Helpful and Hostile Workers in Riga Old Town

Today was my third day and I attempted to wake up at a reasonable hour (1pm was the best I could do). Again I undertook the long walk to Old Town. Again I attempted to survive traffic. Upon reaching Old Town, I made the last road crossing and almost did get hit by a car. Here in Riga, the pedestrians never have the right of way. I looked left, right, behind me, and was walking across the road when I saw a car fly out into the road making a right turn. I sprinted to avoid being hit, and the car did slow down a bit.. But barely. Another lesson learned.. Look everywhere before crossing a road, not just left and right!

Old Town Riga was again filled with tourists, but Monday was a bit different. There was a LOT more traffic on the roads since it was no longer the weekend. Mostly trucks transporting goods it seemed. Even inside Old Town itself I saw a lot more traffic. I'm not exactly sure about the rules of driving in Old Town, but I saw regular cars as well, not just taxis and police. It gets a little confusing because some areas are off limits to most vehicles, but in others cars drive more freely. Luckily they are less reckless in Old Town and seem to mind pedestrians... a bit.

While strolling through Old Town I walked by Pizza Malibu, which is the restaurant I ate at on my first night here. Like in many outdoor city restaurants, a lot of places here have a public menu which is on display, and a host to greet you. I decided to browse the menu, and the host came to talk to me. Her name was Ieva. She was fluent in English and had a very sunny disposition. I was having a good conversation with her so I decided to sit down. I got a table nearby and talked with Ieva for a while. She recommended a pizza with chicken filet, ham, mushroom, tomato, and a few other toppings. It was very tasty, and I drank a light beer.

Ieva told me that she was a native Latvian. I asked her how she knew I was foreign (she greeted me with "hello") and she replied that Latvians never smile. Us Americans however are a different story. Ieva talked about how she was planning to move to London in a few weeks for an indefinite period of time. She gave me information on public transportation, which was apparently my favorite hot topic of the day. I asked how she traveled to work, and she told me via bus. However, she decided not to pay for a ticket. I asked how that was possible and she said that they only do random spot checks to see if people are paying. There is a fine if you get caught but I guess she was playing the odds.. Ieva asked where I was from, and only recognized Philadelphia in the context of sports. She didn't know what part of the country it was in, so I told her south of New York.

I was feeling pretty tired after my pizza lunch, and needed a caffeine pick-me-up, so I said bye to Ieva and headed off to find a cafe. The day seemed really hot and humid to me, and I was sweating like crazy. Instead of finding a cafe, I ended up at the bar "No Problem" which is very popular. The staff there actually said "no problem" about 500 times which starting getting annoying pretty quickly. They have a large assortment of beers, but I was only interested in drinking Coke at the time. I ordered one at the bar and sat down. It started to drizzle and then rain lightly for a while so I sat near the bar where there was a canopy. One funny thing I noticed about the other patrons was that they never seemed to touch their drinks. It was almost like they just wanted to sit there with a drink, but not actually drink it. I certainly didn't have that problem and guzzled down the cokes in only a few minutes.

Upon leaving the bar "No Problem" I went to find a restroom and they had one inside the interior of the bar. Apparently people aren't supposed to go in there because I was approached by a rude waitress. I told her I was looking for the bathroom and she angrily pointed it out. In Latvia they use various symbols to designate men and women's bathrooms. In this case it seemed to be a picture of a male and female, but somehow it didn't make sense. The pictures looked almost identical to me! I stood there confused for a while until the angry waitress came back and started talking loudly in a rude fashion. She wasn't exactly fluent in English however, so her rant didn't make much sense to me. Finally she just opened the correct door for me and stormed off. I guess she forgot the bar's catchphrase..

After getting scolded by my new favorite waitress in Riga, I decided that I REALLY needed a caffeine pick-me-up. Not Coke, but something stronger. I wasn't very impressed with the coffee I'd tried so far, so I looked at the Riga guide for help. Kuuka Kafe was listed as a new, independent cafe. I located it after some time staring at my map and getting harassed by the "taxi cart men" who almost ran me over on Friday night. Kuuka Kafe has a dark indoor setting and some very tasty drinks. The owner himself was there making the drinks, and he ended up being extremely friendly and helpful regarding my silly Latvia questions. I ordered a Coke and a Cappuccino, and sat outside at a table since the cafe was too hot inside. I didn't get the owner's name, but he was extremely knowledgeable about Riga and seemed to know everything. With his help, I finally learned enough about public transportation to feel comfortable using it!

The Kuuka Kafe owner and I talked about the many coffee chains in Latvia and America, and he told me that Starbucks had turned down an offer to open up a shop in Riga. I found that interesting. I wonder what their problem was? I believe they would do very well here, considering their unique take on coffee and related beverages. After talking for a while, the owner went back into the cafe to do some paperwork. I was approached by two pretty women wearing some costumes. Of course they wanted something.. First a cigarette, then 5 cents, which I have to admit is a pretty small amount to beg for. Remember my dear friend Natalie from the other night? $20 wasn't good enough for her. I almost felt bad turning down these girls for such a small sum. In any case they weren't thrilled with my lack of generosity and started howling in Latvian or Russian as they stormed off. The other people sitting around seemed to find the situation amusing. I really need to learn to stop making eye contact with random people and smiling too much, because it keeps putting me in these situations. It's sad but you almost feel like you need to develop a depressed personality to fit in here.. Just look angry or hopeless and you'll do just fine..

After my cafe run it started raining again.. This time the rain didn't let up. Luckily it was a fairly light rain and wasn't soaking me or anything. I started walking back towards the river, and found a museum about the Soviet occupation of Latvia. I read up about the sad historical event as I waited for the rain to subside. I finally decided that the rain wasn't going to stop anytime soon, and that I would head for the tram, which I finally dared to take. I bought a "5 trip" ticket from a convenience store which is commonly found. It's like an outdoor shack. The ticket was 2.5 lats or .5 lats a trip. This is about $1 so it was reasonable. As I walked towards the tram stop, I saw two young ladies wearing very high heels, attempting to walk on cobblestone while it was raining! I have to admit this was rather amusing, as they could barely walk in the conditions without slipping every 5 seconds and staring at the ground to keep their footing. I told them that it looked dangerous, and they started laughing. In any case,  it's hard to argue with a woman trying to look good, even in the rain!

Taking the tram was a painless process. The tram station had a roof so we weren't all getting soaked, and once the tram arrived everyone got on and paid the fare. The ticket which I bought was a proximity card. You just have to hold it up to a sensor inside the tram and it beeps. Super easy and convenient. You can even put the card into your wallet and hold your wallet up to the sensor! In only 5 minutes I was back at my hotel, and feeling silly for walking instead of taking a $1 tram ride for two days straight.

Upon entering my hotel I noticed that the restaurant downstairs was still open. I saw a coffee and cappuccino machine in the room so I served myself. After sitting down a waitress came over to show me the menu. She must have been related to the rude waitress from "No Problem" because she was cold as an icepick. Not a hint of emotion, extremely focused, and very frank. This girl initially spoke to me in Russian, which I found interesting. Did she think I was Russian? Or was she just Russian herself? I ordered the French Onion Soup, which was fancy but had a strange tinge to it that I didn't particularly like. The price was decent at only 1.5 lats, but the cappuccino ended up being 2! That's more than I paid at the cafes, and it came out of a machine! From time to time I attempted to ask unfriendly waitress a question, but she seemed to be having the worst day of her life so eventually I gave up trying.

I'm generally aware that Russians in particular can seem hostile because it's just in their nature. I still have to wonder why.. At this point I'm three days into my visit, and have already had multiple experiences with people who seemed completely miserable, as if the world was ending! It would be interesting to follow one of these people around all day, just to see how they talk to everyone else. Are they always so serious and bitter? Did something traumatic happen to them in their youth? Or do they just think they're better than everyone else?

On a final note, today's street entertainment consisted of a teenage girl playing a flute, an old man playing a flute, two ladies playing an accordion and violin, and a young boy playing a trombone. I found that the flutes were perfect for the peaceful environment. For a while I felt like I was playing World of Warcraft with the ambient music. The trombone seemed a little strange to me and out of place. I made a donation to the old man playing the flute, which you have to admit is an improvement over my previous activities.