Latvia review and Flickr update

We've updated the Flickr page with our photos from our stay at Annas Hotel in Zaube, Latvia:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37975783@N03/

Here's some travle notes on Latvia:

RIGA
--still a bit rough around the edges, but an unexpected gem of a city in a very nice country to visit;
--we always felt safe walking around, even at night, although the hotel did offer bodyguard services;
--we noticed more of a tea drinking culture here versus the coffee drinkers of Scandinavia, the Tea House in the park is a good place to spend a fall afternoon;
--walking around the canal park is really cool, you can even get into a chess match around the band shell;
--everything is a bit cheaper than Scandinavia;
--driving was easy;
--plenty of Russian-inspired restaurants around, Varzob (if you can find it) offers the best Uzbek food we ate;
--street-level apartment living rooms transformed into restaurants and bars are great finds: Buffete Un Buffette is really great (only open for lunch) and Guaja Bar were the best we found;
--take a day and skip the museums and just walk around the central market: it's full of unusual foodstuffs, then walk around and check out the art nouveau apartment buildings;
--language barrier is a bit pronounced versus Scandinavia but we rarely found it difficult to communicate;
--Riga Arena is an easy walk from the central city and tickets are fairly cheap for hockey, the national sport.

LATVIAN COUNTRYSIDE
--Annas Hotel was great: quiet, lots of easy hiking, nice swimming pool and saunas;
--as in Riga, very few American tourists (the owner couldn't remember the last time any stayed);
--driving in is crazy, very few signs and snow covered unpaved roads!

Basically, we went to Latvia with no expectations, arrived in fall, stayed for the first winter blizzard, and had a great time over a 1 week stay.