Travel to Riga, Latvia & Getting Acclimated

When we arrived at Dulles Airport, David checked into upgrading our economy seats to Business Class.  SCORE!  The second best decision of the trip.  (The first being to take the trip).  Why you ask?

Well, first because we got to use the the Lufthansa Lounge - plug in the electronics, relax and have a great local beer.  When they called us for our flight, we walked down a private hallway to enter the plane.  No rubbing shoulders with the economy class.  Wow, almost royalty.

Then there is the great three course meal on real china.  Sit back, prop my feet up and watch a selection of movies on our own private movie monitor. What's not to like?

But most importantly, and the real reason for the upgrade, we were able to stretch out and catch a few ZZZs.  It really helped with the jet lag at the other end, especially since David had a bad summer cold.

In the Frankfurt airport, we were happy to see John Jesson, our tour leader, who was on the same connecting flight to Riga, Latvia.  After landing, we helped him gather his five tons of luggage.

David, John and Janis

Our Riga Hotel

As we exited the Riga airport, Janis, our Latvian tour guide, met us, loaded our luggage into the support van and delivered us directly to our hotel, the Radisson Ridzene Hotel.  After a quick lunch we retired to our room for a nap.

Later in the evening, I wandered out in the evening to find an ATM for some local currency (Euros for Latvia and Estonia).  I also found Old Riga.  Lots of shops, restaurants and coffee bars.  The Latvians like their coffee.

There are quite a few public squares in Old Riga, the one pictured above is probably the most touristy.  I heard lots of   50's era American music as I walked around here.

There are many old churches and buildings.  But they were closed, so that exploration had to wait.  Tomorrow we will explore some more, acclimate to the 7-hour time difference.  On Friday, the group will gather for a city tour and prepare for the ride to Estonia on Saturday.