laupäev, 22. veebruar 2020

Live the Rhythm of Riga. How I showed Scott the beach in Pärnu.










As always we had a plan - we knew, where there are the best views over Riga and where we'll eat. Everything else will be work in progress.

At 11am on Saturday morning we packed the bags in car and took off direction Pärnu. There we had the first stop planned - walk on the main street, eat few of the famous donuts and have a short stroll on the best beach in the country. Around 1pm we parked car, put our hoods on and started our way through the rain and wind towards the old town. Probably thanks to the weather we got to see the rare sight of completely empty Pärnu. Not one soul on the main street. And only three customers in the donuts bar. We got two donuts for 55 cents, paid a visit to the restroom that was covered with century old spider webs and began then our search for a decent lunch place. On a small side street the Vehverments Bar & Tostadas seemed totally suitable and Scott, who didn't suspect that a place would create the name for the restaurant including a food that they don't serve (there was nothing even remotely close to tostadas on the menu and it was by far not a Mexican place), was ready to sit down and feast on some hot tostadas. As already mentioned, the menu was everything but Mexican and we ordered lamb sausages, goat cheese, carrot and sesame salad and pulled beef. We left the place totally satisfied.

We let the wind carry us to the car and drove to the beach. I had planned to show Scott the best beach in the country and assumed that just like the main street the beach would be empty and just ours. But guess again. First there was no beach anymore. The water had reached the trees lining the beach and since the storm was clearly local event of the year, most of the inhabitants had gathered on the balcony of the beach club to take pictures of the waves. We moved forward before the water would reach the street.

Since some approaching kamikazes were taking over on Pärnu-Riga road like we weren't there, I started to suspect that our lights might not be working and they just can't see us. I created some drama and Scott pulled over. The lights, although weak, were on.

By 6pm we arrived in front of the hotel, parked and went to our room. As already mentioned, being ever the prepared tourists we had a list of restaurants and tonight we had planned to dine in Buržuja. As it was still raining we got a cab. After reaching the restaurant entrance, it turned out that they had a private event there and we were not invited. Oh well. We didn't want to eat there anyway. We went to Skyline in Radisson on floor 26 instead. Scott bee-lined to the almost available table and as soon as the previous guests lifted their butts from the seats we were already sitting there. Namely it was the only available table at the window, where the view went all the way to the other side of the river. We ordered tuna bowl and duck spring rolls. Scott had some red cocktail and we also asked for tap water. A water from the menu would have been 6.60 and since in that fancy bar they add 10% for the marvelous service to the bill, that bottle of water would have cost us 7.30. And the tap water is totally drinkable in this neighbourhood. The guy serving us seemed fairly displeased with our decision and brought us two glasses of warm water... The best part of the menu was Japanese cheesecake. Or so I thought. The same cheesecake that I've eaten in Singapore and Bangkok and am willing to travel to the other side of town to get a slice of that melting in your mouth cheesecake. Anyway, they had it on the menu in Skyline and that's what I ordered for dessert. Turned out that the only thing that the stuffy sponge cake on my plate had in common with Japanese cheesecake, was the name. Scott had more luck with his 6 flavours chocolate cake.

They must have run out of the material for curtains in our room

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