Keeping Christmas- Dec. 20pm Dash to the Embassy

Our adoption decrees!

Dual citizens until age 18

 

The winter has taken it's toll on the Riga taxi system. Our driver was 30 minutes late and not excited when I asked him to please wait ten minutes so that he could take us back home from the Emabssy since it was about to close. Apparently someone was also waiting in a restaurant for him. Hmm, no sympathy for the diners on my part. I shot up some prayers and imagined I had the "charm-speaking" powers of Aphrodite (been up too late reading stories about Greek myths lately) and he decided not to leave us. Although the traffic was bumper to bumper with (?) holiday shoppers, he managed to get us into the Embassy before closing time. He muttered something that I am fairly certain was obscenities on the phone the whole way, but seemed to be fairly jolly once we made it. We ran up to the compound doors with everything already out of our pockets and turned off, trying to save a few minutes in security.

We were told yesterday by our lawyer that the Visa office had forgotten to have us sign something, but when we got to the window the woman assured us that our packet was fine, and that it was several other families that were missing things. I sure hope she was right as I don't plan to make any more return trips. Three is enough!

The ride back gave us some neat opportunities to see the city at night. We don't venture far from our hotel in the winter winds, but there are really pretty lighted trees and streets that we got to see by warm cozy taxi. He told us that it is supposed to be -20C next week and that the river (where the cruise ships come in) is frozen over a meter thick. Wow! That's why we love hanging out inside the cafes getting our wifi groove on to techno beats.

Time to celebrate! In another groovy coffeehouse that is much like Starbucks.

As you can see, I quickly lost the desire to be fashionable and wear just about everything that I brought on our walks. Three pairs of socks, ski pants, cuddle duds, two sweaters and a long coat!

I did see our attorney wearing a cool pair of snow boots that had heels, but the heels were on the inside and the bottom of the boot was flat for better traction. People who live here do the winter look much more fashionably!

I'm loving these folk-straw ornaments and hope to find some as we explore around tomorrow.