Riga: Day 3 (9/19/19)

The rain cleared up around 4pm, at least it went from downpour to drizzle, so I went out for a stroll through the remaining two parks and the historic downtown area. Its got the same cobbled streets and organic city layout as some of the other cities I’ve been to so far but I did stop to admire some of the fancy art nouveau districts with their fancy building facades. I stopped at a supermarket on my way back to pick up stuff for dinner and I think I have pinned down what about European supermarkets strikes me as most dissimilar from ones in the US. Four things: the wine section is enormous, generally a solid 20% of the floorspace. Bread also takes up a much larger section and there is always a variety of freshly baked stuff available all day. Less packaged meat and cheese, instead focusing on fresh stuff that is more expensive. Less candy, but more chocolate.

I tried my hand at Tuscan pasta for dinner, trying to recreate what I had in Italy. It came out pretty good for a first attempt, a few things to change for the next time but I’ve got the right idea! I’m taking the bus to Tallinn tomorrow and staying at a hostel smack in the middle of downtown for the next seven days. Then I fly to Kiev, Ukraine for my Chernobyl tour!