Blogs from Kaunas, Lithuania, Europe - page 5

My trip from Efland, North Carolina, en route to Lithuania began last Monday. With the help of my brother, I packed all of the things that I would need from now until October when I return to New York. The packing process was not much different from my last two big pr-trip packs, but the difference this time was that I did not necessarily know what I was packing for. The past two times I packed for a baseball season. But for what am I packing this time? First I will be in Lithuania going to baseball practices, then two months in France as a dancer, then traveling to South Africa for three months to volunteer in an afterschool program, then a few weeks back in Lithuania to play baseball before returning to the US for ... read more

It would be very easy to forget the fact that you are in Kaunas, Lithuania, while roaming through the great halls of Akropolis, the newly-opened 3-story mega-mall in downtown Kaunas. If not for the Lithuanian being spoken, this could be any other mall in Minneapolis or New York or New Jersey or Greenwich, Connecticut, or Durham, North Carolina. In fact the mall is even more flashy and fancy than most malls I have visited; there is a bowling alley, a multiplex movie theater, a full-size ice-skating rink, and much much more. (One random thing about this mall, I have noticed, is that it has many more baby accessories/toys/clothing stores than the average mall in the US—the last time I was in Akropolis I counted six stores just for babies and toddlers.) One interesting fact about Akropolis: ... read more

September: I was on the hill for game 1 of the Lithuanian finals. The weather was horrible--lots of wind, lots of rain, very cold. Kaunas stadium can sometimes give you the feeling that you are on top of the world. The clouds are right above you, there are few trees around, not much protection from the weather--in short, you feel like you are in the clouds, on a mountain summit perhaps. The rain stopped play numerous times throughout the day, and it is in fact a miracle that we completed the game. Twice we ran out onto the field ready to play, the umpire positioned himself behind the plate and yelled 'play ball', and then realized he had forgotten his mask in his car. He would call time and run to his car, as we all ... read more

Geo: 54.8969, 23.8924Breakfast was served this morning with an amazing peach jam. I couldn't get enough of it; good thing for me Mary didn't want hers. Hopefully our next B&B is as good - the rest of our accommodations in Lithuania are with Litinterp, a chain of B&Bs in this country. As we checked out, I realized that the best thing about Litinterp isn't the rustic and charming accommodations, or even the hearty breakfasts. It's the attractive ladies working in the office - hopefully the other B&Bs are as good! At the bus station - the people in front of me seemingly got a lower price for their tickets. I wonder if we pay a tourist tax here? It probably doesn't really matter since things are already so inexpensive for us here. It was a hazy ... read more

These days I met some old travel companions of mine and we talked about our expedition in Eastern Europe from some while back. There were many beautiful things that we saw, the people were wonderful, even if we could barely understand them, the language was melodious but who knows what they were actually saying, right? And I also remember well the Castle of Kaunas in Lithuania, because I met someone special there and well… you know how it goes. Anyway, the castle is really an impressive sight, it’s really old, from the 13th century or so and some crusaders happened around at some time or other and made a mess of it. And then it was reconstructed and then the river (the Neris, I think) came along and kidnapped all its towers. But it’s still impressive, ... read more