aahhh... thanks, mates
I was wasted, but it was fun! 5 days of being continuously drunk.... shots and cocktails, you name it. The Latvian beer ain't so bad, either... Aldaris or Lacplesis or Cuba
(the official 'antiimperialist beer')
But of course I also learned a lot about Latvian culture, their history, the many conflicts and problems they had to face and about their future (not so bright).
Now, to the important stuff:
Riga - or at least the center of Riga - is a town which much like Moscow openly displays its wealth. I have to admit, I've never seen such a splendid modern architecture before, the bars are as stylish as any of Manhattans or LAs coolest lounges, and so are the cars.
I've seen about 60 6-series, and at least as many X5s during my stay. The E60 M5 is also very popular, I've seen about a dozen of them. Latvians tend to spend a lot of money on their
leased luxury cars, so it's no surprise if a man making about 25000 dollars a year drives up in an E-class. If you want to stand out, don't drive a Cayenne or S-class, it's like the standard car. Take a Lotus or sth like that...
Also, if you ever get there and don't have a car, watch out! Two times I've been almost run over, because the cars are allowed (or they don't care about limits) to drive about 90 kph in town. So don't be surprised if some person in a big Touareg aims straight for you... they seem to hate pedestrians.
Pics will follow later on, I am currently too tired to upload them. I've had only 3 hours of sleep the whole day, so yeah, wait for pics.
Fabian