first stop was the Chopin memorial, which wasn’t too bad. We were in ankle deep snow which was beautiful, but the next stop was a longer one at one of the palaces – Lazienski – and everyone was really cold by the time we got back to the bus, so much so that no-one got off with us at the Jewish Memorial. The final stage of the tour was a walk through the Old City. Again a freezing experience which rather spoilt it for us all.

WARSAW February 8, 2007

(Morning)

It seems ages ago since we left Riga, but it was only yesterday morning! We took a last trip down to the market to get some felt innersoles (45 cents a pair!) to try them out in my walking boots back home. It was snowing gently and very cold. I took off my gloves at one stage to take a photo and my fingers never really recovered.

We checked out at noon and had a good ride out to the airport. It is a tidy little place and everything went well, although of course we were very early. I tried to change my Lats to Zloty but the exchange could only give me about Z280 (about A$126). We had a few coins left which bought us a coffee each.

I knew the plane was going to be a small one and we went out to it by bus. I don’t recall the make, but it was one I’d never heard of. Not much room but a comfortable flight and a very nice hostie. A clever little marketing point was that the top of the lunch box was a detachable postcard.

The luggage flew off the plane and as we got to the baggage collection point, it was there. (SwissAir in Zurich has been the only other airline to have achieved this for us – in Zurich) As we walked out of the airport building a bloke asked us if we were looking for a taxi. Lord only knows why we said “Yes.”, but he said he could take us into town. We started walking with him but when it became apparent that we weren’t heading for the taxi rank, we turned tail. (Rab's version of this foolishness is marginally different. In her version, her husband was the mug and it was only her perspicacity that saved us from a fate worse than death.) The local guide books warn strongly against these blokes.

The view from our room

Stalin's Gift

 We caught a Mercedes taxi at the rank and had a very comfortable and reasonably priced ride – Z25 (about A$10) to the hotel, which is terrific. We did push the boat out a little on this one but are paying 50% of the rack rate of €240 (about A$400!). the hotel was originally built in 1913, managed to avoid being damaged during the war and was refurbished a couple of years back. High ceilings and marble everywhere. Our room faces one of the main squares where the Science Palace stands – a gift from Stalin, it has 40 million bricks and more than 3,000 rooms and towers over everything else. We were going to go up to the viewing platform today, but it is snowing this morning so we’ll give it a miss. Apparently it snowed yesterday morning too, but was quite warm (+2°C) when we got here so it had all melted on the ground leaving a surprising number of dirty puddles.

I had been receiving SMS messages all day from pals all over the place and when we went around to the Internet café last evening there was a lot of e-mail those who hadn’t SMSed. Steve and Judy also gave me a ring at the hotel, although they had a bit of difficulty in getting through.

Happy Birthday indeed!

We picked out what sounded like a good Polish place to celebrate and for our first meal in Poland – Folk Gospoda. We had to catch a taxi over there – everyone and all the guide books are adamant that only recognised taxi companies should be used and strongly recommend that they should be booked by phone! Anyway, the concierge got us our taxi here and he dropped us off at the restaurant at about 19h15. It was full of happy customers, many of whom seemed to have been there since Happy Hour some hours earlier. We were fascinated to see tables sharing s 5litre “tower” of beer – a glass  cylinder with a tap at the bottom. The manager said they were fully booked but could squeeze us in if we could eat within an hour.

We agreed to this and had a wonderful meal, albeit it one that would have the medicos in a froth – bread and delicious dripping and two excellent main courses with potato, dumpling and sauerkraut plus some excellent beer and all for about A$35! We duly phoned for a taxi and while we waited in the street for it to turn up were approached by two other taxis claiming to have been called by us – but they didn’t know the magic word – my name.

(Evening)

I had a bit of a disturbed last night as Rab started on a cold (presumably caught from the couple who sat behind us on the bus and sniffed and snorted for five and a half hours, never having heard of a handkerchief or tissues, apparently). Anyway, she was barking a bit, plus the duvet supplied by the hotel too small so every now and then one of us would lose coverage and get chilled. That’s been resolved for tonight as we got another duvet from housekeeping. So Rab slept in quite late – about 07h40 and  when we opened the curtains it was snowing! Not too hard, but steadily. And gradually everything was turning white – just what we wanted. The snow continued throughout the day which made for terrific vistas everywhere.

The whitened square

 The breakfast was a wonderful surprise. Even thought the hotel brochure said there were over 200 items, seeing was believing. There was everything anyone could ever want. I settled for some excellent fresh fruit  - watermelon, melon, pineapple and mandarin -  which Rab also had, plus a couple of kiwi fruit that I had overlooked. She had cereal (add your own nuts, raisins etc to a basic muesli) with yoghurt while I had a bit of the cold smoked fish and cheese with very good rye bread. I followed that with a bit of Polish sausage, bacon and scrambled egg while Rab had a small sample of the excellent and very wide selection of cheeses.  What will we have tomorrow?

Breakfast done, our friendly doorman ordered a cab and we set of trough the falling snow to the Uprising Museum. Oh! Before I forget, we were fascinated by the woman at the next table at breakfast. She looked Japanese but spoke good English. On her fruit plate she had a croissant, some lettuce and tomato, grilled mushrooms and a selection of fruit. Once that was gone she went off for seconds and this time she had a piece of cake, some dim sims, a couple of chicken wings, a pancake, a bit more fruit and some cheese – an interesting selection indeed.

Anyway, back to the museum. We trudged through the snow to the office to buy our tickets (Z20 each – A$9) and then back to the snow to the entrance. We handed in our coats – the admission price included this service – and picked up an English spoken electronic device each for Z5. the museum was very well done and gave us an excellent view of what must have been an awful time for the people of Warsaw while their city was demolished. There were some outstanding newsreels shot during the Uprising which really got you right into the action. A truly moving experience.

Excellent ice cream - with fresh fruit

We collected our coats and called a cab and waited on the pavement outside for it. The snow was still falling although it wasn’t really cold like Riga on Tuesday or Wednesday (That’s yesterday!! Seems like last week!) we got the driver to take us to Arkadia – the biggest shopping mall in these parts which Rab enjoyed looking around. We had some delicious local food at the food court - ironically the biggest queues were at McDonalds and KFC -  and some really excellent ice cream, made with real fruit.

Back to the hotel for a rest and then on to an evening meal at the Strauss Restaurant (casual) at the hotel – Rab had spaghetti a la olio and I had an excellent local soup with white sausage.

RIGA Tuesday February 6, 2007

It was bitterly cold this morning (-6.5°C at lunch time) when we left the hotel after a good night’s sleep and a solid breakfast. We had decided to go down to the market, despite Rab’s concerns about pickpockets, muggers, etc. at her insistence I took off all my jewellery, took only one credit card (everything was locked in the hotel safe) and the card, with about L60 (A$135) was in a pouch around my neck, hanging inside my shirt.

I was really surprised how jumpy she was when we got there – our trusty #19 trolley bus got us to our destination quickly and cheaply. As things turned out, she began to realise that the freezing weather and lack of tourists were likely to keep the rascals away and that the stall keepers were generally all nice jovial people who tried to help.

The marketplace itself consisted mainly of stalls inside several buildings, two or three of which were originally hangers for zeppelins from World War I. Surrounding these buildings are literally dozens of stalls offering virtually anything you can think of for sale.

Rab was finding her warm gear inadequate for the cold, which was accentuated by a brisk breeze, and we decided to look for a coat, especially as they were so reasonably priced. We struck blanks ay the first couple of shops but then went into one where the young woman couldn’t have been nicer. She took her stock apart trying to find what Rab wanted and when she found she didn’t have the chosen style in black, she nipped off for “just two minutes”, presumably to try and find one.

 

It was more like twenty minutes in the end and  when she did she indicated that she had been unsuccessful. Just then an older woman came in and was greeted with shouts of joy – off they went together and this time – Success!! The right coat,  the right size, the right colour and all for L55 – or L52 as we knocked off L3 as a discount, making it about A$125. It is very warm and Rab looks good in it.

We wandered on, even visiting the food hall – or at least the butchery section. Some strange cuts of meat there! It was getting colder by the minute and then it started to snow. Very small flakes and very light flurries, but it was snowing! My feet were killing me and so we decided the time had come to try and get new boots. Again the young girl in the shoe shop was so good. She didn’t have my size in her stock, but shot off somewhere and returned in due course with a pair that fitted. What a difference. They are fur lined with really thick soles and are really comfortable. They were priced at L20 and I asked for a discount, offering L18. The girl said she couldn’t do that – L16 was her best price, so I reluctantly paid that – A$38!

I felt quite sad at leaving my old boots – I had them for about 25 years so rather than just dumping them in a bin, we took them for a last walk in the park this afternoon, again in gently falling snow, and put them to rest in an urn in the gardens. Maybe some beggar will find them!

Back at the market Rab tried to find a better coat for me, but none of them fitted so we decided to call it a day and hop a cab across the river to the Olympia Shopping Centre. This was toted in one of the freebie magazines as the latest and best shopping centre, but it was disappointing. Nothing there really apart from shoes, luggage and children’s clothes plus a very big supermarket Rimi 8-13 (as opposed to 7-11!)

So we didn’t do anything there except to have some lunch. The food court had a burger joint – Hesberger – and a place selling souvlaki but also some typically local spots including one offering a variety of soups. We ordered small ones for L1.75 each but even they were enormous – about 750 ml we reckoned. Rather dully, we each ordered the same item, a creamy vegetable soup which was delicious. The snow came down again as we ate and we had a good view of the river.

Back to the hotel by cab and then out for a stroll to farewell the boots and test our new gear. Although it was very cold, there was no wind and we felt warm enough. We encountered a woman with two Alsatian type dogs that were romping in the snow. She was a friendly sould, unlike the schnauzer owner we met at the shopping center who couldn’t even raise a smile when Rab tried to greet his dog. I dropped the film stick in at a camera shop to burn another CD – don’t want to take a chance of losing them again.

I just had to interrupt this narrative then to help Rab into the bath/shower. It is a ridiculously high bath and is very difficult to get into or out off – it’ rather like mounting a horse. Talking of which reminds me of the experience of drawing money from the ATM next to the hotel. You have to mount three fairly high steps (cast iron lattice work) to get to the small platform at the top which gives you access to the machine. No chance of anyone looking over your shoulder there! Of course there is no handrail – very few exist in these Baltic countries – so the descent is hazardous at the best of times, let alone if there is a bit of ice around.

Anyway, back to the journal. I duly picked up the CD from the photo shop. In contrast to most of the Latvians (and Russians) we have met, the service was absolutely deadpan. Also popped into the local supermarket to pick up some water – the guide books suggest avoiding the local water.

We decided to eat in the Old Town again in the same street as Juffins 12 where we ate the night before last. We caught our #19 trolley bus downtown and found it really cold as we walked to the bus stop and then on to the restaurant. Bitingly cold actually but our warm gear kept us warm enough although Rab’s hands and my legs took a bit of a hammering (no Long Johns for me!) Anyway we made our way to the site of the restaurant via the shortest route we could only to find – nothing! No sign of a restaurant at #11! We felt it was too cold to start hunting down our second choice especially as we had such a good meal at Juffins 12, so we went back there. Rab had raved about her steak so she ordered another and I followed her – it was indeed excellent and all  for A$44.

We had intended to catch a bus home but it was so cold that we hailed a cab. As ever, I showed the driver a brochure with the hotel name and address and asked him if he knew it “Yes”, he nodded (I overlooked this clue to subsequent events) and off we went, rattling over the cobbles. But as we drove along, we became more and more uneasy because we were not following the route we had expected to. It was not possible to communicate with the driver who just kept on driving despite our protests finally arriving at Domina Shopping Centre as opposed to Domina Inn! I showed him the correct address again and off we roared on a further 15/20 minute ride. He even missed the turn into our street, until I put him right, so we were very glad to finally see the hotel. I was braced for an argument on the fare (although I thought I would pay him whatever he asked to avoid any unpleasantness) but he just drove off into the night, probably as embarrassed as we had been concerned.

RIGA Monday February 5, 2007

It was pretty chilly this morning with the hint of the possibility of snow – and indeed there were a few flakes this afternoon, but nothing more. What there was this morning was a thick mist which detracted a little from our tour of the city since some of the views across the river were hidden.

The drive itself was a bit of a swizz. The bus was meant to pick us up at 10h30 but only arrived at 10h45 due to ???? You guessed it – an accident! Mind you the way they drive here made it more believable than in Tallinn. Then we went trundling around to various points to pick up non-existent passengers. There was a pleasant guide on the bus at this stage giving a somewhat garrulous commentary. We finally got to the square in the Old Town where the tour officially started but had to wait until 11h30 before we left with three others.

There was a taped commentary which was unfortunately out of synch with the route we took, which included some areas with pretty heavy traffic. But it was still worthwhile because it gave us some idea of what the city is like. Parts, especially on this bank of the river, are reasonably good looking with some fine buildings and wide roads in pretty good condition, but even here there are some awful places, old wooden buildings falling apart, bigger structures with cracked and peeling plaster. Over the other side of the river it was even worse with some really run down areas. I guess forty years of Soviet rule had an impact. One of the buildings we saw was the KGB headquarters, now very dilapidated. I wondered why it had not been either demolished or refurbished.

There were still 'Soviet-style' monuments

We ended the tour at about 12h45 back at the Opera House and just walked into the Old Town. There are some lovely old buildings and churches but very few shops of any interest. Plenty of pubs, restaurants and strip cluns etc and a lot pf shops selling amber, art and jewellery; shops selling designer clothes and a surprising number of hair and beauty salons – and saunas.

Old Town Square

 We decided to have lunch at a “Salt & Pepper” which seems to be a chain restaurant. They had a lunch time special of frikkadels (South African braised meat balls) with pasta for only L1.78 (A$4.00) so we thought we’d try that. After about 25 minutes the servitor to whom we had given our order re-appeared with a substantial plated of food which on examination proved to be a chicken leg and thigh (rather underdone by the look of it) on a bed of spaghetti. We called her back and pointed out that this was not what we had ordered. To which her response was that they ahd run out of frikkadels! She seemed most surprised when we rejected her chicken and moved on to a Double Coffee Shop. We had had a coffee in one of these in Tallinn and we knew they were OK.

We shared a toasted sandwich and had a good cappuccino each and then strolled on through the main square, picking up a copy of the Guardian of all papers and some water and then popped into an Internet cafe to see if there was any mail. Rab was fascinated because there were probably a hundred computers in the area and about  eighteen in the area where we were. She reckoned half the people were playing games and the other half surfing sex sites!!

We made our  way to the correct trolley bus stop and only had a short wait for a #19 which whisked us back to the hotel at high speed all for 0.15 centas each, which is to say, very little! (One of the pages I downloaded had this to say about the local currency: “The unit of currency in Latvia is the litas (Lt), which comes in denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500Lt notes. The coins can be divided into two categories: the significant 1, 2, and 5Lt coins; and the nearly weightless and worthless centas coins of which there are 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1”. By my calculation the 1 centas coin would be the equivalent of a farthing or a quarter of an Australian cent.)

 

Our trip took us past the restaurant we were going to eat at and also past the Russian church. It seems from our limited data that beggars congregate outside these churches. One had two dogs with her, all wrapped up in blankets with home made muzzles. They looked pretty pathetic, all three of them. There are not many signs of poverty, apart form the rickety houses, while on the other hand there are many signs of prosperity. We spotted a Rolls Royce and a new Bentley in our travels and there are many big Mercedes and BMWs. As I mentioned earlier there are plenty of designer outlets and women wearing the clothes sold there plus of course some magnificent furs.  The clothes don’t seem quite as flash as some we saw in Tallinn though, where there were many very high heeled and rather kitsch ones.

This evening we caught a cab to the restaurant which turned out to be very nice and good value. It was a genuine Latvian  meal – our first truly local meal since we started our trip. I had a herring starter followed by what they called grey peas and ham, while Rab settled for braised pork ribs and sauerkraut. Both were very tasty – mine was really what we would call pork and bean – and we shared an ice cream to finish with. I tried the local liqueur – Black Balsam – but it was pretty grim – very bitter. We strolled back to the trolley stop – avoiding the Russian beggars and were lucky enough to arrive simultaneously with a trolley bus.

RIGA Sunday 4 February, 2007

Not a good day, yesterday. The bus ride from Tallinn was memorable, but for all the wrong reasons.

We were told by the booking clerk to be at that autobussjaan half an hour before the bus left – at 09h30. so we ordered a taxi at the hotel for 09h10 to give us plenty of time. Of course the cab never arrived. It had an accident, according to the concierge. Yeah! Right! Anyway, the next one turned up ten minutes later and we got to the terminus in time.

There was quite a crowd of assorted Baltic and Russian peasantry there already – but no bus. I spotted our bus parked in the middle of the yard with no driver; after about ten minutes a man ambled across to the vehicle and climbed aboard, starting the vehicle but not moving it. At about 09h50 he brought the bus over to the bay where by now a substantial crowd had gathered. We were expecting a rush for seats when the door opened, but nobody moved! We waited a couple of minutes and then asked the woman in front of us if she was going to Riga. No English, but not for Riga. Turned out that very few were for our bus.

The driver duly opened the luggage hatch and sourly nodded when I asked if we should put our bags there, then shoved them right to the back of the bay. We climbed aboard – a couple of others were ahead of us and chose what we thought would be good seats. What we didn’t realise was that we had been allocated seats, although they were not together. As the bus was not full, it made no difference where we sat. turned out thought that the chosen seats were not the best.

The first intimation that there was a problem was when our window (and only our window) started misting up. I had to keep wiping it to give Rab a bit of a view. We couldn’t understand why this was but as we got going and the heater really kicked in it became apparent that there was something wrong with the floor vent as the heat blew up and cooked Rab’s thigh. Adding to this discomfort was the family of four in the seats behind us. The two young children yowled and cried and shrieked and laughed practically non-stop. We took it for about three hours but when a particularly loud shriek right behind me got all the heads in the rows in front turning, I growled “Hej! Enough!” in my sternest tone. That got the little girl sobbing, but also quiet and she went to sleep after a while.

But in the meantime the temperature in the bus was rising and people started shedding clothes. I reckon it was about 30°C by the time we got to Riga and I was sweating bullets. Rab and I had both got aisle seats some hours earlier so we avoided the very worst of the heat but it was still uncomfortable.

It took quite a while to get going out of Tallinn, although we left the bus station on time, but then trundled around the city, going to all three ferry stations (even thought there were no ferries docked – and therefore no passengers) and on to the railway junction before finally heading out of town.

Border Control at AINAZI

The trip itself was uneventful. The road was good for most of the way and only deteriorated for the last hour and a half or so in Latvia when we reached the end of the EU funded highway and went back onto the old road. There was not a great deal of traffic and most of it seemed well behaved, at least until we got to the outskirts of Riga.

We had two stops on the way. The first after about two hours was at Pärnu which I think is the second city of Estonia. (It’s not actually – about fifth biggest with a 2010 population of about  44,000) Not much to see there! We had no idea how long the stop would be but one of the locals nipped off and came back with coffee so I asked the driver if he spoke English. His snarled response, whilst unintelligible, was an indication that he did not. The man with the coffee said that the original announcement had said about ten minutes. In view of the lack of clarity I didn’t get off, as being  stranded in Pärnu would not have been a good idea. The second stop was over the Latvia border and having learned that ten minutes was closer to thirty I got off to stretch my legs and have a piddle in a ghastly portaloo. I got two nice coffees though, plus a couple of cheese and ham snacks but caused a huge consternation by giving a Lat5 note for the purchases which amounted to L 1.07. A search for change ensued but I finally got a handful of small coins that came to L 3.93! (the exchange rate at the time was 1 Lat = A$2.40. – so we doubled Lat prices and added 20%.)

Although from time to time Rab suggested that we may not have made the best decision in catching the bus, in fact there is little choice if you wish to get from Tallinn to Riga. The train goes via some ungodly place in Belarus or some such country and takes about 12 hours with at least one change of trains. (and the requirement to get a visa) There are only two flights a day – one at the crack of dawn and the other late at night. So in reality the bus was the best option and did at least give us a view of the countryside.

The road follows the coastline closely although you would never guess that because the view consists of pine trees and beech trees in great profusion. There were a few farmhouses but clearly, as one of the guides said, Estonia is sparsely populated having a density of one tenth of the Netherlands. Latvia had more little town and houses. We saw a beach at one point with a very dirty looking sea and a thin strand of dark sand, fringed with snow. People were ice fishing through the ice (which is called Pimpling – at least in Sweden) on a number of frozen inlets. We saw plenty of snow along the way but not much else during the five and a half hour trip.

Pimpling along the coast

 

We had a spot of bother checking into the hotel as the first room they offered was not what we had paid for, but they cheerfully changed the room. We caught a trolley bus down to the Old Town and had an excellent meal there – although not Latvian. Rab had a great fillet steak and I had lamb cutlets with lentils. 

Back to the hotel by trolley bus and we slept like logs.