Now that I'm settling in more, establishing patterns, and figuring out how to feed myself here, my life has begun to grow outside my apartment walls. It's something I'm working on doing more often; Plovdiv and Batumi only really did it once each, and I don't know that Gqeberha ever did (at least, not in the same sense; Gqeberha was more of social reaches/excursions than scenic ones).
Admittedly, the first such outing was still a shopping trip, but a trip about 40 minutes away by bus to a mall where I met someone I'd encountered through a Facebook where I'd asked about board game meetups. I had a short list of things the nearby grocery store wouldn't provide, and while there's a mall closer to me, meeting him still had value. So I rode out across the town, getting a good chance to see more of the city (at least the more suburban-esque side of it). The mall was relatively unremarkable (as was the IKEA), but I did find a small stand selling bread, including this traditional style of dark bread baked with a whole bulb of garlic in it. I got a sample and it was kinda good, though in my cultural background it needed something. Butter, maybe.
Yesterday, however, I went on a trip purely for the purpose of exploration and seeing something new; in this case, that was the beach of the Gulf of Riga during winter. As often, the album link so you can look through it all, as I'll just be putting a few in here.
The trip began with a walk to the bus stop, seeing more of the architecture that dominates the city, particularly in the older parts of town. The bus system in Riga, like many in Europe, puts the US generally to shame by having frequent routes with expansive reach. In this case, buses from Riga run all the way out to the shore, as well as to several neighboring towns. Northern Colorado has something like this in Bustang, which operates mostly on the highways between Fort Collins and...I think further south, like Colorado Springs maybe. I haven't looked in a while. But it's sort of a separate entity, whereas this is all under the same Rigas Satiksme operation.
The windows on the bus go round and round were unfortunately dirty as a result of road grime and splash, so I don't really have any pictures from the trip itself. But after about an hour, I reached the trailhead (for lack of better word) to the beach. An attempted snowman sorta-stood just off the path, which went by a farm and through a lagoon featuring a viewing platform and some informational signs that I couldn't read. There was also this poster showing an experience I was quite sure I wouldn't have on this day (I believe it's an educational thing about trash and recycling).
The path then went through some forest that looked stark stripped of leaves. I plan to come back in the spring before I depart and see how different it looks. I was intrigued by some bird feeders hung here with some kind of fibrous stuff nailed to the trees. I'm not sure what it is - if you know, do please comment.
Finally, the ocean came into view. I walked up a ways, where the flat frozen sea was broken up (literally) by these large slabs of ice. In a few places were ice stacks made by someone far braver than me. I also found this boat beached, and couldn't tell if it was still in service or some kind of relic or display.
I've long loved cold, and this was no different. The sea has a strange kind of beauty to me in this state, though that might in part be because I'm not miserable in the heat that most beaches tend to have.
By the time I started back, it had begun snowing, and when I reached the bus stop, my glasses were essentially covered in water and melting snow. On the bus ride back, I passed the Latvian National Library which is just so extra that it demands I return to check it out sometime. After I left the bus and began walking home, I was charmed by this gym's simple name. Simple, but somehow loud at the same time.
There's still a few things I want to go see and do while I'm here, of course, but this large of an outing only two weeks into my stay does kind of indicate how my attitude towards exploration and living in the places I go is shifting. Or, rather, demonstrates that my stability is increasing, and that means I have more spoons to get out of my apartment and exist in the worlds I'm choosing to occupy.
No comments:
Post a Comment