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Published: September 30th 2017
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The entry to our building in the hostel. Needs a bit of work, eh? Geo: 55.9209, 21.0715
Up and off to the bus station.
Mary-ism #12: "Why must I bang myself everywhere I go?" She was referring to hitting her head on the bunk bed. On the way to the station, we popped into a bakery for some absolutely crappy pastries. One was croissant-like and dipped in chocolate. It tasted like a stale bun - I nibbled off the chocolate and threw out the rest. Eastern Europe needs to import some French pastry chefs!
We arrived in Palanga to find the first and only touts of the trip. I seemed to see people trying to convince people to stay at their houses all the time last summer (especially in Croatia), but not this year. The TI was closed today, so we scribbled down a half-assed map based on one displayed outside the TI. Palanga is a small town so finding the guesthouse wasn't difficult.
The Hotel Comfort Inn was a beautiful mansion - an equivalent place would be worth well over a million dollars in Calgary. There was a language barrier, but we managed to sort everything out. It was funny - it actually worked out cheaper to book a triple than a double, so a1
The stairs were no better. It's a good thing it didn't collapse as we walked up. that's what we did.
Off for a stroll on the promenade and some lunch. The kebab was huge and was actually served inside a pita - most places in Europe serve it inside a bun that's been flattened inside a Panini press. It was tasty - we wanted to eat it on the beach, but I gobbled down most of it before even getting there.
The beach was chilly but still nice. We sat for awhile as we ate the kebabs, followed by some chocolate. We walked back up the busy promenade - it's got a bit of the vibe you'll see in the Costa del Sol in Spain, despite being much colder here. No Lithuanian equivalent of the "Ice cream lady of Nerja" that scared the crap out of me was to be found, however (thankfully!).
The sun came out as we strolled through the beautiful botanical gardens. Who would've thought Lithuania would be as nice as this? A friendly guy started chatting with us - he was in the park with his mother and was asking us where we were from, and if we liked his country. Truth be told, he was a little scary
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Believe it or not, this was the better room so I gave it to Mary (being the gentleman that I am). looking and was hobbling around due to a broken leg.
We tried to get into the Amber museum but it was closing for the day. The building itself was quite nice and reminded me a little of the Villa Borghese in Rome (see Euro 2006 blog entitled "What's Mr. Bean doing in a choir?!!??!?"😉 We took a stroll back to the guesthouse where the owner asked us to change rooms. She seemed to suggest there was a problem with the shower. This wasn't a bad thing because we ended up in a suite with a nice big balcony. I almost killed myself walking through her house as I tripped on a really high door threshold.
It was pretty cold sitting on the terrace, but still enjoyable.
Mary-ism #13: "It's just like that night in Salema, Portugal!" Uh .... Let's see - there's no ocean view here, it's 20 degrees colder, we're not staying in an old-fashioned Portuguese couple's rustic house with a huge rooftop terrace, we're missing two people, and we don't have any wine ... other than that, it's EXACTLY like that night!
Because of our beautiful locale, we decided to skip dinner in a restaurant a3
I sacrificed and took this dumpy room instead. I'm such a good friend. and opted for a picnic instead. Finally, I could use the Swiss Army knife that Mary got me for my birthday! The menu consisted of mozzarella and assorted cream cheeses (we ended up saving most of the cream cheeses for breakfast tomorrow), cherry tomatoes, red peppers, roasted chicken legs, succulent and flavourful deli-style roasted pork, incredibly addictive and tasty Finnish caraway crisps, all accompanied by a decent Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon.
Mary commented how romantic a meal it was. Perhaps this was all part of a plan of seduction? If that was true, it was a miserable failure because us two lightweights ended up tipsy and fell asleep on the beach. I awoke shivering - it's cold sleeping on the sand! Mary stood up and was so drunk that she couldn't sit down! I've never heard of that before! She was paranoid about falling if she sat so I gave her a hand.
We walked back along the promenade (dead at night), picked up some souvenirs, and went back to the guesthouse. A pretty cool day!
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