Last Saturday was my friend Guna’s birthday. You can imagine my excitement when it was announced that we would celebrate it by having a girls’ weekend in Liepāja.
Lazy day on the beach + biking to the restaurant for dinner, followed by crazy dancing at the beach discos…biking around the night town…
While I could well imagine that the biking would take place, I was skeptical about the crazy dancing. Any time a Latvian has ever said to me “You just wait til you see us party – we’ll still be going in the morning!”, I’ve found that by “morning”, they meant 12.01 and were tucked up in their beds by around 12.03. Still, never one to let my cynical side get the better of me, I was looking forward to it.
I was to be picked up by Guna and Gunta between 8.30 and 9.00. I threw a few bits into a bag and at 8.30, knowing there was no hurry, sat down with another cup of tea. Sure enough, it was close to 9.30 by the time they arrived. In high spirits, we hit the road, the issue of me moving to Germany foremost on everyone’s mind. Or rather, how to stop me moving to Germany. By the time we’d left Riga, Guna had hatched a cunning plot to pin me down and get me impregnated by a Liepājan Jānis. I briefly wondered if rolling from a moving car into a ditch was as easy as it looks in the movies.
A couple of hours later, we arrived in Liepāja, met up with our friend Ginta who lives there during the summer, reserved a few bikes for later (sigh), and hit the beach.
A blissful few hours were spent, discussing hot topics of the day such as “Do you have yogurt in Ireland?”, and turning over every 30 minutes or so. At around 5pm, we packed up and headed to the information centre to pick up our bicycles. As I looked at them, all I noticed was that they were red and had probably been around since Guna’s grandmother’s day. It was only when I was already moving that I realised there were no brakes.
Me: Where are the damn brakes?!
Gunta: The pedals!
I’d forgotten that bikes like that existed. After almost shooting over the handlebars a couple of times, I eventually made it back to our apartment – wobbly but in one piece. Quick showers were had, glad rags put on, and soon we were ready to go to the restaurant. We rode around to Ginta’s place over mainly cobblestone streets. Needless to say, the seats weren’t very well padded and shock absorbers hadn’t been invented when these bikes came into being, so it was a bit like sitting on a vibrating concrete block. (And no, that’s not a good thing.)
We cycled to the wonderfully-located Libava restaurant and took our reserved table outside, overlooking the river. At this stage, I was so hungry I could have eaten a small child, but I settled for the roast pork, which was excellent. (So excellent, I ate it before I could take a picture.) After a while, a speed-boat full of Jānises pulled up and they sat at the table next to us. After some accidental flirting by yours truly, a bottle of wine was delivered to our table. I may have underestimated Jānises.
Still, we had to leave, as Ginta had reserved another table for us at a beach bar where a “concert” was taking place. My dismount at the end of the wooden ramp to the sand was less than elegant. In a bid to calm my nerves, and for the location that was in it, I decided I’d have a “Sex on the Beach”. To my dismay, it was listed in the non-alcoholic section – “Safe Sex on the Beach”. I decided to chance my arm and asked for a “Safe Sex on the Beach without the safety”. This actually produced a giggle from the bar girl and, more importantly, it produced vodka. It turned out I’d need it.
Sure that I could feel Elvis spinning in his grave, I took myself off for a little walk. I was rewarded with this nice photo – and my desire to hear again returning.
After a while, it was time to head back to the rather fancy Promenade Hotel for dessert. At this point, Ginta, being 4 months pregnant, decided to call it a night. My arse and I also decided that we’d had enough of the bike from hell so a new plan was needed. We went back to the apartment where I deposited my less than trusty steed. The girls were to cycle back to the beach to check out a singles party happening there – if it was any good, they’d give me a call and I’d hop in a taxi and join them. If not, we’d call it a night. (It was just before midnight…)
Watching them disappear into the night, I did what any sensible person would not do and took off for a wander to kill time. I was sure there had to be a party happening somewhere in this town, and just as sure that I would be the woman to find it. Hello Fontaine Palace. Gunta had just called to say that the party was crap so they were having one drink and heading home. The call of a live rock band (and possible fun) calling me, I paid my €3 and walked into the cavernous bar.
I ordered a pint and within a couple of minutes, a guy danced over to me. He turned out to be the drunkest German sailor in the world. I couldn’t hear much of what he was saying over the music; also, I had to keep turning away to discreetly wipe his over-excited saliva off my face. Still, he was kind of entertaining and he told me my German was very good so he was alright by me.
While we were talking, a guy behind him kept on catching my eye and then turning away. I figured he was Latvian – no smile and a man bag. After the German fell out the door, I was amused to notice that he’d moved one seat closer. He’d go to the bathroom and come back, sitting down another seat closer. This went on for some time until finally he was sitting next to me. Latvians…
Anyway, he turned out to be a nice guy and, as an insanely loud band had now taken the stage, we moved outside. The rest of the night passed in a bit of a blur. I was always ready to leave “after this pint”, but then someone else would come over, a conversation would start, and I’d end up getting another. I even met Latvia’s answer to Matthew Gray Gubler, who, although he’d been drinking for around 3 days solid still managed to look hot…
At around 8am, I decided it was probably time to call it a night day, and headed for home. Waking up at around 1.30, I was relieved to discover that a) the bikes had already been returned, and b) we were still in time for the infamous brunch at Boulangerie.
Regaling Gunta and Guna with tales of my adventures the night before, we stuffed ourselves with omelettes, lasagna and crepes, washed down with copious amounts of milky tea – OK, that was just me.
A few hours later, back at my flat in Riga, I came to the conclusion that although my arse hadn’t enjoyed the weekend much, I most certainly had. Thank you ladies (and Liepājans) for a weekend to remember. And no, in case you’re wondering, I didn’t get impregnated by a Jānis…
I’m so glad you had a nice time (finally). Hope your arse is feeling better. I’ve ridden on not-so-good bikes before … the pain can linger for days 😉
It’s better now thankfully! Though the next post might get me an ass-kicking that could put me back to square one 😉
Oh, I’m looking forward to that one! Your post, not the arse-kicking 😉
It will be a few hours, but hopefully worth waiting for 😉
When I saw that you have been in Liepaja, I was expecting something much worse – about the angry, depressed people, and stuff… But this is a really nice story. 😀
Glad you had a great time in my hometown (apart from biking hell). He, he.
By the way, there are no rivers in Liepaja, it is the Trade Channel, that you were next to, while being at Libava (my father would say – for an accurate historic reference).
Have a wonderful week and stay safe! 🙂
Oops, sorry 🙂 You’re the first one who’s pointed that out!
Liepaja is fine in summer. I was first there in November – that was a different story 😉
“While we were talking, a guy behind him kept on catching my eye and then turning away. I figured he was Latvian – no smile and a man bag. After the German fell out the door, I was amused to notice that he’d moved one seat closer. He’d go to the bathroom and come back, sitting down another seat closer. This went on for some time until finally he was sitting next to me. Latvians…”
Ok, this is something between funny and cute. He probably read it in the “Latvian Lad’s Bible: how to strategically approach a woman”
Yeah, it was kind of cute! Naturally he was married and shouldn’t have been approaching anyone but hey, Latvian guys 😉
There are some very cute guys in Latvia (albeit rare) but most have drank themselves stupid, and by the time they’re 30-35 they look like Boris Yeltsin. Such a shame …
I’ve a question for you – since you were in Liepāja, the city of music (so they say, and by “they” I mean many musicians and locals)- I wanted to know your take on “New Wave” (“Jaunais Vilnis).
We found out about the existence of this “shedevr” when we endured an hour of it on TV in Doma Square, mere two hours after landing in Riga. Memories of it haunt us to this day…
*curls up in a dark corner and starts rocking*
Ha ha! To be honest, I have zero interest in it. It’s been ‘sold’ to me as aging Russian popstars miming to their greatest hits 😉 But if wealthy Russians are willing to pay for that then good luck to them 😉 I guess that’s how Jurmala makes its money for the year!
And Yeltsin – hahahahahah! 🙂
whooohooo! what a fun night!!!!! Love Jude’s comments…my sentiments exactly, but I could have never expressed it in such an articulate way….
🙂
Yeah, she’s a real keeper! So funny!
There might be still few dreamy boys left in this town! But i think, soon they will be gone.. 🙂
Ha, are you talking about yourself?!
Hmm, strange – we call Liepaja the sea of alcochol, because you can never get out from parties and drinking there before 3 days at least (even if you just went to see a theatre show). All of these trips are full of excitement and end up with legandary stories. 🙂 And hangover because of these Fountaine burgers (not the millions of drinks you have) is a must… Maybe the company was just too polite. 😉
Ha, well I certainly didn’t leave before 3! I probably would have stayed there until 3 the next day if I hadn’t had to go back to Riga 😉
Giving Latvia a good sendoff then. It’s not a job for just anyone so glad you’re around and willing to do it 🙂
I’ll do my damnedest 😉
Have a drink for me. (That totally won’t count against your responsible drinking tally, by the way.)
That’s pretty flexible anyway…
I’m not implying you stick strictly by the responsible tally, but it’s good to know what counts under it. You know, so you can construct a responsible-drinking-tally drinking game.
Ugh, I hate drinking games – why can’t people just sit and drink like normal people? 😉
Now you say it, I can see you as a not-drinking-game person.
I really like the idea of drinking games, but now you say it I haven’t really played many, as such. I’ve made cracks about drinking games whilst drinking. (You probably still need to know the responsible-drinking-tally rules to do that.)
For me they’re more for people who don’t know how to have a conversation – and you don’t strike me as that sort of person!
Real life is much harder. People don’t wait for you to think up replies at talking speed.
If I ruled the world etc.
Ha, I can’t imagine you being stuck for words!
Well if
Wait.
Then you can
Uh.
🙂
What a fun weekend girls trip. No impregnation by a Jānis is just the icing the cake! 🙂
You can say that again! 🙂
How is it possible that Gunta and Ginta didn’t take a video of you riding that bike???
p.s. My favourite thing about the pic you posted on FB with the girls on the bikes is how wee you are in comparison to all the rest. 🙂
There were a few motion shots – awkward doesn’t really begin to cover it 😉
And haha, yeah – it’s not like they’re big girls – not at all! But I’m still like a Lilliputian in comparison to most people! 🙂
You thought biking and drinking was a good idea before you saw how terrible your bike was?
No, I never thought it was a good idea. But as I’ve said before, Latvians be crazy 😉 Laws are more like suggestions here 😉 That’s why I ditched mine at the first possible opportunity!
I wasn’t really thinking about laws. I was thinking about trying to balance on a bike after a few drinks!
Yeah, and I was wobbly enough sober!
bahahaha ‘up a bit…’ a little more….almost there.. 😉
He was dreamy… 😉
Hmm, why are they keeping all the good ones in Liepaja? If only I didn’t already have a tall, half-drunk Eastern European…
Yeah, finding a tall, half-drunk one isn’t difficult. Finding a hot, tall, half-drunk one is the challenge 😉
Germany is going to be boring after all this…I’m jumping on board the “get you pregnant with a Latvian baby” train, hehehe.
Jump off 😉
I’d clearly fit well in Lithuania being known for wanting all parties rather to start at 3pm than later so that I can get my fair share of party before falling asleep at midnight 😉 too bad this is rarely honoured (apart from birthday celebrations for children).
Yeah, I’m generally getting started at midnight 😉 Then I don’t have kids!
I was quite as lame years before kids already 😉 Should have lived in UK with the open hours of their pubs!
Or Latvia – 24-7 😉
*wiped off a small puddle of saliva*.
sheesh, you either should publish your “vacashion wish Anna” plansh in advansh (*another wipe*), or publish it ash a beshtsheller afterwardsh! (*yet another wipe*) 🙂 just remember to attach some kind of 16+ (18+ or 21+, or.. whatever PG rating you feel appropriate) warning, and, voila!, it’s done.
actually – Liepāja is wunderfull small (or rather large – around 100K ppl?) town. port, some higher education estabilishments, generally warm people (and more or less about half of them – of russian origin). you should really look for someone local (not from riga!) to show you places there.
Ginta spends every summer there – and her mum lives there so she’s almost a local 😉
I think the pop of Liepaja is only around 70,000. There are around 100,000 in Daugavpils and that’s the second city…
checked with english wiki… ahem, yes, my data is a bit outdated (i’ve studied in early ’90ies, and then population was around 100-110K.). now it’s around 75K, indeed.
let’s move there, together ? 😉
Is this part of the ‘impregnate Linda’ plan?!
is it an offer ? -_o
i kinda like that place, you kinda like it too… why not spend some quality time together? 🙂 still, my _previous_ offer is valid, too.
p.s. there is no such thing as a latvia-wide conspiracy to impregnate Linda. and if there was, i wouldn’t tell, or i’d be a subject to internal affairs investigation.
I think I probably am already 😉
I like it there in summer. I was there in November and it was possibly the most depressing, empty place I’ve ever been! I’d need a kid just to keep me entertained 😉
Quite the night out EE. I lost track of the number of drinking stops along the way. One quick question, how come the pics show most of the venues to be very lightly populated or empty?
Yeah 😉 Well, Liepaja isn’t that big… most of them could have been tired after riding their bikes all day… there was a big festival last weekend so a lot of people might have been there… that, or they’re all in Ireland 😉
Hahaha!
İ love that you suck out anyway. Sounds like something I’d do!
Glad you ended up having such a good time. Bikes aren’t too bad. When they have proper breaks and suspension 🙂
Yeah, I’d been on one every day for the previous week and it was fine – but then that bike was a gazillion times better than this one 😉 And yeah, it can be hard to make me go home 😉
It might have been a crap bike, but you wear it well! How many days left in Latvia?
I don’t have a definite leave date yet so I’m more counting in ‘lasts’ – last time I ever take that bus, last time I go to that building, etc. 🙂
And thank you – the tan helped! The motion shots were AWKWARD 😉
My god, I feel exhausted just reading this post…don’t think I could make it till 8am unless there were several Matthew Gray Gublers revealing themselves to me 😉
Turns out one was enough 😉
Also, I would encourage getting pregnant by the Latvian Skarsgaard. Do they have him in mail-order variety? I have a friend or two who would be interested.
Hands off – I might stay 😉
If you change your mind, just FedEx him over. I’ve got a few single friends. . .
I need to find him again first – I think I probably know where to do that though 😉
As usual, hilarious. I’ve never wanted to visit Latvia until I found your blog (oh, which I just plugged in an interview, I hope you get some traffic from it!) I missed the post about you moving to Germany. Why? WHY NOT ITALY? I know I’ve made it sound like heaven for you. Chest hair, eh, eh?
You gave me a plug in an interview?! About what?! I’m not sure I could cope with Italians straight after Latvians – Germans seem like a logical step 😉 Maybe Italy after that! I might need some disorder again 😉
Yes. Here near the end in response to her asking my favorite travel bloggers: http://unwillingexpat.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/blogging-around-the-world-surviving-in-italy/
Fantastic interview! I left a comment for you! 🙂
Is that a cardigan with athletic shorts on that young gent? Still manages to look good, well played, sir.
And OMG the bikes with the pedal brakes! My boyfriend recently fixed his mom’s old bike for me and my maiden voyage on it was slightly terrifying. Pedal brakes for the back wheel and a hand brake for the front. I. Am. Not. Coordinated. I said we’d see how it goes, but those brakes combined with its skinny little tires make me very nervous in any possibly dangerous situations. Eek.
Yeah, he was pretty damn hot 😉 Even in a cardigan and shorts!
Yeah, I probably could have coped with it during the day but the thought of cycling from bar to bar – just NO. Plus, I didn’t fancy ending up in Latvian prison for drunken cycling 😉 I’d forgotten that backpedalling existed – needs to be relegated to history, along with backcombing 😉
Drunken cycling would probably not give you the most bad-ass “this one time I went to prison” story. Probably best to avoid!
Yeah, I’d be murdered in prison for being pathetic 😉
OMG He looks like Alexander Skarsgaard! Sounds like such a cute day out and you make Riga sound so charming – any place that has brunch cant be that bad! We’re doing brunch when I get there. 6 weeks to go!
PS – I cannot handle manual breaks on bikes. Backpedaling is what it’s all about!
Um, sorry, that was Liepaja – we won’t be going there!!
Riga still has brunch though, never fear 😉
Backpedalling sucks – manual brakes are where it’s at! 🙂 And we won’t be renting bikes either 😉
No, def no bikes. Beer, brunch, and pretty buildings is what I am after. Also, if there are local crafts or clothing brands. I basically got screwed out of my fall/birthday vaca, do I need to live it up on this trip.
You’ve come to the right woman then 😉
I might kidnap you to Tallinn with me 😉
Bad timing but… 😉
You dont know my sneaky Russian ways. We manage to get whole peninsulas to come along, let alone little Irishwomen.
I’d probably put up more of a fight – I’ve got Germany to look forward to 😉
That’s true. Much more promising than U…. I will stop now. It’s bc it’s 1 am and I just off work but I am running on an adrenaline high and my head is all fuzzy 🙂
Not sure I should publish, but I’m a bit fuzzy too 😉 Let’s tear this town apart 😉
Guess what? I am on this whole ‘no booze during the week’ kick. Week 3 and counting!
Yeah, I’m trying that too – apart from blog post nights 😉
He so does!!! You’re looking up how to get from Riga to this Liepāja place know, aren’t you…?
It’s around a 3.5 hour bus trip – don’t think we’ll make it 😉 I’ll take her to another beach though if she wants! Can’t promise Alexander Skarsgaard though… 😉
Well, now that she’s seen HIM, I doubt she’ll settle for anything else. You’ve only got yourself to blame!
I kind of want to go back for him 😉
SHUSH!
You are so judgy of how I travel!
Annie had NO problem with it, btw!
He is so delicious. I might not need your bed/couch after all…
Charming 😉
I’m a classy lady like that.
That’s OK. I’ll understand! A night or two in the ghetto might be too much for my Russian princess 😉 A little Janis love might be just what the doctor ordered. That, and if he’s a Latvian doctor, several bottles of Balsams 😉
Stop scaring me!
Thinking about that… um, no 😉
Ha-ha, I was giggling through this whole post! How does one accidentally flirt? Please also note that I was doubling over at your choices of super saliva German man or seat slithering Latvian!
I’m not really sure how I did it! Guess they heard us speaking English and I spoke up!
Seat slithering Latvian made me almost choke with laughter! Wish I’d thought of it! 🙂
Glad my words brought you a chuckle and helped even out the deficit!
I’ll have to up my game from now on! 🙂
Damn, missed good oportunity to have a beer with you
Oh no! Shame you weren’t in FP – I was there for long enough 😉