MAY 23 - Odette spends most of the morning doing homework, while I work on the computer and go to buy our bus tickets. Could not purchase them online because the route crosses a border, and passports must be presented in person. Fortunately the bus station is a five minute walk. Even three months earlier I would have needed to fill out an online Covid questionnaire, but no longer. It is EUR 48 for the ride, which ends in Riga.
We move south, paralleling the coast, but just far enough inland that we don’t see much of the water. As with the route from Tallinn to Pärnu, most of the way is either farmland or forests. The vegetation keeps getting fuller and greener, as we fast-forward toward summer season. Many fields are a brilliant yellow, from canola flowers.
Once again, no discernable border procedures as we enter Latvia. I fail to see the border post, and the only reason I know we cross it is the notification I get on my cell phone.
Riga is a huge city, crossed with overpasses and large buildings all across the downtown area. Here, I finally see traces of urban Soviet architecture, or at least inspired by it. The Riga Radio and TV Tower towers over everything, rivalling the height of its competitor in Tallinn. Other enormous structures loom in the distance, though we aren’t here long enough to absorb much. Everything feels tropical and busy, with carmine red, the color of the Latvian flag, seeming to be everywhere.
Just in town long enough to figure out the right place to buy another bus ticket to Cēsis. Go through the mandatory disorientation of seeing everything in a different language again. Unlike Estonian, which at least has some similarities to Finnish, Latvian looks completely different. One hour northeast to Cēsis.
