Riga

In Riga I am staying with the cousin of a family friend. He speaks Latvian, Russian, and German, and I speak English, with enough German to order in a restaurant. So, I basically spend the two days trying to have a conversation with my host in elementary German, and I thank him for attempting to figure out what the heck I was saying the whole time.
The first day he met me at the airport and then drove me to his house. Though he protested that is was sparsely furnished, I slept on the most comfortable couch I have ever slept on and enjoyed a very tasty Latvian breakfast of Lox, cheese, "Latvian meat," and bread. And yogurt, if I ate it. And a whole ton of tea.
the first day His son and two of his school friends took me out for a walking tour of the Old City, and I got my bearings so that I could come back over the next few days and hit the churches and museums that I saw. We walked around, hit one of the Double Coffees, like a diner or cafe, that dot Riga for a coffee drink for me and milkshakes for them. And blintzes/filled crepes for me and burgers for them. then we hit a pool hall, and I made sure to embarrass myself in billiards; apparently I need to work on my game.
Then we headed over to my host's wife's parent's house for some Pelmeni with sour cream, bread with a beef spread (really quite tasty, despite its description), cookies and more tea. Then I headed to the gym with his son and one of his friends for some lifting, biking, running and a sauna. Now if I thought that the sauna in Germany was hot, then the 102C sauna here was REALLY hot.
I had mentioned that I played soccer to my host, which I do for fun as a hobby. He explained that his son played on the national team, which I misunderstood until I was talking to his son, and then I realized that he really does play on the U18 (under 18 years of age) Latvian team, so he trains 2-4 hours a day, every day, and goes to the gym every day. That was an impressive guy to talk with.
The next morning I got dropped off in the old city and spent the day walking around and grabbing food and drink, emailing and posting blogs that I had not yet posted, and checking out museums. I took the tram back to their suburb, though not the right stop in the suburb... so I had to call and get a ride from my host. Then it was back to his inlaws' place for more food: potatoes, mushroom sauce, chicken, a sweet and sour caraway coleslaw, pickles, cookies and even more tea. Then back to the apartment for some reading before passing out.
This morning I walked around the Old and New Towns to see the National Gallery, the Military History Museum, and the last church in the old city that I had not yet seen. I will hit the grocery store one last time before heading over to the ferry terminal to grab my bag and taking off to Stockholm on the ferry.