In Riga

We were far more impressed with Riga today. The partly cloudy weather helped. We took a two mile stroll in the the Old Riga passing by the funky national library and over the Daugava River.

I caught the Occupation Museum, which did mention the Holocaust but naturally downplayed Latvian collaborators and focused on Latvian victimization. We saw the Freedom Monument with two motionless guards standing underneath. We also appreciated the Batejkalns with its love lock bridge.

Next we ate a kebab place. Candace hated her falefel and hummus sandwhich. The chicken in my sandwhich was good, but I didn't like the rest of it, especially the copious amounts of cabbage. We ate at a steak house by the Riga Dome.

Candace and I vehemently disagree over the comparative accessibility of Tallinn and Riga. I think Riga is more accessible. It has some nice curbcuts and even some ramps. The rain gutter divots aren't as bad. Tallinn's accessibility is based on making things easier for bicycles.

After dinner, I saw parliament, an imposing building with drab colors. Not far away was a heavily fortified building with a camera in front the moves to watch passersby. I haven't found out what the building is yet. We also saw Riga Castle where the president lives. It was built in 1515. A fire in 2013 caused considerable damage.

Since being in Latvia I read about the eastern region of Latgalia. About 100,000 prople speak the language. In Latvia, Latgalia is officially considered a dialect of Latvia. Some people in Latgalia want more recognition for their language. But some feel Russia is hoping to foster separatist feelings within the region to create the same chaos as in Ukraine. People in Latgalia tend to sympathize with Russia more than the country on the whole.

There is a large minority of Russians in Riga and in Latvia. Cansace has tried to watch tv since we've been in Riga. She's mostly watched E and the music channel, because they're pretty much the only English channels. The are quite a few Russian ones though. We also saw the music video for the Latvian group Musiqq's song Abrakadabra and a cool Russia video centered on events in an elevator that I can't find the name of.

Tartu to Riga

We were tired after a big day yesterday. We woke up at 11am and raced to make checkout by noon. Then I saw checkout was actually at 11. The hotel was cool about it.

The drive to Riga was similar to the drive yesterday. At one point in Estonia, road construction not only had one side diverted into a lane adjacent to oncoming traffic, but actually had both directions directed into one lane!

We entered Latvia with little fanfare. I had to convince Candace that we were in Latvia. The bus stops on the side of the road in Estonia are cute little open huts. In Latvia, its a concrete slab. It my limited experience Latvians drive crazier than Estonians, but that might just be in Riga. I saw a news story mocking Estonians for being the least friendly people in the world. Latvians might give them a run for their money. But seriously, that's overstated. People aren't the friendliest, but they're not jerks either.

Driving in downtown Riga is insane! There was so much traffic at 3:30pm. We arrived at the hotel 30 minutes after the gps estimated and it was all because of traffic in Riga. We passed by haunting brown and gray buildings as rain poored down. Latvian drivers swerved into our lane only inches from us. My nerves quickly became frayed.

We found a bar and ate our only meal of the day. The bar played rather terrible music including the 1990s feminist anthem Shut Up and Sleep with Me by Germany's favorite son Sin With Sebastian and theat ode to racial tolerance, Queen of Chinatown by Amanda Lear.

The bar had a ramp and the hotel is accessible which would have made Candace ecstatic if she wasn't annoyed by the rain. The rain divots in the sidewalk were much more manageable for the scooter. Because of the rain, we had a quiet night in the hotel, which is a couple miles outside the city center.

Tallinn to Tartu

A disheveled and dirty man helped me get Candace's scooter down the stairs of the hotel yesterday and the said, "Be happy," and left. Today we took a taxi from the hotel to the car rental place. The driver smelled bad, but was very nice. The car rental guys advised us to watch out for flying pebbles and animals in the road. The also warned us that Estonia has lots of speed cameras.

Driving in Estonia is fairly easy. Route 1 did have on entire direction diverted into a lane inches from oncoming traffic, which is unnerving. We listened to Skyplus, Estonia's self-proclaimed best radio station.

We drove through Lahemaa National Park. It was so green; it was energizing. There were so many thin trunk trees. We hiked a trail that began just north of route 1 off 85 near the town of Kolga. It was incredible! At one point there's a long boardwalk that clears the bogs in order to take you to a lookout tower. A ramp will get you pretty far up the lookout tower. From there you see sparkling crisp blue bogs and all sorts of colors of bogs.

It's ironic that to protect so much moss, so many trees were cut down to make the boardwalk. The bog is called Viru Bog. When something goes wrong, Estonians say the expression, "It has gone to the bog." The smell of the hike was an overwhelming pine scent.

After that incredible hike, we drove Tartu. The drive was a feast for the eyes. It was over-stimulating and after a while, I became tired. There were so many fields of golden topped crops. We saw picturesque forests.  There was a five minute red light, the only traffic light from Tallinn to Tartu. It was a memorable drive.

Tartu is a hip city with open walkable streets, particularly Ruuti, which passes by the town hall. Emajogi passes through Tartu and we walked along the river at 10:45pm dusk. Candace loved the ramps we encountered in the city. She took pictures of Liberty Bridge and an adjacent bridge. Tartu is nearly 1000 years old and we love the combination of old and modern.

Tallinn Not to Helsinki

We tried to take a ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki for a day trip, but apparently on a Sunday in late May a reservation is required. We tried a few different companies, but nothing panned out.

We ate by the harbor. I had anatomically in tact flounder and Candace had salted cucumbers with honey, which she did not enjoy. Candace noticed that Estonians love mayonnaise on everything. We then snuggled in the shadow of Fat Margaret tower. We also dealt with our ferry rejection in a rather morbid way. We snuggled by the monument commemorating the ferry accident of 1994 when over 800 people died.

My body isn't holding up, so after a stop at Hessburger Estonia's version of McDonald's, we went back to the hotel to rest. Later we went our for some pizza and took an 11pm stroll at dusk through Skoone Bastion.

A couple of interesting facts about Tallinn. The city is very WiFi friendly and public transportation is free for residents of the city.

Kadriorg

We changed to a different hotel today. This one is just north of Old Town. In our last hotel, the owner kept calling Candace's scooter a small car. The new hotel has crumbling old stone steps for me to lug the scooter up. The receptionist called the scooter "very modern."

We walked to Kadriorg park, which was green and beautiful. It has Kadriorg castle and the presidential palace. We also saw Lauluvaljak- the Song Festival Grounds- where 300,000 people protested Soviet oppression in 1988. We also saw the sun shimmering on the blue Baltic Sea. Ferries dotted the horizon.

We had cheeseburgers drenched in an orange sauce and tons of vegetables. The hamburger meat was good if the sauce was weird and the vegetables were terrible, because I hate vegetables. I had a steak later for dinner, which was pretty good.

The dinner was in Old Town. Candace was a bit frazzled because of all the cobblestones. The scooter started to lose its charge, so I pushed it some of the way back to the hotel. But we made it.

In Tallinn

Candace: "What time is it?" Me: "4:30am." Candace: "Then why is it light out?!"

We walked around Old Town today. The old towers and churches were not quite jaw dropping, but they were cool. Some buildings date back to the 1300s. The age of the buildings made it a memorable experience. The Russian church was the most eye opening.

Candace's scooter did ok with the cobblestone streets, but she needed me to push her when she got stuck on occasion. Just outside Old Town the sidewalks are better, but they have dents for gutter water. Candace's scooter has small wheels and she kept getting stuck in them.

We ate lunch at a food court in a mall. The decorations were Estonian houses inside the  food court. The staff wore what seemed like traditional Estonian clothes. The food court had latkes and blitzes although they didn't call them that. We didn't try any new soda, but later we ate Tutti Frutti gummies. Each flavor had that same bubble gum/cotton candy flavor.

On the walk back to the hotel, a very drunk man nearly stumbled right into Candace. I was there to push him away if need be, but he stumbled in the opposite direction just in time. When we reached the hotel, our host offered us some strawberry cake and hot chocolate, which were delicious. One layer of my cake had fallen over. She said that in Estonia that means I'll never get married, but since I'm married, it doesn't count. Thank the lord we didn't come last week.

It's amazing how quickly Old Town becomes the sleepy suburbs. I like how much green is around Old Town. Oh, and I forgot to mention we saw a guy roller skating with skiing poles.

DC to Tallinn

After an incredible wedding on Sunday, we left for our honeymoon yesterday. We took SAS, Scandinavian Air, which bills itself as the second most punctual airline and the third most comfortable on long haul flight. My wife Candace and I joked that SAS's motto should "Fly with us because we happen to be traveling to your destination."

The entertainment choices were lackluster. The movies started at the same time for everyone, so it limited your options.

We had a long layover in Copenhagen. Candace keeps bragging that she got to hold the hands of multiple hot Danish guys. Said in a different way, some workers helped Candace in and out of some wheelchairs. Candace can have her memories of holding hands with hot Danish guys, on the flight from Copenhagen to Tallinn, a fat Estonian guy nearly wacked me in the face with his hairy partly exposed ass, so we're even.

On that flight, Estonia Air offered free wifi. It was cool, although a bit misleading. You couldn't access the internet. You could only access a few things related to Estonia Air.

Candace was so happy to get a Denmark stamp on her passport, but really bummed not to get one from Estonia. Apparently you only need a stamp when first arriving into the EU.

We walked about 3 miles from the airport to our hotel. The signs are great about telling you what streets are coming up, but not as good telling you what street you're on. Even so, we didn't get lost until the end. At one point after we had been lost for awhile, Candace gave me five minutes to find the hotel before she would ask for directions. I found the hotel 2 and a half minutes later.

Once we got to the hotel, no one answered our knocks, doorbell rings, or screams after 15 minutes. I decided to jump the fence to the backyard and get someone's attention that way. Just then, the owner opened the front door to welcome Candace in. Then we went to the grocery store and picks up lots of candy!

We also grabbed some limonaad which is some kind of cotton candy or bubble gum flavored soda. We got back to the hotel at 10:30 pm and it was still light out.

Mayweather-Pacquiao Preview

Manny Pacquiao's best chance is to out hustle Mayweather. He needs to throw 100 punches around from different angles and move constantly like he used to five years ago. Unfortunately for Pacquiao, he hasn't shown that level of sustained activity for quite some time.

Pacquiao struggles against counter punchers the most. Juan Manuel Marquez is an adept counterpuncher, who knocked out Pacquiao and has fought him tough three other times. Mayweather is big and faster than Marquez. Mayweather's defense is also better.

Pacquiao's southpaw stance shouldn't be a big issue for Mayweather. He's done well against lefties recently, but it may take longer for Mayweather to settle into a good rhythm.

Mayweather did seem sick and worn down in an interview on TNT on Thursday Night., If he's sick, it could change the dynamic. Mayweather uses hand speed and timing to succeed.

If Mayweather is well, his counter right should control the fight during the earl portions. Pacquiao should get a couple of hard lefts in and that will mean Mayweather will get a tad bit more touched up than usual. But by the middle rounds, I expect Mayweather to be firmly in control and Pacquiao's punches becoming more and more sparse. By the late rounds, Mayweather will pot shot with lead straight rights from the outside. Mayweather will control the fight, but the scores will be a little closer than they should be because Pacquiao will try to steal rounds late with activity. Mayweather will win with scores in the 8-4, 7-5 range, but it won't be that close in reality.

Nonviolence in Baltimore

I've been disappointed at the mischaracterization of the nature and power of nonviolent activism in the context of the Baltimore riots. Nonviolence is not the mayor and police commissioner calling for calm. They're part of the problem. Nonviolence isn't a television writer asking for peace without any solutions.

Nonviolence has become watered down. We now think of marches and protests, speeches and slogan. The sit-ins were a form of nonviolence action. Freedom rides were a nonviolent action. The Salt March was a nonviolent action. In each, people violated an unjust law in a nonviolent fashion in order to change their condition.

The anger in Baltimore is genuine and justified. Just as it was for black people living in the Jim Crow South. Just as it was for Indians living under British colonialism. But a false dichotomy has been created: either we're violent or we're passive.

We need nonviolent direct action in Baltimore to address the issue of police brutality. The police are a violent, bigoted, and corrupt institution with no accountability. They need to be held accountable. Rotating groups of citizens should follow police officers, record their movements, and interfere to protect victims of their brutality.

Rioting is a sign of despair. We are so angry that we destroy our own communities. Our passion needs to be directed. We want to change things, but we crave the organization, ideas, and discipline to do so.

2015 NBA Playoff Prediction

This is a tough year. Part of me wants to pick the Spurs to win it all again. Part of me wants to pick Atlanta and Golden State in the Finals. Part of me wants to pick Memphis in the Conference Finals. This preamble is what we call hedging.

East
1 Atl over 8 Brk 4-0
2 Cle over 7 Bos 4-1
3 Chi over 6 Mil 4-1
4 Tor over 5 Was 4-3

4 Tor over 1 Atl 4-2
2 Cle over 3 Chi 4-1

2 Cle over 4 Tor 4-1

West
1 GS over 8 NO 4-1
2 Hou over 7 Dal 4-3
3 LAC over 6 SA 4-3
5 Mem over 4 Por 4-2

1 GS over 5 Mem 4-2
3 LAC over 2 Hou 4-3

3 LAC over 1 GS 4-2

NBA Finals: LAC over Cle 4-2