Wow. I'm not joking either - we were basically boozing for 9 straight days with short breaks for sleep and to see the odd medieval castle!
Won't bore you with my usual verbose style, so here's my reportage version of my trip through Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia...
Fri: -
We had started passing around a bottle of vodka at 11.35am in the departure lounge at Stanstead. Oh boy..
Arrived in Riga to stay at the excellent Kolonna Hotel smack bang in the middle of the old town - highly recommended for being inexpensive, central and new. Quick shower and across the road for some 75p pints (yes, 75p), then on to club Martini for some more booze. The music there was unbearable, so the boys and I dragged 3 rather lovely Latvian girls along to Club Essential.
Club Essential was immense - the mainroom would be about the same size as the Box at Ministry, and a massive LCD screen behind the DJ gave the main room a real festival atmosphere. The r'nb room was smaller, but absolutely rammed full of Magazine-cover-quality women! I thought Moscow would be hard to beat for the number of gorgeous gals, but I have to say Riga was the new heavyweight champion of the world after that club.
On to Nautilus to meet Bauer, the host with the most! Had a look around the plush Nautilus club and felt a little out of place being a scruffy australian, but tried to pretend that it was a DJ-too-cool-to-care look. Failed miserably.
Saturday:
Woke at about 3 and wandered to the main square for lunch, which turned out to be liquid and amber in appearance. Having never actually sobered up from the night before, I thought it would be a good idea to sit with the Italian guys playing guitar in the centre of the square. In no time at all we were singing along to such hits as Mr Big's 'Be with you' and Extreme's 'More than words', much to the bemusement of the locals
It was about the time we had started following pretty girls around the square with the guitar and serenading them with croaky versions of James Blunt's 'You're beautiful', that I decided it was time to move on
Quick nap and out again to Nautilus for the gig. Bauer showed me around and we stood chatting to the amiable DJ Rise for a while. Suddenly he stops, tweaks some knobs on a big mixing board and starts talking into a microfone. Bauer informs me that we are broadcasting all night on Latvian radio! Cool! Suddenly DJ Rise turns around and sticks the mike in my face - I can't even remember what I said
On to the decks at 1am and the club is chockers. I look out at a sea of impossibly beautiful and happy people and the adrenalin kicks in. Someone announces me on the PA, two nubile dancing girls hit the stage and I begin!
Wicked gig - really receptive crowd and so appreciative! I even got asked for my autograph
Sunday
My hands are shaking so badly I can hardly hold my morning pint. We're sitting at a table with two russian strippers who have decided to join us for tequila shots. This swiftly decends into tequila body shots. In the middle of the day. In a fairly respectable looking restaurant! It was apparently the strippers' day off too - gotta admire someone who enjoys their work!
The night just got blurry after that. I woke up at 11am to be informed that I had 1 hour to get to the bus station to catch our coach to Vilnius. No chance! I have never been so hungover in all my life.
Finally drag myself out of bed at 3pm to stumble down to the coach station. My diet for the day consists of 5 pringles and about a dozen bottles of water. The 5 hour coach ride is hell, but I make it through... on to Vilnius!
To be continued...
Won't bore you with my usual verbose style, so here's my reportage version of my trip through Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia...
Fri: -
We had started passing around a bottle of vodka at 11.35am in the departure lounge at Stanstead. Oh boy..
Arrived in Riga to stay at the excellent Kolonna Hotel smack bang in the middle of the old town - highly recommended for being inexpensive, central and new. Quick shower and across the road for some 75p pints (yes, 75p), then on to club Martini for some more booze. The music there was unbearable, so the boys and I dragged 3 rather lovely Latvian girls along to Club Essential.
Club Essential was immense - the mainroom would be about the same size as the Box at Ministry, and a massive LCD screen behind the DJ gave the main room a real festival atmosphere. The r'nb room was smaller, but absolutely rammed full of Magazine-cover-quality women! I thought Moscow would be hard to beat for the number of gorgeous gals, but I have to say Riga was the new heavyweight champion of the world after that club.
On to Nautilus to meet Bauer, the host with the most! Had a look around the plush Nautilus club and felt a little out of place being a scruffy australian, but tried to pretend that it was a DJ-too-cool-to-care look. Failed miserably.
Saturday:
Woke at about 3 and wandered to the main square for lunch, which turned out to be liquid and amber in appearance. Having never actually sobered up from the night before, I thought it would be a good idea to sit with the Italian guys playing guitar in the centre of the square. In no time at all we were singing along to such hits as Mr Big's 'Be with you' and Extreme's 'More than words', much to the bemusement of the locals
It was about the time we had started following pretty girls around the square with the guitar and serenading them with croaky versions of James Blunt's 'You're beautiful', that I decided it was time to move on
Quick nap and out again to Nautilus for the gig. Bauer showed me around and we stood chatting to the amiable DJ Rise for a while. Suddenly he stops, tweaks some knobs on a big mixing board and starts talking into a microfone. Bauer informs me that we are broadcasting all night on Latvian radio! Cool! Suddenly DJ Rise turns around and sticks the mike in my face - I can't even remember what I said
On to the decks at 1am and the club is chockers. I look out at a sea of impossibly beautiful and happy people and the adrenalin kicks in. Someone announces me on the PA, two nubile dancing girls hit the stage and I begin!
Wicked gig - really receptive crowd and so appreciative! I even got asked for my autograph
Sunday
My hands are shaking so badly I can hardly hold my morning pint. We're sitting at a table with two russian strippers who have decided to join us for tequila shots. This swiftly decends into tequila body shots. In the middle of the day. In a fairly respectable looking restaurant! It was apparently the strippers' day off too - gotta admire someone who enjoys their work!
The night just got blurry after that. I woke up at 11am to be informed that I had 1 hour to get to the bus station to catch our coach to Vilnius. No chance! I have never been so hungover in all my life.
Finally drag myself out of bed at 3pm to stumble down to the coach station. My diet for the day consists of 5 pringles and about a dozen bottles of water. The 5 hour coach ride is hell, but I make it through... on to Vilnius!
To be continued...
I've heard they're pretty stunning !! Would it be a good place for a stag weekend ??