RIGA RIGA RIGA!!!

Today was a whirlwind of weather, sights and food! What a beautiful and interesting city we are in. I wish I knew more about what we are seeing...but sadly we are with an almost 5 year old who is more interested in getting to the next thing than finding out what we're looking at in front of us. The day started out with freezing rain as we were dropped off at an outdoor park...not much to do in a HUGE outdoor park when there's freezing rain. But we found a covered bike car and rented it for a half an hour and biked around the forest covered park. Once that got old we went to the Riga Zoo which was right there...small and a little depressing, yet charmingly old zoo...we saw some adorable animals up close! I was thrilled to see a Capybara, the worlds largest-and CUTEST rodent, for the first time! (As a young girl I used to pray that one day I'd get to go to South America to see one...as my favorite book was "Capybara" by Bill Pete) There was a beautiful giraffe enclosure that was brand new, and some adorably cuddly looking bears that seemed awfully friendly. As lunch time creeped up on us, we decided to leave the zoo and find a restaurant to have lunch. Our driver recommended a charming restaurant downtown called Kid* (and as the astrik on the menu implied, "it is not related to children). However, they had a sweet little play area for Charles to play in while we waited for our delicious food to arrive. I tried Goulash for the first time! Quite good! Along with a greek salad with the most amazing feta I've ever had! After lunch we took Charles to the Lido Park/Restaurant which is a Latvian theme park, where Charles rode little cars around a pint sized streets complete with stoplights and and road signs! After we had enough of that we took him to Old town Riga for dinner where I had an amazing Asparagus Risotto and drank a lovely Prosseco wine. Directly following dinner we took a horse drawn carriage around old Riga to see the beautiful and charming architecture of the city; it's darling truly! I'm already giving Riga a thumbs up...worth the visit, if you ever get the chance!!