|
TUESDAY, JULY 8:
Today I leave for Riga, Latvia and will meet up with Asleep at the Wheel
for the 10th annual Country Music Festival in Bauska. I was
originally supposed to leave Nashville at 12:35 via Newark, but that flight is
ALWAYS late, so I changed to the 7:25 AM flight. When I checked in, I found out
that the Air Baltic, does not have a luggage agreement with Continental.
Great!!! This means I will have to pick up my bag in Copenhagen, take it back
up stair and check in; in less than an hour. I am already planning on many more
hours in Copenhagen. Leaving Nashville early, gave me plenty of time to check
into the President’s Lounge and check email. Left on time, great flight –
watched 2 movies and a sitcom. Slept for maybe 1 ½ hours.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 9:
Landed exactly on time, was really hoping to land early. The airport is
under major construction which really sucks. It took 30 minutes to get down the
hallway to the baggage area. There were so many people crowding in there, I
can’t believe it is set up this way. Good thing it’s temporary. Found my bag,
went up stairs to check in and my flight was “leaving”. When I finally made it
to the Air Baltic counter, the lady told me I had to go to another counter and
get a new ticket for the later flight. I had the hardest time pulling my bags
across the airport and 25,000 other people standing in line to check in and they
were not willing to move. Got to that counter and this lady tells me I have to
go back to Term. 1 in order to get my new ticket. Then she realizes my ticket
was on Continental stock and takes me to the Continental counter, just 2 windows
away. J The wonderful lady rebooks
me and even walks back over to the Air Baltic counter so that I don’t have to
wait in line again. Got checked in and had about 6 hours to “hang”.
Went upstairs and tried to get on-line. They have wireless available, but you
have to use a credit card and they don’t accept Amex.
L I spent the next several hours
waiting…….finally came time for my flight. Arrived in Latvia and Laura was
waiting for me. She took into town, had dinner and walked around for about an
hour then we headed back to the airport to pick up AATW. They were supposed to
arrive at 9:30 PM and finally came at 10:45 PM. Everyone made and so did their
luggage. They are doing several shows in Europe, another for us in Switzerland
and Germany, plus some others. Got to the hotel about 12:30 AM, checked in,
checked emails and got in bed about 2:30 AM. My room here is really cool, each
room is designed after a bird, I am in the Stork room. There is a mural on the
wall of 3 huge storks and the bathroom is HUGE, decorated in black and white
checkered tile with a shower and a huge garden tub. We have a day off tomorrow
and are going back to Riga for sightseeing.
THURSDAY, JULY 10:
Had breakfast, then Laura, Jim Finney and myself went to the PO to pick
the merchandise that they shipped over. Had to pay duty on it…exactly why we
tell people NOT to ship anything, if you want to sell merch, bring it with you
in your luggage. Cost them about $95.
Only a few of us opted for sightseeing, most of the others decided to sleep.
Went to Riga, about an hours drive, walked around the city again, did some
shopping and had dinner at a traditional Latvian restaurant. It is a huge
restaurant, but outside is a huge playland for kids. It has different amusement
rides, those trampoline bungy things, putt-putt, Power Wheels trucks and tons of
other things. Riga is celebrating 700 years and there all kinds of city
concerts downtown. This is really a beautiful place, hard to believe that just
20 years ago they still had ration cards in order to get milk and other dairy
products. Laura said she can remember when the shelves in the grocery stores
were bare. They have came along way in a short 20 years.
Back to the hotel, newspaper interview for Ray and emails for me. It’s after 11
PM and it’s still quiet light out. Going to bed shortly, show day tomorrow.
FRIDAY, JULY 11:
Slept in today because it’s going to be a loooong day. Several of us
went over to see the local castle, the most beautiful in Latvia – the Rundal
Palace. This was the home of Duke Biron of Kurzeme, built under Russian
direction in the mid 1700’s. Headed back to the hotel, picked up the others and
the gear, went to the venue. Just in front of the venue is another castle, the
Dobele Castle Ruins, it is in the process of being restored. It was originally
built in the 12th Century and was one of the main Semigallian
settlements. In the 14th Century the Livonian Order replaced the
wooden castle with stone. AATW finished their sound check in about an hour,
this gave us a little extra time to take a tour of the castle. We walked up to
the top of the castle which overlooks the venue. The venue is located between 2
rivers and just out front from the castle, very beautiful.
Had dinner with everyone in the hotel restaurant. They are all such a great
good. Elizabeth is pregnant with her first child, she is due in January, just
days after Lindsey.
Went over for the show, as the other band was performing, I walked around the
venue site. There are all kinds of vendor booths with “country” attire and
different foods. There was a huge play area for kids with those inflatables and
HUGE bonfire. Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time. The guys had a
great show and the audience went wild. There was a steps that went up behind
the stage where you could look out at the crowd, it was so wild to see the
audience down in front of the stage waving their hands and singing. AATW did an
encore and they wanted more. Uldis, the promoter, brought me up on stage
afterwards to thank me and gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Wish I could
have brought them home. L The guys
went and signed autographs and headed back to the hotel.
SATURDAY, JULY 12:
It’s Saturday morning and I am still up……some of the guys went over to
the “JAM Session” to party, but I am leaving in a couple of hours so I had to
get showered and packed. As I was heading downstairs to catch my taxi, the guys
are just coming back from partying. It’s 3:30 AM!!
Got to the airport, checked in and this time they checked my bags all the way to
Nashville. J Yeah!!! Did a little
shopping at the airport in Riga and I SLEPT on the flight to Stockholm. I don’t
even remember taking off! LOL Short layover in Stockholm and off to Newark.
Slept again about ½ way to Newark and then watched a movie. Landed early and I
was able to catch an earlier flight home to Nashville. I love it when it works
out like that.
Andrew met me at the airport with my parents. He had been visiting with them
all week while I was gone.
I really enjoyed this trip, getting to see AATW again; hadn’t seen them since
Japan in 1998. Laura, Uldis and Martin were all wonderful and the event was
very organized. They made us all feel very welcomed and took great care of all
of us.
|
