Blogs from Vilnius, Lithuania, Europe - page 16

Catching taxis in Vilnius is not as easy as it sounds.... First of all, you can't hail them down: they will not stop to pick you up. Why? I don't know. Second, it costs more (perhaps even double) to catch a taxi before 8 or 9am and after 10pm....Maybe they just see the tourist dollars. I asked a local boy what the story was, and this is what he told me: " The best way to catch a taxi is to call for it. It is cheaper. If you get into a taxi in the street, they will charge you more. And they won't stop to pick you up" It doesn't make any sense. But there you are. You just need to stand next to a vacant taxi, call their number from your handy mobile, and ... read more

This is what everyone says when i tell them where i've been. Vilnius is kind of like Venice, except without the canals. Ok, and when i was there it wasn't sunny either. But with its churches and cobblestones it has an old world charm, that is romantic in itself. Simon and I were near the top floor of a hotel; he was attending Europython, and i was being tourist. I scoured the inflight magazines and the hotel magazine for addresses of small restaurants. Before we had left i'd looked into the tango scene: there was one, and i was determined that we would go dancing. After the sunny weather of Venice, the gloom of overcast and rainy skies in Vilnius was a little disappointing. Simon got me a beanie because my head was getting cold in ... read more

We have mentioned it before but we say it again. Emma likes beer but Ake doesn't. Consequently when we are in a restaurant Emma often orders beer but Ake orders juice. When the waiter or waitress arrives with our order they more often than not give Ake the beer and Emma gets the juice. If your aim is to save money here in Lithuania it is better to drink beer than to drink juice, because beer is cheaper. Well strictly juice isn't very expensive either. Heck, probably nothing is expensive here! ... read more

Hello friends. We have been to Vilnius A couple of months ago dad took us to Tallinn in Estonia. We only stayed there for one day but we liked it very much. But now that we have seen a little bit of Tallinn we wanted to see more. But mum and dad refused to take us there again. They said that they have been there before and that there really isn't much more to see than the old town and we saw that when we were there with dad. We still tried our best to convince mum and dad to take us to Tallinn again but we soon realised that it was pointless. But we are not only cute little cuddly toys, we can be tricky too. We had a look at a map and ... read more

26 April 2007. Started out the day walking around Vilnius on some of the other main boulevards we missed on Wednesday. The morning light on Cathedral Square was auspicious and lasted throughout the day. I was intrigued by St. Helena atop the cathedral and can’t recall many other cathedrals topped with a female figure other than perhaps Mary herself. Now to figure out what St. Helena’s claim to fame was…. We had a coffee on Gedimino prospecktas across from the National Drama Theatre with its dramatic sculpture of the three muses overlooking the theatre entrance. We also stopped at a cool record (and some compact discs) jazz and classical music shop called Thelonious (www.thelonious.lt). The basement door was locked, but the owner quickly opened it and was clearly excited to tell us about his favorite ... read more