Blogs from Vilnius, Lithuania, Europe - page 22

Hello everybody, For my first time, I am getting information on the Soviet controlled countries. Lithuania is a good example. They were independant from 1918-40. At one point only their capital city was occupied by Poland--that was in 1920, but the rest of the country was independant. In 1938 the Soviets gave back Vilnius, but then moved in in 1940--35,000 Lithuanians were sent to Siberia. Fewer than half returned. From 1941-44 the Germans had it, but the Soviets were back in 1944. The Lituanians fought back, but were defeated. The got their independance in 1991, but the Soviets didn't give up easily--in an skirmish 14 people were killed and hundreds wounded. Gorbechev finally gave up after being pressured by other countries. It took until 1993 for the last Soviet to leave Lithuania. No wonder these people ... read more

Here are a few pictures for now until I have time to write more. Enjoy! I love and miss you all!... read more

Country Count: 35+2! Rides: Parnu to Riga: One motorhome all the way to the centre of Riga. Riga to Vilnius: Two cars, one truck and a Lexus! Weather - Sun! We've had sun! At last! You meet strange people on the road. While we were standing on the road outside Parnu waving our "RIGA" sign at passing traffic, an older gentleman with long white hair came up to us, asked us where we were going, gave us a photocopy of an article about himself from a German newspaper, and then stood 15 metres behind us with a large "BERLIN" sign. We all ended up getting a lift in the same motorhome, and spent the next 2 or 3 hours discovering that we had the privelege of meeting Germany's most famous hitch hiker. He has been travelling ... read more

Vilnius, city of cobbled streets and numerous churches. Architecture from every influence; Gothic, Romantic, you name it it's here. Watch the world go by outside one of the delightful cafes in the old town. Gaze in amazement as impossibly tall thin women manage to negotiate the cobbled streets wearing impossibly tall thin heeled shoes (even in winter) I arrived here on a wet and cold evening, and found my apartment, which was tucked away in a typical old-town location, narrow cobbled street and tall building. I'd reccommend picking up a copy of the now essential In Your Pocket guide, at 5 litas. There are other guides given out free of charge along the same lines as In Your Pocket such as Exploring Vilnius, which can be found in hotel lobbies and tourist information centres. The whole ... read more

E-mail sent almost a year ago, has the combo of pictures, text and Country info at the bottom. This is the same one, but with a bit more info. The other message randomly sent itself before I was done. Greeting from Kliapeda, Lithuania. Klaipeda is the third largest city in the country, is on the coast, and will be my hometown for the next four months. Since this is the first news of my trip I have been able to send out, let me backtrack a bit. The flight in was nice, and staff greeted me right at baggage claim when I arrived in Vilnius (always nice when one arrives in the middle of nowhere and things go as planned.) The couple of days we spent in Vilnius were very nice. It had snowed for the ... read more