Lithuania

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When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money. ~Susan Heller

May 9, 2009, Saturday, The Lakeside Restaurant to Traki, Lithuania . It turned out to be a noisy night, everyone stops for the lake-view, but the price was right.
We stopped the town of Trakai, a town located in Lithuania’s Lake District, and is the ancient capital. Trakai’s trophy is the fairytale Island Castle, which we toured, it is the only island fortress in Europe.
After getting Litas, the currency in Lithuania—1 US$ = 2.50 lts. Then we did a bit of shopping and went to the Info Center. Things seem a bit more expensive here.
Finally some rain as we visit the Island Castle…some interesting historic artifacts, furniture, weapons, clothing, etc. This restored red brick Gothic Castle dates from the 14th century.
We took the opportunity to sample some local food, then camped about 7 kms outside of town, also located on a lovely lake.

May 10, 2009, Sunday Trakai to Vilnius. We took the bus from Trakai to the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, about a ½ hour ride. Then we followed our map to the Old Town. It is a typical mess of snarled traffic, and confusing cobbled streets. Baroque churches are what Vilnius is known for, and we stopped at several. There seems to be a Catholic Church on every corner. Vilnius Old Town is rather dilapidated with crumbling structures, cracked plaster, etc. crying out for millions of dollars needed in restoration, however, there are places that scream for the wrecking ball.
After walking through the Old Town, we stopped at a park for a picnic lunch. Following a trail up a hill we were rewarded with a magnificent view of the city. Then we noticed a tram that takes people up and down!? So we rode down and following the crowd came upon a Food Festival. Lithuania is celebrating five years in the EU, so every country in the EU had a booth with tasty traditional food from that country…Bob had a hard time choosing. It was a long walk back to the bus station and “home” again.

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Photos

Smoking Pipes in the castle
We have never seen so many very special pipes

Market at the bus station…Trakai
these little old lady selling flowers

Entrance to the Old Town Vilnius
This was a church