http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Lithuania en-us Thu, 12 Nov 09 02:23:56 +0000 Thu, 12 Nov 09 02:23:56 +0000 Back on the RoadThe Baltic States Estonia Latvia and Lithuania were to be our new mission. We bought a return flight to Estonia and so on a gloomy rainy summerrsquos day we flew out into the unknown. We arrived mid afternoon and made our way to the Bus Station and bought tickets for an overnight coach to Vilnius Lithuania We had two weeks to visit 3 countries so I came up with the pla http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/blog-448388.html Hi EverybodyI am going to get Walt to write a summary of his visit to Chernobyl later. This is a very old computer. I am having to hit most keys more than once. I apologize in advance for errors. I do not always have time to proofread my entries. I know the when to use there and their. I cannot tell you why I sometimes type the wrong letters. I have had to go back repeatedly on this blog a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Vilnius/blog-445421.html We will have a baby soon... In the photos my pregnancy is 35 weeks... http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Siauliai/blog-443786.html I think I don't need something to say about my journey through my life. Jst have a look to my photos and you will understand everything... http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Siauliai/blog-443763.html So after we arrived in Vilnius on Tuesday we ended up spending most of the morning in the Hosteljust catching up on things. To be honest it was really niceto just chill out for the day as we had been so busy so far.The hostel were really great and let us hang around until there were beds free they had quite a big kitchen where a lot of other guests were hanging out everyone we met so far was http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Vilnius/blog-437852.html In keeping with our desire to see a national park in each country wersquod mentally marked down this as the day to make a trek out to Aukstaitija National Park. However at the last minute we chickened out of the 2hour bus trip that would drop us several km away from the park and decided to visit Trakai National Historic Park instead a preserve on a peninsula that was a mere 40minute train http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Vilnius/Trakai/blog-436018.html On our second morning in Vilnius we still had no hot water so we called our apartment manager to see what she could do. For some reason I donrsquot totally understand calling a plumber was not an option so she drove us to an unrented apartment so we could shower. Again it was a beautiful place with some weird flaws like a shallow recess behind the tub with no drain so after the shower http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Vilnius/blog-435756.html Due to being completely wiped from the previous day and since we had the relative luxury of being in one place for FOUR WHOLE NIGHTS we slept in the next morning. After rolling out of bed and shaking most of the cranky out of our collective noggins we descended onto the town of Vilnius. Like most Old Towns this one also has plenty of the twisty passages all alike that Americans seem to crav http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Vilnius/blog-435640.html To make up for only getting one night in Kaunas we decided to borrow a little bit from our first day in Vilnius wersquove got 4 on the agenda after all and wait til the evening to hop on the bus. We had a relatively relaxed morning and headed first to the bus station to leave our luggage in storage for the day. That was a bit of an adventure the trolleybus was so crowded Graham almost http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Vilnius/blog-435633.html Well that night was unlike all other nights. Rolledup towels do not it turns out make great pillows. We slept horribly and woke early and even with a breakfast stop and a coffee stop we still managed to get on a 10 AM bus to Kaunas.We rolled into town midday and called the manager of our apartment who came to pick us up at the bus station and take us to the place. Wow This place was http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Kaunas/blog-435628.html Ah Waking up after having fallen asleep in a new place always makes me feel both refreshed and a little offkilter. But this time it was in Klaip279da and the town was just so goshdarn cute we were feeling pretty good slightly firm mattress notwithstanding. We made our way downstairs for our earlyastheyservedit breakfast in the same room as the guesthousersquos hostess. Itrsquos st http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Siauliai/blog-435617.html Vilnius the slow finaleyes well it was a very slow start as well as being an Accidental Tourist I have also become a less than fired up get outta the door one. Have to set an alarm almost to get up for breakfast at 10 then take more than 3 hours to get out the door. Mind you he says as an excuse the weather here has been rather spotty. Its about midnight I work hard at this y'know and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Vilnius/blog-434402.html yes more photos this is for Bob see comments page. Here's one of my room key its on a quite cute fluffy thing that may or may not have been formerly attached to a small animal http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Vilnius/blog-434242.html Saturday night fever or it could have been without the Rivers stowaway parka in the camera bag not to mention the pullout cover for the camera bag to keep it a little drier. Cos it did get a little wet here later today in fact the light rain started about 6pm and was around while I climbed the hill to the fortress tower Gediminas Castle. However when I walked down and into the bottom of the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Vilnius/blog-434100.html Kaunas Lietuva Lithuania 4 Sept.09sitting on the bus leaving Kaunas to go to Vilnius the capital of Lithuania rather later than I thought I would be as it is almost 7pm so will be a rather late arrival into Vilnius which is not the best thing for accommodation but it has been so quiet most places I am not very worried and I have not had any problems anywhere as the ldquoseasonrdquo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Kaunas/blog-433903.html KaunasHotel Magnus11.40am 4 Septjust across the road from the bus station very handy and as train is some furtehr distance away bus to Vilnius is def. the go from here.After previous night in Klaipeda I went by train 3 hrs after very early breakfast to Siaulai and the Hill of Crosses its a pilgrimage sorta place with a small hill just covered with crosses. Bit underwhelming in terms of siz http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Kaunas/blog-433736.html We woke early today in prep for our trip to Klaip279da especially me as my sore throat kept me from sleeping past 330. We grabbed a quick breakfast at home and made our way to the airport. Riga International is a pretty nice airport they had a drugstore which was important for acquiring some ibuprofen and a post office where we mailed a bunch of postcards and a souvenir shop with so http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Klaipeda/blog-433346.html And we reached our last full day in Vilnius. We thoroughly enjoyed our Old Town Vilnius experiences. Lauren and I had never seen such a collection of churches within such close proximity. But it was time to see something different hellip away from Old Town.We had seen numerous postcards of this redbrick castle during our walking tour of Vilnius. We consulted our trusted guidebook and found a re http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Trakai/blog-431429.html Summer is here and Lauren finished her school responsibilities already. We initially planned to head out to Asia and Australia for the summer. But we decided to postpone that and diverted our summer trip to Europe. Our first destination Vilnius capital of Lithuania and the European Capital of Culture of 2009. Again our friends were curious on our choices of summer destinations. But we were alw http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Vilnius/blog-429487.html DOVYDAS NEVERAUSKAS SIGNS WITH THE PITTSBURGH PIRATES FIRST LITHUANIAN IN HISTORY TO SIGN A CONTRACT WITH MLB TEAM7132009For the first time in the history of Lithuanian Baseball one of its own has signed a professional contract with an MLB squad. On July 9th Dovydas Neverauskas a 16 year old pitcher from Vilnius Lithuania agreed to terms of a professional contract offered by the Pittsburgh http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Kaunas/blog-429410.html