After
leaving cold and rainy Switzerland it was great to land in warm sunshine. I
think it took us about 15 minutes to get out of the airport, we wanted to take
a Taxi into town to the hotel. That’s where it started. We had a voucher for
the taxi and the driver tried to load four suitcases into the back of the car,
the last one didn’t fit, so he said: “Next car”, we were already sitting in the
car, my mum was outside, the suitcase as well. He just wanted to drive off, so
we took the forth case on our knees in the back of the car. We were just glad
when we finally arrived in Riga, that guy was so rude and unfriendly (Russian).
Our hotel
was located in the middle of the Old Town, a beautiful building with a great
restaurant and awesome rooms. Ours was even spread on two floors and we had a
kitchen in it. After a bit of relaxing and unpacking we went to explore the old
town. There are so many cute squares with bars and restaurants with so much
charm, but some of them are also tourist traps ;). We got an antipasti plate
and omg… not really my taste. The big river in Riga is called Daugava, the
atmosphere there is amazing, especially towards the evening when the sun is
setting, this doesn’t happen for a long time in Riga. It’s only getting dark
towards 11 pm. At the river you can see the National Library, this building is
very interesting and modern. The different bridges are also worth seeing. We
had dinner at a restaurant called “1221” and it soon became our favourite. The
food was awesome and the dessert and drinks, wow!!!
On Saturday
we went to a big shopping centre called “Stockmann” and another one just next
to it. After that we were really exhausted and that meant coffee and lemonade.
I never had a better lemonade in my life, so fresh with limes and peppermint,
really good. We walked to a cute little “shopping mall”, but they only had
weird stores, so we just had some typical Latvian desserts and left for our
Opera tour. On the way we were able to listen to an amazing choir from South
Africa, it was BRILLIANT!!
The Opera
is beautiful, but our tour guide was not good at all. She only memorised her
sentences in English, when someone asked a question she couldn’t answer.
After that
we had dinner a “late” dinner at our hotel, it was delicious and they had a
self-made fresh Ice Tea, it was yummy!
Monday we
finally made our trip to Jurmala, a small village about 30 minutes from Riga at
the beach. We
took the train to the last station and then also saw the river
Lielupe. We sang a song called like that in the competition. Then we walked to the
beach and wow it’s beautiful. The sand is really fine and it was really
peaceful. We walked along the coast until we saw green parasols. They belonged
to the Baltic Beach Hotel with its Baltic beach club. That meant time for a drink, an Ice Tea specifically.
It was nice just to sit there and relax just next to the beach. We also wanted
to have a look at the village, one street actually, but we were really
disappointed and went back to the beach, walked and then
had lunch at the
Baltic beach club again. Then we just relaxed and went into the water with our
feet ;). In the evening it was time to meet a friend who arrived just that day.
We showed him the city and the skyline bar.
On Tuesday
we explored the parts of the Old Town we didn’t see yet and then went to the
famous Central Market, they had fresh fruit, vegetables and much more. However,
there were too many people, so we went to have some coffee, crepes and
lemonade. Then we finally did our canal tour and we saw a lot. It was great to
see all these sights from a different perspective. After that it was the
official start of the World Choir Games with a parade. All the nations walked
in it and it was great to see so many different choirs. The music was the same
all the time, I really couldn’t hear it anymore at the end. In the morning we
heard it already and we had fun dancing and posing to it (see the umbrella
pics). In the evening “1221” had us and some of our choir friends back, we also
got an official World Choir Games badge.
On
Wednesday we really had to get up early to meet the whole choir for rehearsals
and checking the singing locations. It was an exhausting morning, so we went
back to the hotel before the first performance, had
lunch, slept and changed
into our choir wardrobe. The first competition we had was in a church, the
category was called “Musica sacra accapella”, it went really well. Then we had
a rehearsal again and another competition where we sang Lielupe and a song we
accompanied with glasses. It went really well, even better than the first one.
We were all so happy and went for some drinks, the last drink we took on the terrace
of “1221”, such a cute little place.
We slept in
on Thursday and then went to the Occupation museum and then had crepes,
lemonade and coffee again, at the same places we had them before. In the St.
Peter’s Church we listened to some choirs and talk to other Swiss choirs. Then
we had a tour around the Old Town with some of our choir members. It was really
interesting and we discovered some places we didn’t know about. In the evening
we had dinner with the whole choir in a really crowded and loud place. The only
thing we wanted to do is leave. We ate and sang and there were two Chinese
children’s choirs there, they were so happy when we sang, such cute reactions.
I went for drinks with my two closest choir friends after that and somehow the
whole choir ended up there. We danced and had a lot of fun. Let’s just say we
went to bed really early. 
On Friday
we went to listen to some of the competitions. The music in the first one was a
bit depressing, so we changed locations and listened to the category “Popular
Choral Music”. We heard the best and the worst choirs just after each other.
After lunch at the hotel we went to get some typical Latvian presents for our conductor
and president and then it was time for our first award ceremony in the evening.
For that we had to go to the Arena in Riga. Diplomas were handed out in the
Open Competition and Medals in the Champion Competition. We competed in the
open one and won gold in the Musica sacra category. We were so happy and of
course went celebrating.
The second
award ceremony was Saturday morning and we won silver!!! :) After the ceremony we went into the
city and just sang on the Dome square, it was great. In
the afternoon we went
to the Champions Concert to listen to the best choirs. It was absolutely
amazing. Of course we ate at our restaurant again and then went to the Closing
Ceremony in the Evening. It was marvellous, the atmosphere was unbeatable and
we were just singing! We also exchanged contact emails with our two choir
assistance girls and some other, I really hope I’ll see them again. Of course
we went celebrating again after that.
Not for too
long though, cause mist of us had to be at the airport be 8 am the next
morning.
At the
airport they told us that your suitcases wouldn’t make it to Zurich with us. We
were shocked. Only in Zurich they told us why and we had to fill out forms to
get them. They arrived Tuesday night. It was so weird; always when I needed
something I remembered that it is in my suitcase, oh well…
I also
bought some postcards in Riga, but I didn’t have time to write them there, so I
wrote them here and send them from here. I also didn’t have time to read, I
read on the way and back in the plane and that’s it. I missed it and blogging
as well, but I had an amazing time and came back with great memories. The
Latvians are really friendly and open. We had some rude meetings, but that was
mostly with Russians. And one of the portieres in the hotel was really cute… ;)
If you happen to travel to Riga once, go try the Garlic Bread, it's delicious!!!
If you happen to travel to Riga once, go try the Garlic Bread, it's delicious!!!
I've created a pinterest board with all the pictures, have a look here: http://www.pinterest.com/simonaelenasky/riga-2014/
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