Riga. Latvia

Riga. Once again I don’t doubt the minds wondering as to where this is. Riga is the capital of Latvia and another notch on our Baltic States counter. Fun fact: Riga is the biggest city in the Baltic states and also has the world record of having the most intoxicated person (2012) ever with a blood alcohol level of 0.889. Little did I know when we arrived I was soon to be challenging this record without knowing it.

My initial thoughts of this being the city that Dr Doom was falsified, as some research revealed that he was from a fictional country called Latvieria and not Latvia. It was at first very hard to contain my disappointment. With defiant thoughts on my mind and looking for the non existent Dr Doom castle we explored the city of Riga. We noticed the similarities it had with Vilunius and more importantly the differences. The city was larger and although the architecture was very similar, the city felt as if it had a different character to it, including a large business district in New Town. Since it was a small town there were only a few select places to visit.

We arrived at our room which was a 2 bedroom apartment. Both myself and my Co-Captain were astonished at how large this apartment was. We had hired this place from Air BnB, a website that let’s you hire furnished residences from people that are out of town. The place was massive. We walked around exploring and came across one locked door at the end of the apartment, my Co-Captain was convinced that this was an evil door that had crazy things inside. I laughed it off.

After dinner, began pre-drinks and on this night I could see a fire in my Co-Captains eyes! This to any one that knows him not only spells trouble but shouts it out at the top of its lungs. Starting with a 700 ml bottle of Vodka the challenge had been set that we finish the bottle in 4 sips. Bang! Challenge had started and after the half way mark of the bottle delirium had begin to set in. Not long after the 4th sip was hitting the back of my throat. I gagged and some of it with popcorn chucks came back into the glass. This did not impress my Co-Captain, who preceded to take the glass and sieve the chunks so I could finish my drink (that’s what friends are for)

In a turn of events I don’t actually recall and in the words of Benicio Del Toro “When the white rabbit peaks, would you be so kind as to throw this tape recorder into the bathtub with me?” – Fear and Loathing Las Vegas. I thought I could fly and I jumped off the window sill.

 In my flapping arm motion shattering the roof tile, landing to a rain of plaster. Looking around the room there was plaster dust and crap everywhere! The room had been trashed. Since the stress was going to bring us down we decided to leave it and worry about this in the morning. Time was running short and we had to hit the town. Since it was Aussie day we headed to the Aussie pub which had died down, after a couple of drinks and chats with the locals (a few more lil vomits here n there around town) we headed to another bar in which we were joined by a group of girls, that only had the intention to rob us. This was clear from when we mentioned we were from Australia they released a lil squeal. They took us to a bar in which we bought the most expensive drinks ever 5 drinks for 67 euro! We we able to pick up on the intentions and bailed like Speedy Gonzalez on Speed. Returning home slightly more sober but still drunk we looked at the damage and thought we will deal with it tomorrow. We ate our take away Maccerz and threw nuggets in the roof cavity, then off to bed we went.

What happened at 8:30am the following morning changed me n lessened my life by a few years, I can say honestly have never been that scared. I opened my eye and saw someone standing over me!! The person was standing there and walked away, as I twitched…. I was in a different room to Avrill as soon as he walked away, I yelled “avi avi!” Thinking the person i saw with one half shut eye could be him….I then ran to my Co-Captains room and he was in bed.. I yelled saying “someone is in the house!” At first he woke up shocked and said “Your tripping!” But then he heard the footsteps and we noticed the house lights had been switched off! We moved everything into the bedroom part of the house n locked it. I later got a message from the owner stating “what happened? Drugs?” Indicating he had seen the plaster shrapnel everywhere!

We slept, with me waking up every 5 minutes Freaked. Waking up we cleaned up. The door was Evil. We now assume it led to the owners apartment.

We replaced the roof tile with another one we “found” in the building and the place.

After the events of the previous night we decided to catch up with some new friends we had made n went for drinks at a awsome Cuban bar. Live music and great conversation. Ending our eventful stay in Riga

RIGA: The City resembling an ancient Bendigo