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Regale You With Riga
As someone based in the UK I have found myself embroiled with the BA Executive Club Avios treadwheel and used quite a few One World partner airlines as a result, but I had never flown Finnair so I decided to rectify that whilst at the same time ticking off another European country. So off to Riga it is.
The Avios reward flights MAN-HEL-RIX were not bookable on the BA site, so I joined the Finnair plus reward scheme, transferred the Avios I needed (36000) and booked on there instead. The process was relatively painless. It wasn't many more Avios to book business class. There isn't any J available on the HEL-RIX leg as that is just a small turboprop plane. And it turns out that arguably there is no J on the MAN-HEL leg either although it is sold as such. There is a direct Ryanair flight MAN-RIX which would be way cheaper, but it's super early in the morning. But this is Flyertalk and I hope I don't need to justify weird choices of air travel routings. A couple of days before the outbound flight I get informed by Finnair that there will be strike action in HEL on the day I am travelling and that they will be cancelling flights the day before in response. About 60 flights were expected to be cancelled. Since I was travelling out on Friday and back on Sunday I didn't fancy an email the morning of my flight to be told I had been booked on the next day's flight, which would mean I didn't get to see Riga but just go to the airport and hotel and then back again. So I rang up to see if anything could be done pro-actively. After a two hour wait for the online chat they said they could pro-actively book me on any available Finnair flights but not partner airlines, but they might be able to book partner airlines on the day if a rerouting was required. It turns out that the BA routing MAN-LHR-RIX has very similar timings to the MAN-HEL-RIX (The BA routing would have cost almost twice as many Avios to book myself compared to Finnair) so I would have been happy to get transferred to that but I didn't have a lot of confidence of getting through on the phone or chat in time to be able to do it. So I went to bed with fingers crossed that my flights would not be affected. In the morning it looked like nothing has happened, neither flight is yet cancelled and the HEL airport website isn't showing any cancellations anywhere either. It turns out that the industrial action had virtually no impact on Finnair flights on the day, so that was a lot of stress for no reason in the end. I walked from home to the train station intending to catch a train to the airport. When I got to the station it was showing on time, then 5 minutes late, then as it was due to arrive the announcement came that it was 40 minutes late. Not wanting to be stressed with a tight arrival time at the airport I decided to get a taxi instead. One more fail for the railways. I think I'm only on about 50% success rate with them so far. If I knew I was going to have to get a taxi I could have flown Ryanair. Still in dispure with the rail company for delay-repay on this, so zero compo so far, I will wring my £9 out of them come hell or high water. |
Anyway, got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. I have entry to the MAN T1 Aspire lounge x4. Once for being BA Gold, once for being Finnair J, once for Llyods credit card Priority Pass and once for Amex Priority Pass. The Llyods card allows you to use a couple of resteraunts as well as lounges, so I went to "The Grain Loft" to use my credit. They no longer sell champagne, so the best I could get was a glass of Prossecco. So I won't be wasting my time there in future. It was full of stag and hen parties and pretty noisy. Not much evidence of business travellers. Not much evidence of them in the lounge either, but at least stag and hen parties are banned there.
While I had a bit of time in the airport I had a look round to see if I could get to grips with what is proposed for the future of MAN where the T1 checkin will be used to get to the T3 gates. Discovered that the path for this is where Gate 42\43 are currently just beyond the entrance to the lounges. The transfer path is for staff only at the moment, it was open for the public during covid but since closed down again as there is currently no legitimate reason for pax to transfer T1-T3 airside. While wandering around I found a member of EasyJet ground staff who asked "Can I help you" as I emerged from the entrance to another staff only gate down on the Easyjet pier. We had a nice chat about the plans and what Easyjet thought they might be doing in the future, but it sounds like the plans are all still pretty speculative at the moment. For some reason (maybe an optical illusion) the apron at MAN looks a bit wobbly https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...059c2d7b1d.jpg After the lounge, the gate was called, boarded in group 1. Then my first disappointment. The seats in J are the same as those in Y as I expected, but it's a 2-2 configuration so you don't even get the luxury of an empty middle seat like you do with BA. So all you really get for business is a crummy meal, drinks on the flight and lounge access (which I didn't need). In Y you can still get water or blueberry juice so you don't really need to use the BoB service. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...709ea287e2.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...954b009631.jpg |
Arrival in HEL didn't give me a huge amount of time in the airport. My connection was up on the board as a short one, so I could skip the queue at passport control by showing my BP to someone there. That was well managed I thought. On the way to passport control I passed the non-Schengen Finnair lounge but had no opportunity to visit. After passport control I made my way to the Schengen version of the lounge and beeped myself in using my boarding pass. The lounge was very busy and didn't have a great set of F&B offerings. I was left thinking in a Frazier type way, "This can't be it, there must be another lounge." And indeed there was. Turning right at the desk instead of left gets you to the Platinum Lumo lounge for One World Emerald. It was less busy than the J lounge but with identical F&B and it felt somehow more depressing. I didn't have a lot of time there anyway it was just a whistle stop visit, so no worries. On the way to the gate I passes an Escape Lounge that had Priority Pass, but it was shut. Maybe that was part of the industrial action I had heard so much about?
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On boarding the flight to RIX everyone had to get on via the back stairs, my seat at the front of the bus was actually going to see me last off. The cabin crew sit on a jump seat that is in front of the door to go from the main cabin to the cargo section that lies between there and the pilots cabin, there is no front entrance. It all feels a little third world.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...96eb3d554e.jpg When deplaning I ordered a Bolt taxi. It was my first ever Bolt and it turns out that the cards that I want to use with it aren't working, so I end up using Google Pay with the Amex which isn't ideal, but at least it got me there. By the time I had exited the airport, the driver was waiting in the car park just across from the entrance, so that was pretty smooth. During the journey to downtown I start to doubt my clothing choices. It is hailing and I have come out without a coat or umbrella because it's roasting in the UK and Finland. But the weather across the Baltic is decidedly more unsettled. The surroundings on the car ride seem to show a mixture of modern European strip malls and as we get closer to the centre also quite a few Soviet style housing blocks. Then eventually we cross the river and get to the cobbled streets of the old town where my hotel is located. I had emailed the hotel to ask them what my options were if my flight got cancelled. Since it didn't I hadn't seen their reply which was basically no dice. At checkin it turns out that although I have booked direct with the hotel on a prepaid rate, they never took payment, so my reservation was a bit dicey anyway. Luckily it was all okay as I paid with one of the cards that had failed in Bolt (the first one I tried failed again, so I am patting myself on the back for remembering to take lots of different payment methods). Turns out the hotel is overbooked and there are three people on the waiting list for rooms for tonight. There seems to be a large number of people who have flown in for a wedding in the Church across the street (Our Lady of Sorrows) that is happening on the Saturday. As you can tell, I enjoy the travel part almost as much as the destinations, hence the long description of it above and the innordinate amount of time I spend on Flyertalk. |
Which rail company is this? My trip with avanti yesterday was 16 minutes late and they proactively announced on the train that everyone was entitled to delay repay. My experience with them is they’ll pay up within the week. It’s only a fiver for
me but every little helps :) |
I picked out a central restaurant before travelling which was a Soviet themed place, Uncle Vanya. I think it can probably be described as a tourist trap. There were some locals, but out numbered by tourists by some way. Germans, US, UK, Norweigan and others. I got there early without a reservation and asked for a table for 1, they said "this one" in comically brusque Russian manner. While I was there a lot of other people arrived and asked for tables but were refused. I had caviar, blini and vodka for starters and tongue ragu for the main. The food was pretty good, but overpriced because of its location. I left fairly early to return to the hotel. It's lights out now and time for some tourism tomorrow.
Cahedral, Cat House and Food https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...607092271c.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...fb912aa269.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0069c92e51.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6787876f33.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...75c9cb05b9.jpg |
I was going to ask what on earth flesh coloured dominoes were as part of the meal, then I realised it was your book :D.
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The Grand Palace Hotel Riga is a 5 star hotel and I really shouldn't book them as I always feel like I have wasted money that would be better spent elsewhere. It's small and not as plush as other 5 star options like the Kempinski, but it is in the old town and prime location for sightseeing.
The bed in the room was a twin pushed together instead of a double and they came apart during the night. The breakfast had prosecco and an omellete station or you could get eggs benedict or other eggs cooked on demand. There was a selection of other hot and cold items that you would expect but it was quite small area. That seemed to be okay as the breakfast room never got too busy even though it was small. It would have been oppressively small, but it was an orangery, so it has a greenhouse ceiling in the middle of the block building and it has been done out with mirrors all round the edges, so it doesn't feel as small as it really is (about 12 tables) but actually quite expansive. I was early to breakfast and took my time with it to fill up for a full day of activity. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a5dbe3c9a9.jpg |
First stop is the Latvian Academy of Sciences. This is on the edge of the old town and a Soviet era building mimicing the Seven Sisters in Moscow. I have visited most of these and even stayed in one that is a Hilton as well as going up the similar building in Warsaw. I quite like the look of them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sisters_(Moscow) It's the tallest building around and provides panoramic views at the top. While I was there I was the only person on the viewing platform. So it's either not a routine stop of the tourist trail or everyone else is starting their day later. I would recommend it as a stop, the views are great. And it's also close to the Central Market which was my next stop. Walked to the academy via the banks of the Daugava river and picked up a few other sights along the way. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...72d366461d.jpg Three Sisters https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...49d015bffb.jpg House of the Black Heads https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...399a900f1a.jpg Monument to 1905 Fighters https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5702cfc1a0.jpg National Library https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5050550d6d.jpg Wooden House |
The Central Market is a working market, not just a tourist trap. There are plenty of boutique stores and tourist tat vendors, but also plenty of stalls selling meat, fish, vegatables and other stores selling live plants and a large cut flower market. A good place to go to stop at one of the vendors for lunch or pick up some bits for a picnic. Worth a visit for the sights and sounds and a bit of local colour, but not an architectural gem and I don't think you would kick yourself if you missed it. It's next to the main train station which is also quite impressive.
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Next stop was the Museum of the Popular Front of Latvia. This was my favourite place of the trip. Its a free museum set up over four floors of the town house that used to be their headquarters. The lady running it is very friendly and helpful and the exhibits have English as well as Lithuanian captioning. It really gave me a good sense of what the transition from the Soviet era to a free country was like and the timelines of the events involved in it. It's not huge, but perfectly formed. While I was there a group of schoolkids in military uniform were visiting, learning about history that happened before they were born, but seems like yesterday to me. The uniforms turned out to be a bit of a theme. There were lots of places encouraging people to join the military and flags around the city were Latvia, Ukraine, European Union and Nato, you can almost feel the paranoia underlying people trying to get on with living their lives as normal.
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Continuing to work my way back to the centre of the old town I dropped in to the Fashion Museum. Anyone who has seen me would probably be surprised at my interest in fashion, but I quite enjoy both historical and modern fashion, so this made the agenda. It is actually housed in the basement of a cafe. They had *a lot* of 1920s outfits. So if you are interested in those it would probably be a good place to go. Since the 20s was about 80% of the items, it looked like it was possibly someone's private collection of items that had a few other items added to it and turned it in to an exhibit. You can probably find better uses of your time.
Wandered a bit more about the old town and discovered that a marathon was going on. But everyone seemed to be walking? The centre was packed. It seems this was some sort of fun run and the real marathon was tomorrow. But the centre of the city was getting increasingly congested as the organisers set things up and blocked roads. I returned to the hotel for a bit of a rest as I have a meal planned for later. Next up I left to do a bit of sightseeing round the bit of the centre I hadn't yet seen and then walk to the restaurant. |
During the research I had noted that Riga Castle includes the Presidential Palace, but that you need to book tickets in advance for certain days if you want to visit. But I wanted to see it anyway so I set off in that direction.
Wandering around I saw a *massive* cruise ship docked on the river and then reversed back into town. A lady was putting up poles with signs on near the palace. Turns out that at 3pm onwards there is a special open day in the palace and around. It's 14:30 so being British I joined the queue and patiently waited to see what would happen. As a result I saw the brass band and cultural dancing and was then let in to the palace for a look-see. We had to put on foot covers, but it was definitely worth the wait. On Exit I also saw that there is a Riga Castle museum round the corner, but I decided not to bother, I went in, but didn't think I was going to learn a lot more than I learnt in the palace. Around the palace were a lot of military folks showing off their kit and encouraging young folks to join up. More evidence of the paranoia or just general patriotism? https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...393deebe48.jpg Big Ship https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...288fb92fc5.jpg Brass Band https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...57c7ab9071.jpg Dancers https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...623a2c9abd.jpg Entrance https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...aefdd4e44a.jpg The White Room Ceiling https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8eb2c5a594.jpg Diplomatic Seals https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8a3a7cdbc4.jpg Mongolian Gift https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...7c990fd24b.jpg Chinese Gift https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...98b5734beb.jpg The Castle |
Originally Posted by JapesUK
(Post 37104467)
Which rail company is this? My trip with avanti yesterday was 16 minutes late and they proactively announced on the train that everyone was entitled to delay repay. My experience with them is they’ll pay up within the week. It’s only a fiver for
me but every little helps :) Doing some breakfast things so the TR will be resumed shortly... |
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