The last two days haven't been very eventful. Yesterday we walked off the beaten track to see more of the waterfront in Liepāja. On the way, we passed lots of wooden homes that don't rate a mention in the tourist blurbs, but a lot of them were nicer than those that the tourists see in the main streets.
We had a few tram rides on their old trams (we love any excuse to catch trams). Aside from this, we didn't really do much else. My sore foot was still bothering me, but I have soldiered on regardless.
Our hotel where we were staying, was full of character and set in lovely gardens, and with the seaside park just on the other side of the road. We spent some time sitting in a gazebo and admiring the garden. There were lots of facilities for parties and children and later in the day, we saw a party going on.
Today, we went off to catch the bus back to Riga, where we are staying for one more night before heading off to Estonia. The buses are big coaches and most people have reserved seats but the bus stops quite a lot along the way, to pick up or set down passengers and the bus fills up with passengers standing up for long distances. The trip lasts for nearly 4 hours and some people stood for over an hour. It seemed rather odd that they would allow so many standing passengers on a long distance bus. The trip went very smoothly until our final approach into Riga. There were major road works going on, and the traffic was banked up for a long way. Our driver was excellent and he handled it very well. Other drivers were not so patient - several cars mounted the kerb and drove along the footpath, in order to jump the queue! Their strategy worked but they probably upset a lot of people in the process. With all the delay, our bus was over an hour late getting into Riga!
We aren't staying in the old town tonight, as we thought we would stay closer to the bus station, for our trip tomorrow. We went out for a spot of dinner then returned to the room and turned on BBC World to see what was happening with the Royal birth and we saw the live announcement and all the fanfare that resulted. I was really hoping the baby would be a girl, since they had changed the rules for succession to the throne, but this wasn't to be. Maybe next time, when this new baby fathers a child in the future!
