Riga

(by Anastasia Nekrasova)

It had been four years since my last visit to Riga, Latvia. I found that nice city remarkable but still not special.
I could not understand why my friend James, who was my companion, always grew increasingly excited when we began to talk about Riga. He preferred it to Paris, New-York and Barcelona, thereby astonishing me even more. Well, not only did not I understand his preferences, I also had did not know that very soon I would change my own ones. 
James was getting ready for his trip to Switzerland and planning to have a stop in Riga. As for me, I was dreaming of going to Switzerland, but preferred a direct flight without any transitional visits. However, James dissuaded me on booking my flight saying that I needed to change my opinion about the city of Riga. 
That was how I found myself standing in the Riga airport encumbered with a heavy bag and my reluctance to spend three days in that city. We caught a taxi, arriver at the hotel and were just about to unpack, when someone told me that there was a celebration going on for one day and we were lucky enough to see it. 
Indeed the city impressed me with its decorations, which appeared hanging on the walls of medieval buildings and stages for performers. The air was fraught with excitement. 
Then we watched an air show and I felt how my hair was touched with the wind induced by the flying planes. 
After that James decided to see what was happening in the downtown area. If you are unaware of how Riga is built, let me warn you that its central streets are very narrow, so that a car can barely fit in and even if it does, a driver will have problems with sitting for a long time, for those roads are paved with sett, old and irregular. However, it exactly makes Riga so romantic and implies some sort of charm inaccessible for most cities. 
Later on we had a delicious dinner in a famous Latvian restaurant called "Lido", where they serve traditional dishes. 
It was getting dark and Riga appeared lighted with thousands of street lamps. It started to epitomize somewhat like a perfect place for me bereft of any flaws, stress and problems. 
So pleased had I grown that I even didn't notice that the firework launched its long way up into the sky. It disappeared among the clouds and then suddenly exploded into the waterfall of lights. Everyone seemed happy. James's eyes were fixed on the sky and I resisted disturbing him. Suddenly he uttered: "Is there anything better on Earth than to stand like this realizing that thousands of those like you are doing the same now? Do you want to drive back to the hotel?" I didn't answer, but just looked up at the high sky. 
We came back to the hotel in the morning and were a bit fatigued. However, I felt so glad, that I forgot about Switzerland. I got to the airport on our fourth day in Riga, but not in order to fly over to another city. I just wanted to say goodbye to James and stay where I belonged to.