Adventures in Latvia – day 4 part 3

So once Robert and Laura got into the car (the same gold limo from earlier, found out it was a Lincoln Towncar) we were told we could either go straight to the reception place or follow the couple on their “wedding journey”. Happily our ride opted to go on the journey, so many of the guests walked down to the end of the church driveway where we encountered a barrier made out of flowers and a group of neighbors standing around waiting. When the couple drove up they stopped at this “Gate of Honor” and were instructed by one of the neighbor women that they had to solve a small puzzle before they could pass. It was two paper hearts that had been cut into jigsaw puzzle pieces. After about five minutes, and the whole bridal party’s input, they weren’t able to figure it out and the woman said “I will let you figure this out later” and they were moved to their next task: Laura had to braid the hair of one of the young neighbor girls while Robert chopped a birch log into firewood (thankfully Robert grew up in the country and knew how to chop firewood). Once that was complete they were presented with a small basket full of grain and mixed in were many small coins, the bride and maid of honor were pitted against the groom and best man to see who could find all of the change first…we’re not actually sure who won this one but in the end Jim ended up with a big handful of change with bits of grain all over that he carried around for the rest of the journey. After this they were allowed to pass and return to their car, although they only got about a dozen yards before they were met by another gate of flowers, singing neighbors, and an accordion player.

For this Gate Robert was given an even bigger log to chop for firewood while Laura had to prepare a meal, beginning by slicing cucumbers and tomatoes (keep in mind this is all in the middle of the church driveway). The log was so big (and the ax was a bit dull) that Robert wasn’t able to chop it for Laura to use to cook the “dinner” so Jim went to the car and grabbed the bundle of firewood from the previous gate to use in lieu of that log. Robert then proceeded to successfully make a fire for Laura to use to “cook” the small fish she was given. Once the meal was finished to the neighbors’ satisfaction they were allowed to head on to the main road.

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Adventures in Latvia – day 4 part 2

So once we made it out of Liepaja we drove through the countryside for twenty minutes or so before pulling into a driveway to a small Methodist chapel tucked in the woods (Laura and many of her friends are Methodist and worked at the nearby Wesley Camp during the summers). The church was all concrete and built in the early 1900s and had been seized by the Soviets and used as a gymnasium but when Latvia regained it’s independence the church reclaimed the building (if you could prove ownership of a building then you could reclaim it).

The inside was decorated with flowers and small saplings that Laura’s parents had cut the day before so it almost felt like you were outside. When the ceremony started Robert walked in followed by Jim and Laura’s little brother Marecks, then the bridesmaids, then Laura, escorted by Pastor Joe, an American who had worked with Laura for many years at the Wesley Camp (her stepfather was too shy to escort her). The ceremony was a pretty traditional Christian ceremony, with readings from the Bible which the Latvian pastor would say then Laura’s friend Gunta would translate to English. At the end was the traditional kiss and then everyone went outside and took pictures, not just the bridal party but each guest got to take photos with the bride and groom in front of the chapel. Then everyone began the journey to the reception hall, and that is the next post 🙂

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Adventures in Latvia- day 4 part 1

So initially the plan had been to go to Karosta today but once we got up we realized we really didn’t have enough time to get out there and back before we had to leave for the wedding at 1430. So we got up and had breakfast (which we found out was not included in our stay, 6 lats ($12) each, oh well) then went out towards the central market again, walked around the two churches but didn’t go in because both were having services. We then decided to try and make another non-rained-out trip to the beach. It’s really quite a short walk, 15 minutes or so and I’m glad we made the return trip, the beach is really beautiful. The sand is so soft it’s like walking on flour. So Jeremy and I walked up the beach to the breakwater, took some photos then made our way back to the hotel in a bit of a rush to change and me ready by 1430.

We were ready by 1415 and when we got down to the lobby Jim and Robert were still there waiting to get picked up. Robert had gotten ready at our hotel and their car was supposed to arrive at 1400 to take them to the courthouse for the first ceremony at 1430 (there is a private civil ceremony first, then the one at the chapel with all the family and friends). Our car came by at 1425 and their ride still wasn’t there, you could tell Robert was getting more and more anxious about being late, but just as we are pulling out a big old gold Cadillac limo with flowers all over it went by the hotel and as we turned the corner it turned around and pulled up in front of the hotel and picked up Jim and Robert so they are safely off to the first ceremony. We are waiting to meet up with a few more people to caravan to the church and then the fun begins!

…11 hours later we are back after a wonderful ceremony and reception. Will post details tomorrow.

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Adventures in Latvia – day 3

So we’ve just concluded our last full non-wedding-event-filled day in Latvia. We slept in (again) in the morning (still coping with jet lag a bit I think) and met up with Jim for lunch at a little place called Cafe21 that we had walked by yesterday. We went in and sat down (I admired the interesting decor, lots and lots of crocheted things, made the comment it was the “brothel of crochet”) and the waitress told us they did not have menus in English so we told her to pick her three favorite meat dish and we would each have one of those. When we got our food it was actually three of the same dish but that was alright since it looked quite tasty. It was a thin pork filet with a cheese-based breading that was then pan seared to golden brown goodness. It was served with crispy butter sauteed potatoes and cole slaw, yum.

After lunch we met up with Laura, Robert, Laura’s brother and Robert’s dad and Laura and Robert went off shopping and doing wedding stuff and the rest of us went souvenier shopping in Peter’s Market. I ended up buying a pretty amber necklace to wear to the wedding tomorrow since I forgot to pack any jewelry. Then we walked to the beach and just as we went to stick our feet in the water it started to pour so we ran back to some nearby trees and waited out the rain shower. Even though we didn’t get to stay long I was amazed by the sand at the beach, it is so fine and soft and white, very pretty and nice to walk on. After the rain stopped we headed back to the city center, got some ice cream, then some coffee, then headed back to the hotel since everyone but Jeremy and I were getting picked up at 1730 to go to the rehearsal and to help decorate the church and reception hall.

After we parted ways Jeremy and I ended up taking a nap then went to dinner at the hotel restaurant, Oskar. It is quite a fancy restaurant and the food was nicely presented. I had a bowl of carrot, ginger and lemongrass soup and for my main course had pan-seared cod with gnocci in a very rich dill cream sauce, very tasty but the sauce was so rich I wasn’t able to finish all of it (Jeremy had an ostrich steak which he had no trouble finishing).

We finished dinner around 2130 and decided to walk around a bit and try to take some more pictures since it was still light outside (and good fun twilight for photos). It has been intetesting as a photographer here, I don’t feel as comfortable here taking pictures as I have in other European cities. I think it’s the feeling that most of what we ate seeing us not “touristy” so it feels extra out of place to be bringing out my camera, so this has resulted in not taking nearly as many pictures as I normally would. We got some good shots of lights reflecting onto the canal, then walked back towards the market to try and get photos of the two churches that are on the edge of the square.. Interestingly, Liepaja at night is rather deserted, so after getting down there and not having seen more than five people in the last five minutes, and no one around the square, we concluded it was probably best to not hang around and take pictures so we headed back to the Amrita.

We got back to the hotel around 2215 and got a text from Jim that he had just returned from rehearsal stuff so we went next door to the bar where we had a round of beer and Jim had dinner (pork filet and potato pancakes with mushroom sauce) since he hadn’t eaten dinner yet. We got the rundown on the ceremony and all the decorations from Jim (lots of flowers, nice blend of American and Latvian traditions for the ceremony itself) and it sounds like it is going to be a beautiful event, can’t wait.

Tomorrow we are going to get up early and play tourist and go to Karosta (if we can figure out the bus system) before getting picked up to go to the wedding at 1430, fun stuff 🙂

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Adventures in Latvia – day 2 part 2

Just got back from the rehearsal dinner/BBQ at Laura’s parents’ farm. Their place is about 20 minutes outside Liepaja just past the big wind farms (so cool to see up close). Their house reminded me a lot of my grandparents’ farmhouse in Pennsylvania, you could tell the house grew as the family grew, with little rooms added on here and there. They have cows and 10 hectares of land. There are four farm cats around, three dogs, and a rabbit, plus a very adorable dark brown and white kitten (spent a good amount of time this evening playing with him).

When we arrived one of Laura’s bridesmaids was already there, she speaks English very well so we went outside with her to peel cucumbers and slice pickles (both fresh from the farm) for dinner and chatted the whole time. All the while American pop and rock music was playing in the background, it was a very interesting moment, feeling like I was on my grandparents’ farm, listening to Nickelback, slicing homemade pickles and chatting away with new Latvian friends. Once the rest of Laura’s bridesmaids arrived (they all had to work until 1800) we began dinner around 1930.

So the food, oh the food. Laura’s mom had marinated pork overnight and her father grilled it on skewers over a fresh cut birch-fueled wood fire, amazing, and so much of it! It seemed like there was an endless supply of meat coming from the marinating container. Jim said he thought it was better than anything we got at the Brazilian steakhouse in the States, and I may have to agree. Then there was fresh watermelon, huge green grapes, chips and a yellow-rinded honeydew-tasting melon, not sure what it was called, but it was quite good.

And then there was dessert, a homemade layer cake with three different fillings, one between each of the four layers, a vanilla custard, whipped cream and bananas, and a great citrusy honey layer on the bottom, all of it frosted with a light whipped cream and topped with freshly shaved chocolate. And as if that wasn’t enough I then discovered my new favorite dessert. I have no idea what it is called but it was some heavenly combination of a heavier angel food cake-tasting later on the bottom, topped with a layer of vanilla custard, topped with slices of rhubarb (yum!) then a cinnamon sugar mixture sprinkled on top and baked until the sugar was caramelized and crunchy.

I had three and a half (three inch square) pieces. Soooooo good!

Around 2200 we decided to head out so Robert could drive us back while it was still a bit light outside (yes it was still dusk and not pitch black that late in the evening). Tomorrow will be our day to explore town a bit more, hopefully the weather will hold out for us, it’s supposed to be thunder-stormy tomorrow but it was supposed to be that today too and it ended up being a gorgeous day, so here’s hoping the weather-luck continues!

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Adventures in Latvia – day 2, part 1

So after some late night excitement from the States (my house alarm was accidentally set off, but it was determined all was fine and the cats were ok after a few calls back and forth from the US) we slept in until 1030 and met up with Jim in the hotel lobby to go to lunch at 1230.

After a bit of meandering through the “rock and roll” district (they have a Hard Rock-esque cafe, plaques with the handprints of famous Latvian musicians, and little music notes in the sidewalk leading you around we decided to try a little restaurant next to the university that Laura goes to. We sat down, ordered a round of beers and ordered food that was marked “traditional” on the menu. When we got the beers Jim and Jeremy received big half liter mugs while I got a more elegant half liter pilsner-like glass (more lady-like I guess), either way the beer was quite good.

While we were waiting for the food Robert and Laura met up with us and we all chatted until the food came. Jim has been thouroughly enjoying the Liepajan night life with the other folks in the bridal party and Robert and Laura have been doing a mix of tourist things with Robert’s dad and coordinating wedding stuff. Our food arrived after about an hour but it was well worth the wait. Jeremy had a tasty breaded pork chop and jim and I had amazingly tasty pork ribs with a creamy mushroom sauce and “fried” mashed potatoes, yum. Afterwards we jim and I grabbed a quick cup of coffee and we all explored the market square for a bit. I’ve never seen so much fresh fruit! We bought some beautiful flowers (mums I think of some variety in orange, white and crimson) there to bring with us to give to Laura’s parents and now after a brief hotel break we are off to the farm for the rehearsal dinner. More to come tonight!

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Adventures in Latvia – Days 0 and 1

So the reason Jeremy and I are making the trip across the pond this week is to attend our friend Robert’s wedding. He met a wonderful Latvian woman named Laura and they decided to have the wedding in Laura’s hometown, Liepaja. Jim (Robert’s best man), Robert’s father, Jeremy, myself, and obviously Robert made the trip out for the wedding. Everyone but Jeremy and I left on the 8th (Jim’s birthday), we left the evening of the 11th (Jeremy’s birthday) and Jim, Robert’s father and I are returning on the 17th (my birthday). Jeremy is staying the rest of the week in Switzerland for a work conference and Robert and Laura are obviously going on a short honeymoon.

So jeremy and I left Williamsburg at 1030 met up with my mom in Manassas for lunch at 1300 then went to the airport and hung out in the Red Carpet Club (thanks for the upgrades Dad!) until our flight to Frankfurt at 1715. We landed early in FRA found our way to the gate listed on our tickets, an hour later they moved our gate to the other end of the terminal and we headed out at 930 and arrived in Riga at 1300.

The initial plan had been to try and see a little of the town center before taking the 1830 train to Liepaja but we were so beat after the flights we opted to go straight to the train station and just find somewhere to sit there for the 3.5 hours we had to wait.

All the signs in the airport had English translations, we had no such luck at the train station. I went up to buy the train tickets and was told to go to a different window, not sure if that was because of the type of ticket I was buying or if that window person knew English better than the first woman, guessing it’s the latter but we got our tickets and went to find our track and platform, unfortunately neither was on the ticket and none of the directional signs around the station were in English, so after 45 minutes of wandering with our bags trying to find our track and a place to sit inside we conclude there is no indoor seating and despite being told we left on track 10 we sat on the other side where there were some covered seats to wait out our remaining hours in Riga. Thankfully the hot weather stayed in Williamsburg, it’s about 60 or 65 degrees here with a brisk breeze, glad I brought a fleece (and slightly annoyed at myself that I was cold when it was 60something outside).

About 20 minutes before our train is supposed to leave (and there is still a different train on the track we were supposed to be leaving from) I send Jeremy to double check the board to make site of our track number while I sat with the bags; good thing we checked because the train was now at track 8 on the other side of the platform so we grabbed our stuff and headed over to track 8, went up to the first boarding door, were gruffly pointed to “1” farther up the train (turns out we bought first class/numbered seats), checked in, lugged our stuff up on to the train and found our seats.

Jeremy’s dozing beside me now, he didn’t sleep much on the flights, I got maybe 3 or 4 hours sleep total but once our 3 hour ride deposits us in Liepaja I think we are going to skip trying to navigate local public transportation systems any more today and just hail a cab to our hotel and immediately sleep for large amounts of time.

3 hours later…

So turns out there isn’t a taxi stand around the train station in Liepaja but luckily our hotel (hotel Amrita) was only a kilometer or so from the station and it was still a little bit light outside (at 2145 crazy) so we ended up walking to the hotel. Got texts from Jim telling us to come out and party but we are dead from over 28 hours of travelling door-to-door, we had originally planned to meet up with everyone in the morning and we’re gonna stick with that plan. Only thing specifically scheduled tomorrow is the rehearsal dinner at Laura’s parents house in the evening, should be really fun, will probably try to explore a bit too, there’s an old Russian military base-turned tourist attraction that looks quite interesting and would make for some nice photos 🙂 until then!

Oh, and for future reference:
Peroni – platform
Vieta – seat
Vagona – class
Cela – track

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NYC day 4

We decided to take it easy the last day in the city, sleeping in until almost 9. We checked out around 10, leaving our bags at the hotel for the day while we did our last bit of exploring. Jeremy suggested we visit the Intrepid, which seemed both fun and appropriate since it is Memorial Day and Fleet Week, which, once we got there we realized also meant crazy long lines. So rather than standing around we decided to ride the 1 train to the Staten Island Ferry terminal. We took some pictures if the (far away) Statue of Liberty and then walked to the Brooklyn Bridge. We sat on a bench under the bridge for a while, just relaxing, then decided to try and find a pizza place to get some “real New York pizza”. You would think this would be an easy task, but like the bagel search before it, it proved rather elusive. This time however we stumbled onto an even better place to eat, Les Halle, as made famous by Anthony Bourdain’s book “Kitchen Confidential”. So without much further thought we grabbed a table inside where I enjoyed pommes frites with a small salad and a homemade pork and beef sausage sandwich, Jeremy had their famous burger. Both were excellent, the fries in particular were exceptionally good, that perfect combo of crunchy, piping hot, and salty, yum.
After satisfying my caffine craving with some French press coffee we headed out and sat in Battery Park for about 45 minutes then headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags and head to the airport. Two train rides and a bus ride later we’re now sitting at the airport pub waiting for our flight.
This has been a great trip, great sights, great food, got to meet up with great friends, and got to share it with a great guy, couldn’t ask for more.

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NYC day 3

So today was the day of museums and tasty food. We left the hotel around 9:15 cheated on breakfast and grabbed some food at the Starbucks next to our hotel and then hopped on the train to midtown to start the day at the Natural History museum. The line to get in the front entrance was huge but thankfully Jeremy had the secret-local-knowledge that there’s a second entrance in the subway station so we wentback in and found that, one family in line in front of us, sweet, and much better than waiting a half hour to get in the front. Having seen “Night at the Museum” I had some idea of the exhibits there but wow is that place big, and it’s an interesting mix of new exhibits and kischy older ones. We met up with one of Jeremy’s college friends in the fossil hall for a few minutes before we went outside to wait to meet up with Jenny for lunch.

Once we found each other outside the museum Jenny suggested we try the Shake Shack for lunch, which was funny since Jeremy had found that same place online a few weeks before the trip as a good place to eat. So we went there and everyone had a Shackburger (cheeseburger with a mayo-based “shack sauce”) and I had a tasty chocolate milkshake. All of the food was very good and once we finished we partedways with Jenny and headed to the Met for the afternoon. Another huge museum but in 3 hours we managed to hit all the highlights and then headed back to the hotel to get changed for dinner.

So we made our way to Craft, got there a bit early, and wasn’t sure what the ettiquette was for reservations, if it was better to come in early or exactly on time. We opted for early and they sat us quickly, the servers quickly making sure we had full water glasses and bread right as we sat down. Jeremy and I had decided on the tasting menu with paired wines before we had even left so the menu decision wasn’t hard.
Tasting Menu (some wines may be named not quite right, had a hard time reading the server’s writing for a few of them):

  1. Wagyu Carpaccio, Pickled Quail Egg and Jerusalem Artichokes; served with Vouvray, Foreau Clos Naudin, NV Loire Valley
  2. Diver Scallops and Sweet Garlic Cream; served with Grenache Blanc, Denard, Alta Mesa, 2008, Lodi
  3. Olive Oil Poached Day Boat Cod, Morels, Fava Beans, and Razor Clams; served with Vire Clesse, Denis Jandeau, 2006, Maconnais
  4. Panchetta Wrapped Guinea Hen, Chanterelles, Wild Asparagues and Tortellini; served with Domaine du Meix Foulot, 2003, Cote Chalonnaise
  5. New York Baby Lamb, Artichokes, Porcini and Fiddlehead Ferns; served with Grenache, Syrah, Morvedre, Doyenne, Mesier, 2006 Red Montaine
  6. Lemon Meringue Tart, Hibiscus Syrup and Coconut Sorbet
  7. Crepe Suzette, Chocolate Mousse and Malted Milk Ice Cream; served with Erbaiuce di causo, Passito, Fernando Solatino, 2007 Piedmont

My favorite course was #4, Awesome. And it was really interesting on the 3rd course, the fish was just ok on its own, but combine it with the razon clam stuffing, and it provided the perfect amount of saltiness and texture. For each course both Jeremy and I would taste each component of the dish separately then together just to see how all the flavors played out, very fun for the palate. The whole meal was fantastic, the servers were super attentive and on the way out they even gave us mocha chip muffins to take home. A superb experience and definitely something I could get used to 😉

We got a bit turned around on the way back to the hotel and ended up hailing a cab which I got a kick out of as it was my first NYC cab ride.

Tomorrow we have no definite plans, will probably just wander the city a bit, have a bit more of a relaxed day.
Picture total: 524

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Musings from NYC

A few random observations from this trip:
1) it’s really awesome when kids are eager to learn.
While we walked around the Natural History museum in the planetarium there was a family talking with one of the guides about the Big Bang. The daughter, who was maybe 8 or so made the very awesome observation (and came to the conclusion before her parents did) that “asking ‘What happened before the Big Bang?’ is like asking ‘What’s north of north?'” Learning is cool 🙂
2) the old saying of “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” is still true
Riding the subway back from the Bronx Zoo a trio of teenaged skateboarders came on board. One guy was limping badly and was pretty banged up and I kind of wrote it off as he was just doing dumb stunts on his skateboard with his buddies but then one of his friends pulled out a “Tribeca Film Festival” Crumpler-brand camera bag and pulled out a Nikon digital SLR camera and started going through the action shots he had taken of his friends doing tricks on their skateboards. The few I saw were pretty good. So yay for finding a budding skateboarding photographer.

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