The Hill of Crosses, or Religion is crazy

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July 15 - I woke up in the night around 4am with my stomach, and then decided to check email like a freak. Of course, then it was hard to sleep again for a while. I got up again just before 7am and got ready to leave the hostel. I made two eggs and finished my yogurt and then finished packing up. The train was at 8:34am and so we got to the train station at 8:10am or so. Lucky for us, as the information office had given me incorrect times and the train actually left at 8:15am. We just made it. We spent about three hours on the train to Siauliai to see the Hill of Crosses. When we arrived, I checked the train schedule to Vilnius, the capital, since I did not want to spent the night if it wasn't needed. Glad that I checked, because the train I wanted didn't exist until August. There was a bus that would also go to Vilnius that would allow us to get a bus the ten kilometers to see the crosses (plus a 2 km hike in the sun), but instead we decided to split a taxi and get back in time for the 1:51 pm train. I'm so glad we did. Usually I am too cheap to agree to a taxi, but it was such a good idea here. We could get to Vilnius by 5pm and see the crosses without a major hike in the hot sun all for $10 extra. If I had been alone it wouldn't have been possible - cheap would have won out over practicality.

I didn't know exactly what to expect with the Hill of Crosses, but I was thinking along the lines of Arlington Cemetery in DC. Oh no. This was literally a hill that was covered in an estimated 200,000 wooden crosses of all shapes and sizes. People, mostly Catholics, started placing crosses here around the 1850s when their religion was persecuted. This increased dramatically when the land was owned by the Soviets, who tried to remove the crosses. They were unsuccessful, as people would risk their lives in the night across barbed wire and machine guns to place the crosses back on the hill. Religious people are crazy, and these are no exceptions. But it was a cool site to see. I admit, I do like the crosses. Just like I love churches. It's the religion I don't get. Once back at the train station we got our tickets and had some food. Not much to do there as it is really small. Our train was delayed by about 30 minutes, which was unfortunate. Especially since we ended up getting into Vilnius about an hour late...when did that happen? We sat outside to wait, across from the station, in the shade. There was a creepy guy sitting across the tracks from us, looking and smiling for so long. Eventually he was on the same side as us and walked by and touched my arm. Gross. The ride was much nicer than the first - air conditioning and better seats. Did we get first class accidentally? Nice.

We eventually got in and Rachel walked me to my hostel. She went to check back into hers and we agreed to meet for dinner in 30 minutes. I had enough time to check in and get set up and then we went out. It was nice eating in a restaurant for the first time in a while, rather than grocery store food. For about $4 I had soup, pasta and a coke. Not bad, even for someone cheap like me. Came back to the hostel and plan to have a relaxed evening.

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Photos

Photo 2
Entrance to the Hill of Crosses