This trip had been planned since January. Flight ticket to Europe was bought in February and the subsequent flights bought in February and March, causing quite a dent in my pocket. Oh well. This time, I’ve decided to share my experience in bite-size entries (OK, some bites may be large). And this is how the story goes...
Thursday, 20 May 2010: KUL-CDG
I left home for KL Sentral at 8.30 pm (Mummy and Abah insisted on sending me to KL Sentral because they don’t trust lil’ me taking a cab at night alone all by myself, yes, believe it) and met up with Lin after 9 pm. We bought KLIA Express tickets and checked in our bags. Our flight took off on time and we settled in, hoping sleep would take over. No success for me on that point.
Friday, 21 May 2010: CDG - RIX
The Terminal/Rīga Rigour
We landed at 0645 Paris time and it was already a bright early summer morning (or late spring). It would be a long wait until our next flight out - we decided we’d fly out on the same day instead of going into the city and then back to the airport again a few days later. Seriously, I hate Charles de Gaulle Airport. It’s ugly and doesn’t offer comfortable seats for travellers to relax. Why, KLIA is so much better. And no eye candies either.
We finally boarded Air Baltic for our flight out with an overnight transit in Rīga. We purposely chose this flight for a number of reasons: (i) the direct flight also transits in Rīga for a few hours (it’s a direct flight but not a direct non-stop flight); (ii) if we took the direct flight, we’d arrive into the third city of the day after 9 pm and I wasn’t keen to navigate the city to our hostel at that hour; (iii) this flight cost less than a direct flight to the third city; and (iv) we get a free city thrown in at a lower cost so why not? Besides the Historic Centre of Rīga is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We landed at Rīga International Airport after 6 pm, well after the scheduled time of 1750 (Latvia is two hours ahead of GMT) and met up with Fifi who flew in from London Gatwick to join us. After changing money at parex bank, we took bus #22 to the city. The bus stopped right opposite our hostel in the Old Town and we checked in first before venturing to check out Vecrīga (Old Rīga). Because it’s in Vecrīga, the hostel had a really serious and narrow staircase and we had to haul our bags up the three (or four? Well enough to make us huff and puff on our way up) floors to our room. Fortunately, our room with its three double-decker beds and one double bed had its own bathroom.
(Actually Fifi only confirmed joining us on 20 April and bought her air tickets two days later as she only received the green light to take leave then. I had already booked double rooms in three cities and had to make new search for triple rooms in those cities upon her confirmation. Only hostels offer triple rooms hence why we had to stay at one of those. I still refused to book three beds in a dorm though.)
We walked around Vecrīga and visited the Statue of Roland, the Blackheads House, Town Hall, saw St Peter’s Church from afar, walked past the Dome Cathedral and the Dome Square, the Cats’ House, the Three Brothers or Trīs brāļi (the oldest stone houses still standing in the city), past the Old City Wall, Jacobs Barracks (the longest building in the city) and the Powder Tower before crossing over to the Lalma Clock and on to the Freedom Monument. We even walked the extra block to the Navity of Christ Orthodox Cathedral before returning back to the Blackheads House and then to the hostel. We met the occasional drunk English and Irishmen on our way around Vecrīga – not surprising as Rīga is considered a destination for stagnights. We also met a young friendly Latvian who took the time to show us around some places.
Dinner was had at the hostel kitchen. Knackered, we then decided to call it a day. Only to be woken up in the wee hours of the morning by some drunk trying to open our door. Scary, but not as scary as what I encountered in Bonn last year.
To be continued
Thursday, 20 May 2010: KUL-CDG
I left home for KL Sentral at 8.30 pm (Mummy and Abah insisted on sending me to KL Sentral because they don’t trust lil’ me taking a cab at night alone all by myself, yes, believe it) and met up with Lin after 9 pm. We bought KLIA Express tickets and checked in our bags. Our flight took off on time and we settled in, hoping sleep would take over. No success for me on that point.
Friday, 21 May 2010: CDG - RIX
The Terminal/Rīga Rigour
We landed at 0645 Paris time and it was already a bright early summer morning (or late spring). It would be a long wait until our next flight out - we decided we’d fly out on the same day instead of going into the city and then back to the airport again a few days later. Seriously, I hate Charles de Gaulle Airport. It’s ugly and doesn’t offer comfortable seats for travellers to relax. Why, KLIA is so much better. And no eye candies either.
We finally boarded Air Baltic for our flight out with an overnight transit in Rīga. We purposely chose this flight for a number of reasons: (i) the direct flight also transits in Rīga for a few hours (it’s a direct flight but not a direct non-stop flight); (ii) if we took the direct flight, we’d arrive into the third city of the day after 9 pm and I wasn’t keen to navigate the city to our hostel at that hour; (iii) this flight cost less than a direct flight to the third city; and (iv) we get a free city thrown in at a lower cost so why not? Besides the Historic Centre of Rīga is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We landed at Rīga International Airport after 6 pm, well after the scheduled time of 1750 (Latvia is two hours ahead of GMT) and met up with Fifi who flew in from London Gatwick to join us. After changing money at parex bank, we took bus #22 to the city. The bus stopped right opposite our hostel in the Old Town and we checked in first before venturing to check out Vecrīga (Old Rīga). Because it’s in Vecrīga, the hostel had a really serious and narrow staircase and we had to haul our bags up the three (or four? Well enough to make us huff and puff on our way up) floors to our room. Fortunately, our room with its three double-decker beds and one double bed had its own bathroom.
(Actually Fifi only confirmed joining us on 20 April and bought her air tickets two days later as she only received the green light to take leave then. I had already booked double rooms in three cities and had to make new search for triple rooms in those cities upon her confirmation. Only hostels offer triple rooms hence why we had to stay at one of those. I still refused to book three beds in a dorm though.)
We walked around Vecrīga and visited the Statue of Roland, the Blackheads House, Town Hall, saw St Peter’s Church from afar, walked past the Dome Cathedral and the Dome Square, the Cats’ House, the Three Brothers or Trīs brāļi (the oldest stone houses still standing in the city), past the Old City Wall, Jacobs Barracks (the longest building in the city) and the Powder Tower before crossing over to the Lalma Clock and on to the Freedom Monument. We even walked the extra block to the Navity of Christ Orthodox Cathedral before returning back to the Blackheads House and then to the hostel. We met the occasional drunk English and Irishmen on our way around Vecrīga – not surprising as Rīga is considered a destination for stagnights. We also met a young friendly Latvian who took the time to show us around some places.
Dinner was had at the hostel kitchen. Knackered, we then decided to call it a day. Only to be woken up in the wee hours of the morning by some drunk trying to open our door. Scary, but not as scary as what I encountered in Bonn last year.
To be continued
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