Riga Central Station: Closed

Only one week left on my trip, and wow has the time passed quickly! I attribute this mostly towards my habit of sleeping in too much, as well as falling into various habits such as frequenting the same restaurants and touring the same sights. On one hand I blame myself for not being adventurous enough; On the other hand I blame the locals for being so hostile. You have to be in the mood to go exploring, and I just didn't have that good feeling most of the time. Instead I was constantly looking over my shoulder for trouble. Of course I am again, alone in the country. I have to be more careful than a group would, and nobody is going to help me if I get into a bad situation.

Today I actually wanted to go to the beach. This is one thing I'm determined to do before leaving Latvia. I've seen Old Town 100 times, and although it's very charming, I really wanted to see something different on my trip. Jūrmala seemed like the perfect place to visit.

Jūrmala is a popular beach here, and not very far from Riga! It's actually laughably close. You can get there by train in 30 minutes for 1 lat. People even ride their bikes to the beach! I hear there is a special trail just for biking to Jurmala. I decided when I woke up (at 1pm) that I would head to Jurmala by taking the train. Of course this meant that I would need to figure out which train to take.. I studied maps and websites for a few minutes, before determining that I was going to have a lot of fun at the train station (talking to clerks). I was positive that it would be yet another negative and grueling experience attempting to communicate with the locals. Wow, have I gotten bitter or what?

I overcame my hesitations and headed to the Riga Centrla Station. This is a bit of challenge for a foreigner. There are some underground tunnels you must go through, and they aren't all clearly labeled. So you basically have to keep trying tunnels until you find the right one. Luckily, thanks to the free walking tour I took a few weeks ago, I recognized the Riga Central Station. Unfortunately, as fate would have it the central station was closed, and some kind of emergency was taking place! I heard an alarm going off in the background. Police blocked the entrances and would not allow access to the station. Many people were angrily trying to figure out what was going on outside. Due to the situation, I called off my trip to Jurmala and instead went back to my favorite restaurant in Old Town, CanCan Pizza! Well, I have to have fun somehow right?

I actually had a craving for the excellent festival for stomach restaurant towards the city center, but I wasn't in the mood to walk across so many streets. CanCan was an easy, lazy choice to make instead. I decided that I would try to go to Jurmala again on Wednesday. I really want to see the pine trees and the sandy beach! It's a crime that I have waited this long to visit!

While walking through Old Town during the pleasant day, I decided to make a video tour for my friends and family at home. I showed them around Old Town with my camcorder, and talked about Latvia. I ended up at the river, and decided that I would just walk back to my hotel instead of taking the tram. On the way back I again saw the ticket control inspectors! They were in the same location, near my hotel! This time I saw six of them. Four boarded each tram and checked tickets. I only saw a few people being escorted off the trams. Perhaps they were collecting the fines inside the tram? Or had the locals smarted up and decided to stop riding for free?