checkin' out the city

I think we all felt pretty well rested when we awoke this morning. There are perks to this hotel that our past "home" didn't have, and vise versa. The first noticable perk is that we have room darkening curtains that we can close at night. Our last apt had an issue where we couldn't even close the curtains at night. Therefore, light was always pouring in from the outside. Last night was wonderful to sleep without distraction! It was the first time I had stayed in bed until 8:00 since we've been here! The breakfast in our new hotel is also better than our last. Very tastey and clean. The last place had mediocre food and it never had enough utensils on the foodbar to accomodate their food selection. Now, normally I wouldn't even eat at a place like that for fear of germs, etc. But, we've had to lower our standards a bit in order to function. It's been a good lesson for us. Thankfully, we have remained healthy thus far.

The temps were supposedly in the 20's today. However, for some reason it feels colder in Riga than it did in Daugavpils! We went our to do our own walking tour of the area we are staying in. It was soooooo cold, that our lips were frozen, making it difficult to even speak to each other. Mike enjoyed capturing some of the beauty of the architecture of Riga. The building really are beautiful.....very old. I haven't seen anything like it in the US.

After walking for about an hour, we finally settled on a small, quaint cafe for a late lunch. It is called "Double Coffee". Given the name, I thought I would make another attempt at some coffee. I had decided the coffee here is much too strong and dark for my liking. But, the concoction I chose today was AWESOME!!!! I'm sure it was not the most healthy, but I sure did enjoy it:-) Funny, after a few minutes of drinking it, I was almost dizzy from the caffene! It's been too long;-) The food there was also good. And, they had healthy choice!!!! Praise be!! Finally a meal I don't have to feel guilty about! HA, HA!

We returned to the hotel, Mike introduced Viktorija to photo editing. She really enjoyed this. It kept them busy for a couple of hours too. Anything to keep her busy and engaged. For dinner, we went to the local market for sandwich fixin's. I'm already thinking about what my first home cooked meal is going to be when we return home:-)

Tonight another DVD and bed. Are you all getting tired of reading these blogs yet? It kind of feels like "groundhog day" everyday now. We have appreciated the kind emails and notes everyone has sent our way. To get a message, or email, is an exciting event these days.

Sending our love your way.

By the way, Mike said if you click on any picture, and then click again, it will expand the picture even further to show more detail.