Unpeaching the Peach

I realized the other day I'll never get around to editing these, so I might as well just upload them. Also, I can't sleep and I felt like posting them now.
Riga colors

Cranberries!

Alexande\B/ren(t)yler

Flautist

One in a series of funny taxi ads (more later)

Opera House

Cuckoo House/Clock

God's house

Somebody's (pretty) house

View from the highest building in Riga

More from high up

Important Lutheran Cathedral

Orthodox Cathedral

Fashion

Soy Sauce

Tour guide and friend

Communist statue

Dan Randall, SPU/Duke Divinity alum

Another taxi ad

I wish I'd caught his upper body; this recorder(ist?) had birds all over himself. Tried too hard to be discreet.

Occupation museum; protester of some sort

Propaganda

Protester

Some sort of art made by victims

Latvian Poet

Propaganda

Black Balsam. Medicinal, alcoholic and gross.

Brent, Alex and Nate make Thai dinner (taken by Brent)

Five of us (Chelsea, Brent, Alex, and Amy) had a lovely trip to Cambridge yesterday.

For me, there were a few particularly distinctive features to the trip.

First, I threw up on the bus thanks to motion sickness. Unluckily for me, the bathroom was out of order and the driver was not particularly well-trained, it seemed, based on his driving and (lack of) ability to handle people's issues. Luckily, I had an empty water bottle in my backpack. Phew.

Second, I ran into Vanessa Williams-Hall at one of the colleges (as well as a pub later, go figure,) who went to high school (elementary school, in fact) with me. It was a crazy experience on so many levels. For one, it was pure luck that we happened to walk into the same college/pub at the same time. What's more, neither of us are studying at Cambridge (she's in London, and was visiting a friend) and it was doubly unlikely given that. We didn't even know the other was studying there! It was also weird to think about it this way: she was the first person (maybe I was for her, not sure) I'd seen in 2.5 months who'd known me before I turned ten. Weird, eh?

Third, I bought my first (perhaps only) vinyl record of the trip. It was a bit of a splurge (£15,) but was also a rare find: The Incredible String Band's album, The Big Huge. I love their stuff, they're distinctly British, and I've never seen this one on vinyl. A nice one to get here cause it would be very hard to find in the states. A successful purchase indeed (see cover below.)

It was a really wonderful day, cause the three of us were feeling some cabin fever, and needed a day away. We hardly covered the whole city, but getting to explore was wonderful, and it was interesting to compare the two halves of Oxbridge. I found Cambridge more open, and it felt a bit more like a city, rather than a town. The old and new seemed to blend a little more, as well.

Here are some photos.

One of the quads