Cool Runnings

Back into the swing of things.

We have just returned from our first Europe trip this year and yet again the Baltic has provided us with everything we wanted and needed. Last year we went to Lithuinia and had a great time even though it was -15 degrees. In countries where it gets down to -30 every year the cold never seems to bother me as everything is set up for those temeratures.

We decided on Latvia which is the middle of the three Baltic Countries bordering Russia, Poland and the Baltic sea. There were six of us going so it was always destined for good times. When we arrived it was sleeting but suprisingly warm which in a way sucked as I had packed for sub antarctic temperatures. We got a taxi van to our hotel and in true foreign taxi style got ripped off about $50 and dropped off in the wrong place. We all knew we were getting ripped off but without making a massive scene there is not much you can do about it (I wish was allowed to have made a massive scene, I want my hard earned money back).

After walking to the hostel it was straight to the bar where they were selling everything in stien glasses which was great. Steins for the guys and strawberry cider for the girls. The landlords were a bunch of Latvians and Aussies. The can't have been making much money as they kept giving everything away including food and alchohol. Toss the Boss was the game of the night where the landlord would poor shots for everyone. He would toss a coin. If you won you got the shot and didn't pay. If you lost you still had to have the shot but you had to pay him 50 Latvian Cents. We also had a great game of hallway beer bungy until some prop foward guy snapped the bungy cord.

The next morning began with a morning run to the train station where some how one of the members of our group managed to board a different train headed for Russia.The rest of us however were off to Sigulda with our Latvian guide. We had a full day booked which started with a cable bar across the beutiful Daugava River. We walked through frozen spruce and beech forests past a ruined castle then past some frozen lakes to a famous cave.

The cave had been carved with various german code of arms from hundreds of years ago and more recently tacky grafitti. We finally ended up at Turaida Castle where we met back up with Luke who had jumped of the train to Russia and had caught a bus.

The morning was amazing but was really just filling in time before the main event which was BOBSLEDDING!!!!!!!!

I had no idea what to expect. Standing at the top of the ice tunnel I was not too worried, then I worked out that the whole run was only going to take 46 seconds. That means an average speed of 127km/h and a top speed of 160km/h. No rollercoaster will ever compare. Basically once we were at top speed I could not lift me head due to the massive g-forces. It felt like being manhandled by nature. Once we had finished no one could keep there heads up as the muscles were all worn out. I recomend it to all but please do some neck stretches first!!

If you click on this link you can see how crazy it really was, http://fibt.pixabit.de/index.php?id=160&track_id=18&L=0

We made our way back to the hostel where we met up with some other keen travelers and headed out to a restuarant. After a good, but not so Latvian meal, we headed out to a club where if you weren't dancing on the tables then you weren't cool.

We had a real late flight on Sunday night so had the next day to mission around the actual city as we hadn't really seen it in the light yet. What an amazing city it was. Full of spectacular architecture, history, natural iceskating rinks in the park and the largest deli in Europe.

The trip would not have been complete without sampling our final Latvian fare. We headed to a buffet restaurant called Lido which is a Litvian staple. Basically heaps of potatoes cooked a million different ways and meat, meat and more meat.

We have booked a huge amount of trips so will be putting heaps of posts up in the next couple of months so stay tuned. I hope everybody is well.