Blogs from Vilnius, Lithuania, Europe - page 9

We arrive into Vilnius about a day after we expected due to being forced onto an 18-hours train expedition, instead of a simple overnight coach. In the process we had picked up a strange guy from Belgium who followed us from the train. He started off by saying “he didn’t know where he was staying”, and then after following us to our accommodation, said ‘oh, this is exactly what I was looking for” hmmm... But we managed to loose him and were happy to be here, in what already looks like a quaint city. We decided to reward ourselves with a nice dinner at one of the prominent restaurants in the old town; enjoying the warm evening air and a lovely bottle one wine (once we found one that they did actually stock!). Feeling like we ... read more

BOO YA! I'd been home seven months people said I'd be straight back on the plane looking for a new adventure dreaming of the ozzie babes, beaches and the care-free lifestyle, I won't lie it crossed my mind, teaching in South Korea for easy money exploring the new cultures of the east Japan, China, wherever,and carrying on the rolling stone lifestyle was a definite pull! But it wasn't real there is only so long you can ignore your head and listen to the crazy heart. Don't get my wrong I'm not done, nowhere near, just setting down some markers for a while. It took me six months a lot of reminiscing, feeling sorry for myself in bed, hours on call of duty but the turn of the new year I finally got to grips with reality. ... read more

Ciekawie zobaczyć czasem co tam u sąsiadów. Wilno zawsze przyznam szczerze niezbyt dobrze mi się kojarzyło. Głównie z szarymi budynkami. To się jednak zmieniło. Kiedy wysiadłem z autokaru powiedziałem do siebie: "Chowaj wszystkie stereotypy do kieszeni i do przodu." Bo najgorsze w podróży to kierować się powierzchownymi opiniami czytanymi w gazetach, Internecie czy zasłyszanymi od innych ludzi. Stolica Litwy oferuje wiele pięknych miejsc na robienie zdjęć. Wąskie ulice, cmentarze, malownicze sklepki. Z chórem spiewaliśmy nawet w ostrej bramie. Okna były otwarte a muzyka niczym ze starego fortepianu wydobywała się do ludzi. Bardzo ciekawe przeżycie. W Wilnie po polsku można dogadać się prawie wszędzie. Mówiono mi, że Litwini nie lubią Polaków. Byc może to i prawda ale mnie to nie spotkało. Na Rossie widzieliśmy ogromny, kamienny pomnik Piłsudskiego i spotkalismy Polkę, która pisze o nim w... read more

Being a tourist in the capital city of a very small country, if anything whatsoever is happening in the whole country, bam! you're in the middle of it. It's cool. To grip the entire vast, diverse USA in any shared national experience takes a huge, crazy, usually unpleasant thing. But not here. Fun stuff gets to be a shared national experience too! Which is timely, because I've been thinking about spending "9/11" abroad. As it happens, I was abroad for the actual original 9/11/2001 - in Glasgow, Scotland with my brother in the middle of our three-week tour of the UK. It was surreal being away while something so all-consuming was happening back home. Watching news coverage on the BBC; hearing a national reaction and response presided-over by PM Tony Blair; looking out of our hotel ... read more

Aside the status of the Lithuanian capital city of Vilnius as European capital city of culture for 2009, its' relative obscurity is always a plus sign for myself, as any place shrouded in a status of relative mystery is always going to intrigue me right from the word go. Background reading on Vilnius served to suggest that if you weren't fond of churches, shopping malls, basketball or cities ceding to the onslaught of capitalism then this place could never really appeal, but from my angle I wanted to give Vilnius a fair hearing. Despite the rainy weather, I found a great deal to commend this place, and its compact, but well-endowed status, and earns its place in the upper bracket of Europe's most pleasantly walkable cities. Staying at the well-equipped hotel Sarunas (owned by former national ... read more