Advertisement
Published: April 6th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Justin Christ
Justin embraces the Hill of Crosses. One of the great surprises of the trip has been the Baltic countries. We didn't decide to go until the last minute and, frankly, we knew almost nothing about them. They're very affordable, very friendly and very picturesque. Riga's Old Town seems almost prefabricated. Seperated from the rest of the city by walls and cobblestone streets, Walt Disney couldn't have done any better. Except, of course, for the ubiquitous brothels and strip clubs, which attract roving bands of drunken Brits.
We tried to get a bit of culture in this city of sin, wandering among the landmarks and visiting
The Museum of the Occupation . Housed in grim Soviet architecture, it chronicles the subjugation of the Latvians by the Soviets and Nazis over 50+ years. It is perhaps the only museum in existance in which the Nazis come off as the lesser of two evils. Coming from Russia, the depictions of life as an unwilling part of the U.S.S.R. were striking. We spent the last night dining on some of the light Baltic fare of fried meats, cheeses and potatos.
The next day, we headed out for Siauliai, home of the
Hill of Crosses . Obviously a religious site, it is also a national shrine to the
Welcome
Chris at the Uzupio border resistance against the Soviet occupation. A mound featuring literally hundreds of thousands of crosses, from small simple souveniers to large carved works of art, it repeatedly fell to the Soviet bulldozers. Repeatedly, the Lithuanian people came in the night to repopulate it. Set in the middle of farms, listening to the wind blow through the crosses makes for a quiet and effective memorial. Once we got back into town, we grabbed some Lithuanian pizza (not very good) and saw Syriana (in English, but not that easy to understand with all its subtitles translated to Lithuanian).
The next morning, we grabbed the early bus to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. We decided to stay in the
Republic of Uzupis , an unofficial breakaway group near the heart of Old Town. Made up of artists, it features its own passport stamp and
Constitution . Since it inumerated the right to celebrate your birthday, we decided to do just that, as Justin was turning 30 the next day. Meeting up with Trevar, a friend of TW's who just started working for the American embassy, we were pleasantly surprised to find at the local bar that we were visiting on Uzupis Independence Day, April 1. We were
We're only in it for the money
Justin with the only Zappa statue anywhere told by Lars, a local photographer from Norway, that it was a bit muted due to the fact that people were saving up for next year's 10th anniversary, but the band and atmosphere was lively. After a while, we moved on with a girl Trevar had chatted up and her sister. Three bars later, we ended up at a dance club, where Chris got in trouble with the bouncer for trying to steal a Nirvana poster as a birthday present. When the DJ started playing Nickelback, it was time to go.
For the first time in history, Justin was the first one up the next day, taking a stroll and grabbing some food while Chris quietly slept into the late afternoon. Because it was officially Justin's birthday, we went out of some traditional Lithuanian food - fried meat, cheese, and potatos. The next day, we explored Vilnius, seeing the world's only Frank Zappa statue and the Three Crosses, another symbol torn down by the Soviets. We took an overnight bus to Warsaw, entering into Chris' ancesterol half-homeland.
Warsaw is a surprisingly nice city, especially compared to what we'd heard. It features an Old Town that was built in
Top of the World
Us before yet another UNESCO protected Old Town the '50s, which sounded like a Polish joke until we toured the Historical Museum of Warsaw. It was a bit long on minutae, until we got up to the part where the Nazis and Soviets invaded. More than half the population was killed in WWII, and nearly 90% of all buildings were destroyed. The fact that a city could recover from such devastation was amazing. The photos of the ravaged city made anything coming out of New Orleans pale in comparison.
While we've crossed pierogis off the list, we have many more Polish cuisine to sample over the next couple of days in Krakow. This weekend, we head over to Prague, where Chris has planned a special birthday surprise.
Today also marks the mid-point of our trip. In the past three and a half months, we've lost a camera, a car, and a check card; our faith in REI, B of A, and Lonely Planet; the structural integrity of our clothing, our iPods, and our budget; and (at times) our patience, our senses of humor and our perspective. But during same time, we've seen the Great Wall of China, the Great Barrier Reef and a great many UNESCO
Johnny Paul
They love them some Pope in Warsaw sights; eaten Russian caviar, Peking duck and Thai Pad Thai; seen a New Zealand cricket ODI, Beijing acrobats and Chinese New Year fireworks in Singapore; gotten drunk in Chaing Mai with Aussies, in Saigon with Norwegians, and in Krakow with Brits; celebrated our 1.5 year anniversary in Luang Prabang, Justin's 30th birthday in Vilnius, and St. Patrick's Day in Siberia; watched the Super Bowl in Ko Samui, the Rose Bowl in Wellington and the Oscars in Hong Kong; and splurged at Raffles in Singapore, the Oriental in Bangkok and the Peninsula in Hong Kong. We think we came out ahead.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.099s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 13; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0361s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb