August 13, 1998, Thursday

The Tarv Hotel gave me a boxed breakfast as I entered a taxi for the ride to the bus station. At 6:45 a.m. I was sitting in the front seat of the bus for Riga. The front seat gave me a good view of the road ahead and the country side. The only colorful vehicle I saw was one of the horse-drawn wagons. The harness had a metal loop over the horse’s head. The horse, wagon and driver all looked old.

The border between Estonia and Latvia took about an hour to cross because first the Estonian border guard in a rumpled uniform took our passports and disappeared into a shack that served as a border Estonia office. It seemed forever before he climbed back in the bus and returned our passports, grunting to each of us as he handed them back.

We drove a few yards to the Latvia border station. We relinquished our precious passports again. Here the passenger cars were searched and the hoods into the motor compartment had to be searched. It looked as though the guards, two of which were women, were writing down the serial numbers of the cars.

We reached the outskirts of Riga by noon. The toilet was my first stop, where I paid 5 cents for the privilege of peeing. I did guess right as to which symbol meant men. The taxi driver took me to the Riga Hotel and only cheated me a little.

The Riga was an older type of hotel with a desk on each floor and a house keeper in charge of each floor. When I left my room, I gave up my key and picked it up upon returning. The Riga was located in the center of Old Town, which made it handy for eating, shopping, and sight-seeing.

The Old Town area was interesting to explore but it was important to have a map. The one the hotel gave me was hard to read. The one I obtained from another hotel was better. The old cobbled streets twisted and turned so a good map was essential. One block from the hotel was a square where a crowd gathered to listen to a musical group. An Indian blew on pipes, making a plaintive tone. Up and down the street were tables displaying jewelry, mostly amber. There were several restaurants, usually with tables outside.