December 8th

Tuesday

Got up at 4am and crawled to Hotel Riga to get the airport shuttle at 5am.  It was only two blocks away and it was nice to walk the quiet dark streets at that hour.  As I waited, I watched the half moon slowly emerge from the clouds and tried to start preparing myself for the transition.
The shuttle driver was nice, and we chatted a bit in Latvian.  Everything at the airport went smoothly, and we took of for Stockholm at 7am.  Napped in the Stockholm airport.  Watched the new Harry Potter movie and The Time-Traveller's Wife on the plane.  Got into NYC at 1pm and took the AirTrain to the NJ Transit train to the Subway, where I transfered from the Blue Line to the Grey Line, and finally emerged at Graham Ave., in Brooklyn, where Lia met me and we walked to her flat.  She lives in an awesome loft apartment - spacious... and cold.  Lia went to work, and I was asleep by 7pm.

Word:  Uz drīz redzēšanos!= See you soon!
Dish:  rice risotto with broccoli (on the flight) along with mom's raisin bread and my pumpkin pie leftovers
Highlight:  watched the two movies (especially without the dubbed Latvian!)
Lowlight:  leaving. 
Random Observation:  I've always loved airports, where you really see such a diverse cross-section of people, who are often either excited or sad or in some other emotional state that comes along with travel.  I cried when I left, and again when we were landing and I saw the ugly industrial mess in New Jersey.