A little out of order
I am behind on posting the rest of the pictures from Lucas's wonderful trip to Russia but I will catch up later. So this is what is happening now but will cause the blog to be a little out of order. But a little "out of order" never hurt anyone.
It is Sunday morning, July 15th and I am at Friendly Fun Franks Hostel in Riga, the capital city of Latvia. I came here Wednesday to to get a new visa since mine expires today and you must leave Russia to get them. I also timed my departure so that Lucas and I would be leaving on the same day and could share the 4 hour taxi ride to the airport in Moscow.
Lucas's trip was fantastic. He volunteered in the Cross Cultural Solutions program for 4 weeks and we played the other 4 weeks he was here. It was such a joy to be able to share Russia and the program with him and even more of a joy having him near. We went to Moscow, St Petersburg, several soccer games (go Shinnick), and spent a lot of time just talking and drinking coffee at McCafe. Life does not get any better than that even though I almost cried as I watched him board his plane.
Riga is beautiful and the people are great. After standing in line 4 different times for a total of about 9 hours, and despite the fact that I do not speak Lativian or much Russian, I finally got my new Visa friday afternoon at 3:27. It was a very interesting process and seems funny now that I know how the story ends but there were a couple of times that I got a little frustrated. But the people were friendly just very very busy. Riga is a town of about 700,000 and over 40% of the residents are native Russians so the embassy is very busy. But I got my Visa and it is good for a whole year and I am a happy guy. It does not start until tomorrow and my plane trip back home is not until Wednesday so now I can just explore Latvia...pictures to follow.
It is Sunday morning, July 15th and I am at Friendly Fun Franks Hostel in Riga, the capital city of Latvia. I came here Wednesday to to get a new visa since mine expires today and you must leave Russia to get them. I also timed my departure so that Lucas and I would be leaving on the same day and could share the 4 hour taxi ride to the airport in Moscow.
Lucas's trip was fantastic. He volunteered in the Cross Cultural Solutions program for 4 weeks and we played the other 4 weeks he was here. It was such a joy to be able to share Russia and the program with him and even more of a joy having him near. We went to Moscow, St Petersburg, several soccer games (go Shinnick), and spent a lot of time just talking and drinking coffee at McCafe. Life does not get any better than that even though I almost cried as I watched him board his plane.
Riga is beautiful and the people are great. After standing in line 4 different times for a total of about 9 hours, and despite the fact that I do not speak Lativian or much Russian, I finally got my new Visa friday afternoon at 3:27. It was a very interesting process and seems funny now that I know how the story ends but there were a couple of times that I got a little frustrated. But the people were friendly just very very busy. Riga is a town of about 700,000 and over 40% of the residents are native Russians so the embassy is very busy. But I got my Visa and it is good for a whole year and I am a happy guy. It does not start until tomorrow and my plane trip back home is not until Wednesday so now I can just explore Latvia...pictures to follow.
posted by Bryan at 2:37 AM
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