I usually do not travel on vacation during the peak summer months. It is usually more expensive, more crowded and in many places too hot. I have changed this these last 3 summers or so, as the summers were rather brutal in Bucharest and I wanted to escape the heat. As such, I added destinations in Scotland, Ireland, Denmark and now Latvia to my travel list. As usual, this is a picture post, so there will be little text. There is not that much to say, really. Full of Baltics and too many Russians, to answer the title question. I kid… The female talent was medium plus, a big improvement on the lands of the Scots. But besides that, let’s have a few words and a bunch of pictures.
This summer I left the 38C temps of Bucharest for the 22C temps of Riga, though it was a warm 22C, due to the high humidity. Although the temperature was not that high, I often had a thin film of sweat on me, although overall it was more comfortable than 38+.
Th city in itself was not bad. It was not too big, all things considered, a little more than half a million, and not particularly densely populated. It did have a good number of bars, restaurants, coffee shops, museums and so on. As I said in the past, such amenities are something I search for on my city breaks.
The trip did not start auspiciously, as my flight was delayed and when I got there, there was a problem with the electronic lock on the apartment I had rented. I had to wait 50 minutes for the owner to come with a physical key and as such I lost my restaurant reservation for the night. But I found a reasonable place to eat nearby. I had a pretty good location for accommodation, on the edge of the old town on a side street without much traffic and seeing an inner courtyard of the building, and it was very quiet at night, which I liked.
The city is airy if that is the mot juste, and was not clogged by either cars or people. It was very walkable and overall pleasant. It seems to have good bike infrastructure and a decent public transport system, though I did not really use it as I walk everywhere.
They have a rather big water feature going through the city, and it was a nice break midday to just get on a boat doing an hour trip on the river, having some beer and just chilling.
The food was generally decent though not always cheap. I would say the prices were some 15-20% higher than Bucharest, similar to the GDP per capita difference. The beer was okay. The specialty coffee was mediocre at best. I do not know why I keep expecting northern cities to have good coffee, but as with Copenhagen I was disappointed. The wine scene was interesting, with a significant accent on Georgian wine and a bunch of Czech stuff as well, though the most prevalent was still French, Italian and German. I particularly liked the wine bar which specialized on breakfast, having a very large wine list, opening at 8 AM and closing at 3 or 4 PM. Pie is not averse to the gifts of the grapevine at 9 AM, when on holiday.
I had a general tendency to compare the city to Bucharest, something I would not do with say Copenhagen or Edinburgh. But this seemed… more comparable, though it was not. Riga was a much more developed city, historically. But both are capitals of former commie countries. Riga comes on top in the comparison because, besides being much less noisy, crowded and with better air quality, it was also not particularly scarred by communism. Very little brutalist architecture, few high-rise buildings. No one tore down the historic districts to build megalomaniac buildings. It had a distinct Nordic / Germanic feel to the architecture. Seeing the view from their observation point on top of the most commie building in the city, you barely saw tall buildings on the skyline. I saw a few brutalist apartment buildings, but only at the edge of the city.
Overall, it had the usual bits European Cities Of Some History have, like old buildings and squares and churches and things, the usual package.
Some older industrial bits
And on of the ugliest buildings I have ever seen
On further comparisons to Bucharest, very few dogs and all of them small. Dogs are extremely popular in Romania in all shapes and sizes. There, few and I do not think I saw one dog above knee high. I saw no cats in my four days there. Maybe it is the harsh winters, maybe it is the culture, maybe there are no cats or all cats are indoor cats. I do not know. Bucharest – you can hardly throw a brick without hitting one, they are everywhere. I walk 20 minutes I see a dozen lounging about.
Another difference to old B was whenever I saw a pack of teenage girls, almost none were vaping. In Romania close to half vape. It was quite strange to me.
I took a day trip to the seaside. The seaside resort had mostly wooden houses, looking worse for wear. It did not seem too populated. The beaches were extensive, but off course not that inviting with the cold sea and the constant wind. I had a beer at a beach bar and promptly left.
The city was fairly green, with trees, parks and canals besides the river. The city was clean, no garbage on the streets, and overall seemed safe. People seemed mostly locals, except the bike couriers doing Uber eats and similar food delivery. People generally spoke English without much issue. Overall it was not a bad trip.
My brother says that it’s like that in the Netherlands. He moved there with two 100+ lb (45+kg) dogs and they draw a lot of attention.
my friend in dutchland oft complained to me about seeing girls with pitbulls on the street there, so I am not sure there are no large dogs, but fewer than Bucharest where it is not unusual to see rottweilers off leash
Pie is not averse to the gifts of the grapevine at 9 AM, when on holiday.
🙂
Great pictures! Thanks for sharing!
Breakfast Vinegar?
In NY that’s called “Frank’s.”
I do, in fact, put that shit on everything.
The PBJ & Franks is … interesting.
Are you suggesting to this largely US readership that all of Eastern Europe isn’t the same?
Thanks for the article. Interesting about the differences in the architecture.
the baltics are never seen as eastern europe imo
So, is Copenhagen cheaper to get to than the more northern (and supposedly cooler) cities like Helsinki or Oslo?
define cheaper to get to…
I have a bias against the Danes, so if I were going to go all Scandi, it wouldn’t be to Copenhagen. I was wondering if there was a concrete reason to pick them over the others (or the Finns).
I’m sure one of the four has less cultural enrichment.
The last Finnish Brutality match had a stage where you needed to rig a charge and blow a door open. They taught you how to make a breaching charge out of det cord beforehand.
They seem like a fun people.
Note: I will not be attending ANY brutality matches until I lose 100#.
In short city breaks I do not like layovers and there is no direct flight from Bucharest to Helsinki.
Anyway Copenhagen is a much nicer city based on all I have heard, though more expensive by far.
Oslo is on the list but that is even more expensive than Copenhagen, I will probably try to visit. But norway takes more time and money as I will also want to take a train to e.g. Bergen or Trondheim.
Riga was the only Baltic with a direct flight. I want to also see Tallinn and I think I will do that with a layover on the flight and use the occasion to also take the ferry to Helsinki.
That is understandable. I don’t mind them too much, but that’s because I only fly if the driving is going to take me more than a couple of days anyway.
I’m sure one of the four has less cultural enrichment.
Scandinavians are Norwegians, Danes, and Swedes. Finns are separate.
NA was asking about four cities. The three with mutually intelligable languages are distinct from the Finns who are a different ethnic and linguistic heritage.
Icelandic is most like the root old norse than the other three. Though Iceland wasn’t on the list inquired about.
NA was clear the finns are separate
NA was asking about four cities.
Ahh…. I wasn’t paying attention. I was thinking countries. My fault.
From what I gather from the Scandinavians I’ve known, the Finns have a reputation for being a bunch of drunks. So if you like booze, that would be the place to go. I didn’t really notice a lot of booziness in Helsinki. It seemed rather sterile. But maybe the booze comes out during the long winters. I wouldn’t mind going back to Finland to see the wife carrying world championships. https://eukonkanto.fi/en/front-page/
Wait, I thought it was all train travel over there.
Ukraine is in the way,
train travel is very poor in Romania it gets better as I leave the country, but Bucharest to Budapest takes almost 16 hours and is oft delayed . But it is not great in the Baltics either.
Mini-rant about people in general. The stupid notion that if someone expects gratitude or reciprocity for helping you, that they are in some way manipulating or controlling you.
No, that shit is just basic human decency that decent people naturally do. If you think it’s “controlling” for someone to expect something back in return for helping you over and over, you are just a piece of shit who wanted to take advantage of someone else.
Meh. You’re not wrong, but I was raised in a culture where explicitly mentioning a favor debt was a major breach of courtesy.
It shouldn’t have to be mentioned and the correct course of action is to cut people who don’t do shit back off entirely.
Typically, I feel like if I’m at the point where I have to tell someone how to act right, they’re someone I shouldn’t be bothering with in the first place.
But sometimes shit runs hot and these people deserve to be told off.
I have not encountered that with people in ‘general’ I have been told off for mentioning favors I have done someone a few times, including one time where I only mentioned it when being bitched at for not doing another favor for the person who never thanked me for loading her stuff into a Uhaul, then driving said Uhaul from Lexington to Atlanta, and unloading it into her new apartment. And once got told that expecting gratitude was manipulative by two women, both of whom I had done significant favors for, and not asked for thanks. That last one was in the context of them complaining that men only did favors wanting something in return, and apparently my pointing out that I had done them favors and not asked for anything was me trying to guilt them.
I didn’t want to be blatantly misogynistic, but the lack of accountability is particularly pronounced in one gender.
I thought the minimum for helping someone move was to say thanks and give food and beverage of mutually acceptable type. (stereotypically pizza and beer, but it depends on who you’re talking about)
Genuine question, not looking to confirm, deny, start drama:
Do you find age a factor in general?
For instance, *I* (57 now), with regard to HOSPITALITY was taught to
a) show gratitude
b) keep it in the back of my mind as if the other person keeps it in the back of their pocket (whether they really do or not)
c) reciprocate ASAP.
However, my dad was weird about generosity. He was overly generous insofar as he NEVER expected reciprocity for a favor, although he would reciprocate if he had to take a favor (almost never). I would say his generosity was actually born of pride and envy (and he had a lot of that). If he was generous, it meant someone had less. If he had less than someone else, he would pay to hide the fact that he had less.
How this affected ME was that as a teenager, I would babysit or whatever with the expectation of payment, as the parent and I had agreed upon, and then my dad would make me refuse payment or give it back. “They need it more than you do.” WTF I got no money, and this is MY labor you’re giving away (although I didn’t think of it in those terms when I was that age). Instead, I just had that Charlie Brown scribble in my brain, like WTF just happened? So I stopped babysitting.
It took him a financial quasi-crisis and some shark lawyers to try to get him out of that and teach him his worth, but let me tell you. That lesson’s hard to shake and I still have problems with demanding payment for knowledge and information.
Back to the topic at hand.
The other day I saw an old woman struggling to put her purchases in her car. My first instinct was to offer to help (trust me, my offers of help have gotten me into more trouble than it was worth), but she finished before I could. Then I realized she was YOUNGER THAN ME.
So. Yeah.
There was some talk about the Persian practice of basically refusing compliments or payment for services and such out of some social code and how AI struggles with this. Yet this same song and dance does exist in Western cultures, as well even if its not codified. And I think those customs are falling to the wayside with the younger generations. And as Suthen mentioned, it varies based on where you are in the country.
I have to confess, when I help most people, I don’t bother expecting anything back because I consider most people to be ungrateful assholes. I’m al cynic in general. But it does hurt when you actually think someone is decent and they just take advantage.
But the sorts of scenarios I’m thinking of specifically are with people you think you share a bond with of some kind. Whether that’s a friendship or something more. Which takes me back to the above – those should be people you expect decency back from, and it’s not inherently manipulative to call them out for it when they don’t live up that expectation.
I have literally NEVER heard of a parent interfering with a child’s babysitting job like that.
I was also taught the Boy Scout way about doing Good Turns.
I did an excellent job of completely forgetting how much in debt to me a friend was when they relied on me for rent/food/utilities. When they did not and paid me back in an enormous lump sum (years later) it was a Hallmark moment.
@NA, Mo’s Dad wasn’t exactly model father material.
I suspect that many of the people who claim that basic reciprocal politeness is ‘controlling’ are themselves suffering from narcissistic personality disorder.
If I do a favor for a friend, and then they don’t reciprocate, I will give them shit about it for pretty much ever. If they are a friend.
Not a friend, I will always be a classic boy scout, and I know that they won’t return the favor.
I still won’t help you move at this age, no matter what.
All I know about Riga comes from Mikhail Tal and the song Die Grenzwacht hielt im Osten
https://nypost.com/2025/10/01/us-news/nypd-cop-snuck-into-ryder-cup-in-full-tactical-gear-claimed-he-was-on-trump-security-sources/
Trained professional.
Detective Melvin Eng, who is facing administrative charges for theft of services, might have even gotten away with the golf course ruse — had he not dropped his gun magazine in the grass in front of real security personnel, according to law enforcement sources and NYPD documents.
What is it with cops having to play with their guns in public? Can we get them some fidget spinners or something?
It’s the forbiddenness of it.
remove the specialness of being a cop and implement constitutional carry universally and that will go away.
I haven’t been to Riga, but I visited Tallin for a couple days back in the 90s when I did a trip through St. Petersburg, Tallin, Stockholm and Helsinki. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice Tallin was. We almost didn’t make it there as my wife was nearly arrested by the Russian border guards for smuggling foreign currency.
I’m going to assume she had some random pocket money and wasn’t trying to get 3,000,000 Yuan into Russia.
The form when we left Russia had lines for USD, GBP, Deutschmarks, Yen and French Francs, and a bunch of blank lines for other currencies. She had some Austrian Schillings because she worked in Vienna. She didn’t put those in the blank lines because she doesn’t follow instructions. She also gave the guards attitude when they tried to “inspect” her wallet. The guards barely bothered with me because of my US passport, but they really went after her. During our stay in Russia we were able to use her Slavic look to get cheap admission to all the museums, but it was a handicap at the border.
We reserved the real currency smuggling for when we came to the US with a bunch of cash in my son’s diaper.
Talk about dirty money
I like pictures.
Thanks Pie, this was a nice little post. Makes me want to travel.
And now for the obligatory snark: needz moar native wimminz.
taking pictures of random women on the street is the sort of thing that can get one’s ass kicked
Qatar? WTF? Isn’t Qatar a relatively rich country?
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/assuring-the-security-of-the-state-of-qatar/
AMERICA FIRST!
I wonder how this ties into Israel’s attack on Qatar’s sovereignty a few weeks back. The attack that most people on here defended despite accomplishing next to nothing beyond burning bridges while attempting to hammer out a peace deal.
Basically, Qatar got screwed and in exchange for mending fences and helping to keep the peace process going for Israel after their attack failed, Trump caved and gave them this ridiculous defense treaty. One that various Arab states have angled for in the past, but not been granted.
And now the left will sit there and cry corruption and quid pro quo because Qatar has business deals with Trump on top of all this.
And didn’t they give him a big beautiful, classy plane?
I hope Trump is done bailing out Netenyahu for his harebrained misadventures.
From Wiki-wiki-wikipedia:
In early 2017, the population of Qatar was 2.6 million, although only 313,000 of them were Qatari citizens and 2.3 million were expatriates and migrant workers.[22] Its official religion is Islam.[23] The country has the fourth-highest GDP (PPP) per capita in the world[24] and the eleventh-highest GNI per capita (Atlas method).[25] It ranks 42nd in the Human Development Index, the third-highest HDI in the Arab world.[26] It is a high-income economy, backed by the world’s third-largest natural gas reserves and oil reserves.[27]
Modern Arabs can’t fight for themselves. See what happened with Kuwait. And that was just against Iraqis.
They can hire their own soldiers.
They did. Ours.
They are a state sponsor of terrorism and various terror-friendly orgs around the world.
And yes, they can afford to pay for their own goddamn security too.
That does not sound pleasant at all. As someone who has trouble walking on a good day, and has had a swollen ankle the last few weeks, I despise ‘walkable’. It just means there is no access for we cripples. If I can’t park a short distance from a building I won’t be frequenting that establishment. (Of course, I’m not demanding ACA compliance or anything, but we vote with our feet (or mobility scooters))
parking near a specific building is oft improbable in most large European cities
Europe failed to plan ahead for automobiles when building cities and roadways. Serious error in judgment, and now you all are stuck with walking around all the neat historic areas.
Nostradamus failed to warn us 500 years ago
I walk with a cane now, amen brother,
It is a high-income economy, backed by the world’s third-largest natural gas reserves and oil reserves.
It will all be gone soon, burned for no reason other than poisoning the planet.
Bro: regarding favor-debts the culture is quite different around the USA. I once helped a stranger from NY with a flat tire. I saw he was alone, had a flat and no idea what to do, so I stopped. I had a plug kit and an air pump. When I was finished he asked me what I wanted.
“Like what?”
Him: “Money?”
“No I dont want any money. You had a flat. If you see broken down, stop and help me.”
Him: “I dont understand. ”
“I am glad I could help you. *shook his hand* I have to run. Nice to meet you. Take care.”
The guy was completely puzzled. I also had a sociology teacher at university that was from Rochester. He was always going on about the culture shock he had to deal with moving here.
What NA said. It is something very culture specific. Here I do you a favor. You say thank you then we never speak of it again.
There’s helping strangers, but I’m talking more about people who have some sort of relationship. If you feel OK in a relationship of any kind where you are constantly going out of your way for someone else and getting nothing back, more power to you.
Simple example – if I’m constantly buying you food, the least you could do is maybe get me back here or there. I don’t even expect people to do what I do for others, but if someone you’ve bought for countless times then goes and buys for themselves or others and excludes you, that’s the sort of scenario I’m talking about.
It’s a blatant slap in the face.
I attract people like this, only it’s not just money. It’s time, effort, emotion, stress. I don’t ask for reciprocity because I know very good and well they can’t, but I DO drift away when I’ve had all I can take.
We’re definitely going through that with my oldest, and even the youngest does that sometimes. Frustrating as hell.
We also had that with the cousin that lived with us. Then when she moved out she turned on us, and there are still members of my wife’s family who don’t associate with us because they don’t want to cause problems with the cousin.
LOL you lit the TOK and Mojeaux signal.
I have to confess the above scenario was kind of my breaking point with a specific person, but like you said, it was about far more than money. Or I did far more than just waste my money on them.
I’ll reiterate – with most people, I expect nothing because I think most people are pieces of shit. I help anyway and shrug the ingratitude off.
But if this is someone I consider a friend, I’m not going to let that shit fly. And they think because they don’t directly ask for things (even when they very often do, or have a third party ask me to do it for them) or because I never explicitly asked for something back in return, that I”m the asshole for calling them out and owe me nothing.
Ahhhhhh….the emotional vampires. I know them well.
I don’t expect anyone to help me for free. Last winter someone cleaned the snow berm off my driveway, I accused one neighbor of it but he denied it. I still don’t know who did it, I’m guessing someone came by with a pickup and a plow and cleaned that spot up. I can’t even thank them.
Now, if I could hire some cheap labor to take care of my garden.
I gave 20 gallons of crab apples away, that I had picked, and the local ladies brought back some of their labors preserved in jars. It’s a good place to live.
I will give you a counter example, which is admittedly rare. My wife’s cousin is an incredibly kind and generous person. He is constantly helping us fix things around the house and the gym. He and Mrs. TOK have an ongoing feud where they keep trying to pay each other’s way. Whether it’s dinner or whatever, they both want the check. They’ve had to get creative at times. Once when we were getting a Christmas tree, we stopped for gas, and she ran in and paid for his gas in advance. He walked out just shaking his head, knowing he’d been bested.
Now it’s even “worse” because he’s drastically changed his eating habits and he’s been going to Mrs. TOK’s classes at the gym (no charge of course). He’s lost over 60 pounds and he’s strong as an ox. Looks and feels amazing. And he’s super grateful.
Ah. So.
This is where being Southern comes in handy — they have a social mechanism in place.
If you think your hospitality is being abused, you refuse the request with an excuse but you use the “let’s pretend I’m not lying” register. Now they can’t challenge your excuse, they know it’s just an excuse, they will need to consider why you’re refusing and you haven’t overtly called attention to the favor debt.
Helsinki apocryphally tried a tourist slogan once along the lines of “they say you have to be mad to visit Finland in winter, except for you you absolute badass
“Whassamatter? You some kinda pussy? Come to Helsinki in the winter!”
My Dad was a Latvian immigrant at 12, (1905), with his parents, brother and sister. He claimed to be from Riga but actually were from a farm village. His older brother had a strong accent, my dad not so much though he interchanged Vs and Ws. We drank wodka and vhiskey, not often though.
My grandparents were gone by the time I was born. I gave my son my grandparents’ Latvian bible yesterday, the script was unusual. Grandparents never learned English and subscribed to Latvian newspapers, etc.
My maternal grandmother was Sweden born and she too was gone by the time I entered the world.
Kiddie porn news
A lawsuit over alleged child sexual exploitation brought by a Los Angeles man pictured as a naked infant on the cover of the Nirvana album “Nevermind” has been dismissed, according to court papers obtained Wednesday.
What we know:
Spencer Elden sought millions of dollars in personal injury damages from the now-defunct group’s company, various record companies and art directors on the grounds that he was a victim of child pornography when he was photographed naked in a pool for the cover of the 1991 album as a 4-month-old baby.
He filed the lawsuit almost 30 years after the photo was taken.
I’m kind of surprised.
I’m not. If Spencer Elden’s life sucks at this point it is Spencer Elden’s fault. Nobody would even connect him to being that baby unless he brought it up. He is owed nothing.
The district court first tossed the action three years ago as barred by the 10-year statute of limitations.
But a panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal and sent the case back to Los Angeles federal court for further proceedings, finding that because each republication of the cover photo may constitute a new personal injury, the plaintiff’s complaint was not barred by the statute of limitations.
A living Hell, it is.
#stack205 5/5
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
⏱️ 3m 11s
🔥 streak: 2
puzzlist.com/stackdown
#ows590 🔎 4/5 (01:25)
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🔥 streak: 2
onewordsearch.com
Almost as good as the usual NYP versus NYFD antics here in NYC.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/firefighters-accused-flooding-maryland-baseball-field-rcna234968
My cousin was NYPD – can confirm they hate the NYFD. He’s been retired for years and you can still get him going by bringing them up (“they’re all a bunch of fucking thieves”, etc.)
Does insurance cover errant baseballs?
Would it be the teams insurance?
It appears to be from a shool operated by the state. They have a good shot at claiming immunity. You’d have to go after the teams playing who may or may not also be public.
It’s possible to find somebody with insured liability, but it’s not cut and dried.
Suthern:
“Bro: regarding favor-debts the culture is quite different around the USA. I once helped a stranger from NY with a flat tire. I saw he was alone, had a flat and no idea what to do, so I stopped. I had a plug kit and an air pump. When I was finished he asked me what I wanted.
“Like what?”
Him: “Money?”
“No I dont want any money. You had a flat. If you see broken down, stop and help me.”
Him: “I dont understand. ”
“I am glad I could help you. *shook his hand* I have to run. Nice to meet you. Take care.”
The guy was completely puzzled. I also had a sociology teacher at university that was from Rochester. He was always going on about the culture shock he had to deal with moving here.
What NA said. It is something very culture specific. Here I do you a favor. You say thank you then we never speak of it again.”
I have helped several people with car trouble from places across the North East. I travel the interstate every day and have tools, jumper cables, and the ability to help. Most older locals would tell me they got it and thanks for stopping, young locals are clueless and couldn’t change a tire, they would thank me but not try to pay, NY, Philly, and or DC travelers are baffled at my stopping and wonder if I’m angling for a payment.
The big city people are like this because they are used to people trying to take vantage of them. They are usually pleasantly surprised and confused when you just help them and split.
This was a lot of fun, Pie. The ‘industrial bits’ remind me of the Vauban neighborhood I lived in in Freiburg, in SW Germany for a semester. (Normally, I’d edit that sentence to not have so many ‘ins,’ but I just got back from work. Bllllegh. “That ‘that’ that that girl used was unnecessary.”)
The Baltics are a place I’ve approached but never been, a fairly big ‘bald’ spot in my travels. The closest I’ve been is I suppose the Netherlands. I’d *really* like to go to Finland. Of all countries in that region, it certainly interests me the most.
Well today has been… messy.
Anyone have a sneeze so awful you ended up needing to change your shirt? And no, I didn’t blow my nose on it.
🤧
Wow that sounds bad. You are right in the middle of it.
This has been the snottiest head cold I can remember having.
It’s disgusting. Thankfully I have an unopened box of kleenex and my reserves of Charmin that I shouldn’t go through by the time this passes.
I’ve Firsted so hard I had to change my pants.
Eeeeewwwww
I don’t recall sneezing that hard myself, but Ninja Cat, who seems to have some sort of chronic sinus condition, has been known to get on someone’s lap or curl up next to someone on the bed, then sneeze in someone’s face. 😖😸
That’s just mean, 🐱👤