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Published: July 18th 2010
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July 16 - Happy birthday to Cristian (and Sean!). My nephew turns 10 today! We'll celebrate at Christmas.
I got out of bed around 8am after a much better night of sleep that before. I tried to get everything together quietly so that I would be ready for my day of walking without having to come back to wake everyone up again. Came down and had breakfast and then went out to the info office to get a self-guided walking tour map. They had one - amazing. So I started with what I guessed wasn't going to be on the free walking tour that I did today and was right. I saw many churches. As it turns out, there are about 60 churches in Vilnius and they are all on the glorious side. I do like churches. But don't expect me to know which was which (I'm thinking captions).
Around 11:30am I came back to the hostel, had some carrot salad I picked up last night and then left with the noon walking tour. It was a group of about 15 and it was a good tour, but hardly the best I've been on, information-wise. We spent a lot
of time in a part of the city that declared itself a separate repbulic, though it is basically in jest. Their independence day in April 1, and if you cross the bridge on that day to that part of the city you must have your passport stamped. It is basically a place full of artists. It has some quite interesting looking places, including a "white house" where the "president" lives. He is a journalist in real life. They have their own constitution which among other things gives everyone the right to make mistakes, the right to be unique, and the right to love and take care of the cat. We also went places with good views of the city, which was nice. We stopped at a pub type place for a drink, but the outdoor seating was mostly full and the inside was baking, so while everyone else sat inside, I sat outside to wait until they were done. When the tour was over I walked over to cathedral square to see the really big church, saw the university, the presidential palace and then walked uphill to the castle museum, with more good views. Can't get enough castles. Indeed, Sunday
I will take a day trip to another famous castle. Yes!
I eventually made it back to the hostel and then went to a restaurant that was recommended by the hostel. Unfortunately they only had indoor seating, so it was hot, but the food was good. Less than $6 for a decent sized coke and minced meat dumplings in a creamy fresh mushroom sauce. Yum. From the hostel guy I found out that I can get a bus to Gdansk, Poland and it is a night bus, so I think I will leave Sunday night instead of Monday now. That should put me there at 7am after a crap night of sleep. Sweet. I haven't had a night bus in so long. Hopefully I'll find a sleepy hostel on the other end.
July 17 - I got up early this morning and planned to go to the bus station early to get a ticket for tomorrow night. The problem was, the guy who was working wouldn't give me a refund for Sunday night, when I wanted to leave once he told me the buses to Poland were at night. He said he would have to check with the
other guy to see if he could give the money back and that I should come back at noon. This was about to ruins my plans since I didn't want to buy a ticket for the bus for Sunday night if I couldn't get a refund for the hostel for the same night. So I decided to just go with and assume it be ok. I went instead to the KGB museum, or the museum of genocide victims. It was crazy to see what the Soviets did when they were in control after WWII. It was just an awful place to live, where everyone was under survelliance all the time and anyone who seemed suspicious was put in a work camp or killed or deported. It's so hard to imagine that this was the way that so many people lived for so long. And this lasted until the late 80s/early 90s. Unbelievable. The KGB museum also had the prison and torture rooms and that was weird to walk through. No pictures were allowed but I had to take one of the toilets. It was a really sobering experience.
After the museum I took a walk along the river and
eventually made it to the Peter and Paul church. I would have liked to have seen more of the church itself, but there was a wedding finishing up and another one that began right afterwards. I still managed to walk around and see a little bit but didn't want to gawk too much. From there I decided to walk up the Hill of Three Crosses, which was quite an uphill hike, but had a nice view, and several brides, at the top. Thankfully this was also a hill of only three crosses, and not several thousand. Much easier to deal with. And very pretty against the blue sky.
From the crosses I realized it was 1pm and I was starving. I went to the cheap restaurant from the night with Rachel and had spinach and mushroom crepes with a garlickz spread. Delicious. And about $2.50. I walked back to the hostel where there was another girl working. I asked her about the refund and she just gave me the money back. No questions asked. Weird. So then I made it to the bus station and bought a ticket to Warsaw instead of Gdansk, as it was significantly cheaper. I
leave tomorrow night at 9pm and will try to buy a ticket to Gdansk when I arrive in Warsaw. Poland is a pretty large country and I would like to travel around the cities I'd like to visit in an order that makes the most sense. So I will start in Gdansk and move in a circular shape from Gdansk in the northwest to Wroclaw in the southwest. The plan is to meet a friend in Krakow if she can make it and then end up visiting Prague, Bratislava and Budapest if there is time in the end. Tonight I will just pack up a bit, shower and maybe grab a bite to eat.
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sasark
Sasha
Great photos!
I love the cool hippie buildings, and "mermaid on river"!