It was a real shame that we had to leave the hostel too early to enjoy the breakfast, but we had a 7:10am train to catch to the airport. The train was a few minutes late but we had factored in some contingency, although as it turned out that was irrelevant. The Airport Express Train – all two carriages of it – terminated at the airport station which looked to be a platform in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately there was a bus alongside to take us the kilometre or so to the actual airport terminal.
The check-in was pretty quick and hassle free but it was quickly apparent that the fog which we had travelled through all the way from town was determined to upset our travel plans. I could see from the Arrivals board that the inbound plane which was no doubt due to take us to Warsaw was “DELAYED”. By the time that they eventually announced that our departure would be delayed by “at least an hour” we were seriously concerned about making our connection to Riga. Laura went to see the booking agent and after polite but persistent enquiries was eventually rewarded with the best possible news – the plane taking us to Warsaw was the same plane flying the Warsaw to Riga leg, so there was no chance we would miss our connection!
The boarding process itself was a bit interesting. The bus to take us across the tarmac to the plane pulled up outside our departure gate (the terminal only had two, five metres apart), and sat there for about 20 minutes before we were invited to board. Once everyone was on the bus we waited another five minutes before being driven a maximum of 40 metres to where our plane was waiting – where we waited another five minutes before the doors were opened to allow us to actually board the plane.
Laura was also a little concerned when she saw the little twin engine turbo prop aeroplane, she said the phrase “...along with all 36 passengers aboard” kept coming to mind! However I am pleased to report that the 45 minute flight to Warsaw was uneventful. And while in Warsaw we disembarked, boarded the bus to be driven to the arrivals hall, walked to our departure gate, and immediately reboarded another bus to be driven back to the same plane. A stopover of about five minutes – what luxury says Laura (see Friday 9th).
The flight to Riga, though longer, was equally uneventful. The end result of our 90 minute delay leaving Warsaw was an arrival in Riga that was only 50 minutes behind schedule, at 2:45pm local time (we gained an hour moving from Poland to Latvia). Local currency was quickly obtained, working out how to get to our lodgings was a bit trickier. This was because we had only booked from Prague so I hadn’t been able to print out the booking confirmation email and had forgotten to write down the details. Fortunately the Tourist Office had a machine that I could use to login to my email account and get the information I needed to be given directions on how to get there.
And getting there was pretty easy – one bus that dropped us not too far from our hostel. By 4:00pm we were checked in and preparing to head out to explore Riga. We had ourselves a little “orientation” walking tour about the Old City area, noting some of the places we wanted to come back to with more time tomorrow (like the Museum Of Occupation), others that we wouldn’t really need to see again (like the Cathedral of the Dome, largely covered in scaffolding), and taking in some sights (like the Victory Monument and the Opera building) that we could consider done.
Since we hadn’t had a proper meal all day we treated ourselves to a delicious dinner in a restaurant that was far cheaper than its appearance suggested. (e.g. Laura’s nice thick steak was less than A$11.00). The desserts were also inexpensive and delicious. Thereafter it was back to our hostel where we both had an early night.
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