KLAIPEDA, LITHUANIA AND SAILING ON THE BALTIC SEA—Thursday and Friday, May 22 and 23, 2014

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Klaipeda, Lithuania--Thursday, May 22^nd

One of the things we found interesting about this voyage was the sights to and from our ports of call. As we approached Klaipeda and our berth, several homes were seen along the banks.

Today we stayed in and Valerie iced and elevated her foot all day. The first time we were in Lithuania when Valerie taught in the capitol city of Vilnius (2008), we rented a car and drove to Klaipedia where we visited several towns and drove onto the Curonian Spit. We had originally planned to just walk into town, but we decided that wasn’t a good idea.

That evening, after dinner, we went to the auditorium and enjoyed a group called Kursiu Ainiai from Lithuania that explained and then played ancient musical instruments of the region. Some examples were animal horns, reed pipes, some primitive string instruments, and strange looking bagpipes. They then did some traditional singing and then dancing. Good time.

Sailing on the Baltic Sea heading for Estonia--Friday, May 23^rd

In a lot of pain, Valerie gave part 1 of her lecture this morning at 10:00, entitled “You know of Whistler’s Mother, But What about His Father? Subtitle: Notable Businessmen and Entrepreneurs”. She focused her discussion on St. Petersburg notables: a) George Washington Whistler, rail engineer, b) Peter Carl Faberge and his family jewelry business, c) Carl von Siemens, who established a branch of the family telegraph and electronics business, and Finnish notables: d) Armi Ratia and Riitta Immonen, co-founders of Finnish fashion corporation Marimekko. It went ok, but I could tell she wasn’t at her best.

Afterwards, we worked in the cabin so Valerie could keep off her feet and have her legs elevated now a lovely shade of “bruise.” We left the cabin only for her to hobble to meals. On one of our meal trips there was a sighting of a sailing ship under full rig.

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