Well. Quirky as this place is, I could not sleep. The light crept in from the edge of the curtains, to the extent that I ended up locating the sleep mask that United Airlines kindly gave me a couple of years ago when I (wo)manned the exit row and didn't even get a badge - I fixed the mask to my face, then started to worry - how will I know when it's morning? A colleague I've spoken to about the new cockerel a few doors down said that owners can be encouraged to keep their cockerels inside so that they don't know when it's light so can't start cock-a-doodling too early. It's a similar question about these new black-out tents - you could stay in there all-day waiting for it to get light.
It transpires that the 'free gift' promised on my key-card holder is... ear plugs, and that makes sense now as the noise throughout the night was a lot, and I slept through an earthquake once, in Japan in 2003. That said, when the church bells started peeling at 8am, it was kind of beautiful even though it sounded as though they were actually peeling in my room.
I toddled downstairs for my awaiting, included-in-the-price breakfast to find the dining room heaving with strangers. There didn't seem to be anywhere to sit. I gestured to a rotund bespectacled woman with a spare seat on her table to ask if I could sit there - she looked at me and said what sounded like the German word for deranged - 'beknackt' - bit rude, I thought, so I found a seat with someone who didn't even look up from his phone whilst munching a doughnut. I ate scrambled egg bizarrely cut into squares, and some local plums. Yummy.
I had booked myself a walking tour of Riga Old Town. I do like a walking tour and have admiration for the guides who have so much knowledge about every aspect of Latvian life and culture. That said, the Segway guided tour which kept gliding into view might have been a bit more fun, although my risk assessing brain wouldn't have enabled me to do it - I can just about handle a Nissan Juke on a good day, and that's debatable.
The history of Latvia is fascinating and it gained independence in 1991. Two years earlier, what is widely considered to be the world's first ever 'flash mob' was created when two million people joined hands across Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to protest for independence. The last flash mob I saw was on that advert for KFC (Kentucky Fried Cockerel).
Speaking of which - there are cockerels everywhere in this city. Cats and cockerels, both of which are symbols of the city. Legend has it that a dispute between a land-owner and the council resulted in a building being built with two angry cats looking away from the town hall. It's very famous here, although the girl working in the cafe where I had my morning coffee couldn't direct me to it, but said it was somewhere in this area. Google maps told me that it was thirty seconds walk away, which it was. Maybe she didn't work there after all.
I tried to orientate myself on this walking tour, using the massive churches and pavement cafes, but there are multitudes of massive churches and pavement cafes, so failed on that front.
As for the cockerels everywhere - I mean, glaring down at you from the spectacular roofs of the massive churches - most massive churches have gargoyles, these massive churches have... cockerels. They also glare at you in souvenir shops, on badges, tea-towels, key-rings, even thimbles!! You may know that I have my entire life documented in thimbles, from the age of 7, but that's a separate story for another day.
Why are there cockerels everywhere here? I have today learnt that cockerels are symbols of the Lutheran church and the majority of people identifying as Christians here, are Lutheran. This came about in the 9th century, so a while before my neighbour thought it was a good idea.
After the tour I wandered back to my budget hotel and was perturbed when my trusty keycard wouldn't open my room door! I dashed downstairs to the reception lady and told her - she produced a magic gadget which looked like an extreme version of a DYMO label printer crossed with a Geiger counter - we went to the room door and she couldn't get the door open either!
Oh my goodness, I thought, my room door has been hacked. It was a bit like when Rose Ayling-Ellis had her hearing aids hacked in Code of Silence by the baddie-who-turned-out-to-be-a-goodie. Well, not that similar, but that's what sprung to mind.
Fortunately, I hadn't been hacked after all, and after another key-card was re-programmed, I was safely ensconced and started working on the service sheet and sermon for Sunday.
I'm writing this whilst sitting in a pavement restaurant adjacent to a couple of silver-haired ladies who were on my flight yesterday. They've got a look of Trefoil Guild about them. They look like they're having a deep and meaningful conversation right now, with their glasses of tap water, so probably not the time to go and play 'six degrees of separation' with them.
I've nearly finished my first book so hope to get stuck into the second book tomorrow, depending how the day goes - I've booked something intriguing for tomorrow!
Cock-a-doodle-doo friends!
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