Not a big one since most of it went to my post about buying tobacco here but I did have to post a bit about Latvia since I have time.
First, my cat. She is finally home and doing well. In the end it turned out to be an infection of some kind. They ended up keeping her for 5 days and running a lot of tests like blood panels, ultrasound and x-ray. We got her home and so-far-so-good. The bill for 5 days of hospital stay, testing, medications and a couple weeks of special food? €290 ($375). That's it. Cat is well and the cost wasn't nearly as bad as I feared.
So, the food. Tonight I went to a place called Street Burger that serves some of the best burgers and fries I've had outside of the Mountain West. They had a few different veggie options if you're into that and everything I've had there is top notch so far. If burgers aren't your thing, you can find any number of places serving everything from simple meat and veg to multi-course gourmet meals. I have found a number of places that serve different types of kebabs that are almost always good.
I haven't found beef to be something that is commonly eaten other than in hamburger form so that is a bit of a change for me but I'm getting used to it. The real trick is finding a steak that hasn't been marinated to death an then drowned in sauces. That's one thing I truly miss.
Speaking of steak. I have a picture that illustrates exactly how far from home I really am.
Yep, you read that right...€16.50 ($21.38) for a bottle of A1. It's the only place I have found it so far and luckily I don't really care for the stuff but dayum. I don't really have much else in the way of pictures but I'll be working on that.
Before I hit the sack I have one more thing to say about the place. The beer sucks. It truly sucks the sweat off...oops, I can't finish that one in polite company. Sure there are good beers here but out of every 30 beers on the shelf, 29 of them are sweet, muddled, flobbery messes that would make a German, a Brit or a Belgian embarrassed to call his own. To be fair, they've only really been back to brewing since the wall came down but that doesn't make it taste any better. If you're a Bud light kind of person it will all have way too much taste for you. If you like micros/imports, then you'll know exactly what the adjectives 3 sentences back mean. Now I have run across a very few good beers so far. Valmiermuiza is pretty good in general if it's fresh or on tap and the main InBev brewery has a line of pseudo-micros that don't suck. Past that I've only had one other brewery that was any good and now I can't get it because my favorite bottle shop is closed "for technical reasons" ( :cough cough, bullshit, cough: ). Bloody commies and their terrible beer, mutter, mutter.
Anyway, I'm having a pretty good stay over here so far and the list of things I am picking up when I go home over Christmas is growing...but not nearly as much as I feared.
Good night all,
Dave
First, my cat. She is finally home and doing well. In the end it turned out to be an infection of some kind. They ended up keeping her for 5 days and running a lot of tests like blood panels, ultrasound and x-ray. We got her home and so-far-so-good. The bill for 5 days of hospital stay, testing, medications and a couple weeks of special food? €290 ($375). That's it. Cat is well and the cost wasn't nearly as bad as I feared.
So, the food. Tonight I went to a place called Street Burger that serves some of the best burgers and fries I've had outside of the Mountain West. They had a few different veggie options if you're into that and everything I've had there is top notch so far. If burgers aren't your thing, you can find any number of places serving everything from simple meat and veg to multi-course gourmet meals. I have found a number of places that serve different types of kebabs that are almost always good.
I haven't found beef to be something that is commonly eaten other than in hamburger form so that is a bit of a change for me but I'm getting used to it. The real trick is finding a steak that hasn't been marinated to death an then drowned in sauces. That's one thing I truly miss.
Speaking of steak. I have a picture that illustrates exactly how far from home I really am.
Yep, you read that right...€16.50 ($21.38) for a bottle of A1. It's the only place I have found it so far and luckily I don't really care for the stuff but dayum. I don't really have much else in the way of pictures but I'll be working on that.
Before I hit the sack I have one more thing to say about the place. The beer sucks. It truly sucks the sweat off...oops, I can't finish that one in polite company. Sure there are good beers here but out of every 30 beers on the shelf, 29 of them are sweet, muddled, flobbery messes that would make a German, a Brit or a Belgian embarrassed to call his own. To be fair, they've only really been back to brewing since the wall came down but that doesn't make it taste any better. If you're a Bud light kind of person it will all have way too much taste for you. If you like micros/imports, then you'll know exactly what the adjectives 3 sentences back mean. Now I have run across a very few good beers so far. Valmiermuiza is pretty good in general if it's fresh or on tap and the main InBev brewery has a line of pseudo-micros that don't suck. Past that I've only had one other brewery that was any good and now I can't get it because my favorite bottle shop is closed "for technical reasons" ( :cough cough, bullshit, cough: ). Bloody commies and their terrible beer, mutter, mutter.
Anyway, I'm having a pretty good stay over here so far and the list of things I am picking up when I go home over Christmas is growing...but not nearly as much as I feared.
Good night all,
Dave
And doubly glad that your cat's going to be ok! 
