Blogs from Latvia, Europe - page 10

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On my trip from Waeszawa to Vilnius I met a psychiatrist on her way to a conference with colleagues from all over the world in Lithuania. She had not travelled much in her life.No time for she had to bring up het 6 kids. I asked hobby or accident? No she just liked it. For her it was already an adventure to go by train from Germany to Vilnius. When we found out there was no connecting train she did not like the adventure so much anymore. Sunday I visited the old town of Vilnius. Lithuania was the last great pagan state in Eastern Europe to be converted to christianity in 1387.Vilnius, another unesco worldheritage site, has many churches but only one that goes really back to 1387. Beautifull old town with good renovations.The churches are ... read more

Friday I stayed in Warszawa city of Statues. All their old and new heroes but also Mr Reagon are to be seen all over the city.Did some sightseeing in the centre and the old town, an Unesco world heritage site ,and had a 2 hours panoramic tour by coach. Compared to three years ago not much difference only they keep building new offices, houses, stations but still an awful lot of old communist style buildings. In Waeszawa you ee like everywhere in Poland still lots of priests and nuns , young and old and churches are full/... read more

After an early breakfast, I rushed to the supermarket in order to buy some lunch and then made my way, with my luggage, to the waiting coach. An hour after leaving, the bus pulled into Rundales Palace, last used by the Soviets as offices. It was built between 1736 and 1740 as a summer residence of Duke Ernst Johann of Courland, one of whose descendants was Gaston Palewski (of Nancy Mitford fame). After viewing the house, with its interesting variations in decorations, I took lunch in the garden before getting back to the bus ... and Lithuania.... read more

Breakfast at the weekend starts an hour later. The shops open at the same time breakfast starts. I only had 45 mins to go to the shops to buy a packed lunch, pack a rucksack and have breakfast. The breakfast lost! Three cups of coffee and some heavy black bread would have to suffice. Set off for the station in the early morning heat and, on arrival, realised that I didn't know the Latvian for Ticket Office! Having eventually bought a ticket, the nice lady in the office informed me that I needed to leave from Platform 3 - the only problem was that I didn't know the Latvian for Platform 3! Well, the 3 was easy, but there were quite a few "Something" 3! Finally, by walking towards the tracks, it became obvious where the ... read more