Day 2 - orientation - June 26

First of all jet-lag stinks. Second of all 6 people getting ready in 1 bathroom stinks even more. D and K were nice enough to let us all stay in their apartment for the majority of the trip, but quarters were tight. K had a list of things to get done for the wedding on Saturday, and the rest of us got to tour Riga some more. First we went to the large market. There was a whole building for the meat market, clothes shops outside, a building with bakery items (we liked this as we sampled a few different types of piragi) and the fish market (this was not my favorite one as it didn't smell the greatest). In vec-Riga we found a road named after my dad:

We shopped the little stands on the street:

And saw many beautiful churches:

And of course visited more beer gardens:

My second cousin Liva was on a teenager-group trip to Latvia. She had some free time this day, so we got to meet up with her for a little bit. We got to hear about all of the cool things she got to see while she had been in Latvia. I felt bad for her, because when she got home she had one day to do her laundry and repack to go to the Latvian summer high school in Michigan for 6 weeks.

That night D prepared a Latvian casserole for us. One that she had found in a Latvian magazine. There are some foods that you just cannot get in Latvia, so she has had a bit of a hard time adjusting to cooking. (I don't think I could make it very long without cheddar cheese for example).

Ks parents came over for dinner. They were in Latvia for the wedding as well, but they are fortunate enough to be able to stay in Latvia for a little longer than we were able to. This week in Latvia is the big song and dance festivle. So they get to see all of the cool things that are going on with that. Just to give you an idea of how big this festivle is, I talked with my sister today at 3pm Latvian time, and the parade of all of the participants had been going on since 11am!