Getting To Celebrate the 4th of July On U.S. Soil

On the weekend before the 4th of July, the U.S. Embassy offices in Riga held a celebration in which Americans and their family could come and take part in some events to celebrate Independence Day and enjoy some free American goodies.

They had pizza, deserts, salads, and even McDonald's there handing out complimentary cheeseburgers and chicken McNuggets.  Here's the line waiting for the McNuggets.  

They also had free hot dogs which had a distinctive European feel.  The bun was a baguette that had been hollowed out and the condiments were shot into the hole and then the hot dog was jammed in afterward.  It was an interesting attempt nonetheless.

They also had some vintage cars on display from the local American car club.  When the day's events were completed they had a little impromptu parade of the cars as they left.

We didn't get to shoot off any fireworks but it was nice to technically celebrate the holiday on U.S. soil.

On American Soil [Briefly]

Wednesday morning found Laura and I visiting the good old U.S. of A. for an hour or so...and by that I mean we went to the U.S. Embassy in Kiev.  Awesome bathrooms, drinking fountains, and we got to cut the queue as we were 'Mericans!  It's not often I'll cut in line here in Ukraine and Laura gets frustrated how I'll let people go ahead to me to get on the subway or trying to get somewhere fast.  But after seeing the line of people trying to get into the Embassy I gladly whipped out my passport and jumped to the front.

The outside security of the Embassy seemed to be run by Ukrainian security and as I went through the metal detector and had my possessions put through the x-ray machine the Ukrainian security guard came up to me and said, "I'll be keeping your cellphone and your lipstick back here."  I looked down to see him holding my cellphone and my ChapStick.  Laura started giggling and I smiled and said "okay."