Saturday, April 19, 2008

Saturday in the Park

The sun shone the entire day. It was nothing but blue skies, still a little chilly, but oh so nice. I found a park bench and soaked it all up. There were people out everywhere walking, talking, all enjoying a sunny Saturday. Birds chirping, ducks quacking, and a guy playing a saxophone nearby all made for a pleasant array of ambient noise as I sat there and read. My good buddy Andrew, on various occasions, told me how much he loved The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling; so when I found a paperback copy in a bookstore, I bought it. He did not lie. It is a great story.

After reading for sometime I got up, meandered the narrow streets of Old Riga, and found my way down to the river. The Daugava, like all rivers that has hosted a citiy for ages, is dark dark brown with no visibility. It is still nice to just go sit by it and look out though - sort of peaceful. Honestly, I can not believe how many big churches they crammed within this tiny old town. There may be 7-10 of them, with 5 or 6 of them being humongous, and it only takes maybe 20 minutes to circumvent the entire town. I seriously ask why on earth they kept making these things - there is no way they could fill one of them on any given day, let alone 10. It's baffling. It makes for a very quaint, little city though - good for strolls.

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