Day 9 Saturday June 5th 2010

Well today has been an interesting one! After my morning routine (a shower and quick breakfast), Becky and I walked to the bus stop to catch trolly bus #1. We were heading towards the Latvian Open Air Museum with a friend, Liga. Once we got off trolly bus #1 we met Liga at the bus stop while waiting for alto bus #1 (a diesel powered bus unlike the electric trolly bus). At first everything was normal, but then...a huge crowd of people came up to wait for the bus! We stepped up to the curb so that we could get on early, and it was a good thing to! When the bus got there it already looked full, and we had a huge crowd of people to pile on there! Somehow everyone managed to squeeze in, but we were packed in like sardines (the pictures don't do the situation justice)! The real problem was that we were already at about 110% capacity, and we had a ton of stops before the crowd of people could get off! This meant that at every stop we came to, we stopped, opened the doors, and people struggled with attempts to get on...a few people managed to squeeze in but most failed, and I saw 3 people get hit by the door because they thought that they were in and they weren't! At one point, 3 strong willed women were determined to make it on, so they put 1 woman in front and the other 2 women pushed on her back (like football players, lowering their shoulders and digging in with their feet), while people on the but shouted NO! NO! The women, though strong willed, were unsuccessfull and thus very unhappy! It was absolute craziness! I thought a fist fight was going to break out! One girl that failed to get on went hysterical, she was crying and shouting to everyone around! Anyway, the bus ride took about 55 minutes instead of 40 minutes like normal, but we got there safe and sound. Once we were at the museum we walked around and took a ton of pictures, checking out all the neat stuff as we went along. At about 13:00 we ate a picnic lunch by the lake, in the warm sunshine, ahh! The museum was pretty cool, and we all had a good time. After the museum Becky and I headed towards home, this time opting to take a micro bus (Mercedes Sprinter van) to avoid having another crowded bus experience! Once we got back to Riga, we walked over to catch tram #7. At the tram stop we were approached by a homeless looking man wanting to sell us a Russian coin. I wasn't interested and Becky didn't have any money (really she had spent it earlier), so I insisted that he move on and try to sell it to someone else, but he wasn't going anywhere! Then he rubbed Becky's arm and squeezed it! So I tried to move him along again, but Becky said it was ok, and he stayed continuing to squeeze her arm a second time! Then thankfully our tram came and we got away from him! Once we got back to the apartment, we told Carl about our eventful day, and then eventually ate some supper. Now I'm just typing this up on the computer before heading to bed...