lithuania 2009

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This trip was because of the 1000th birthday of the old country. we went and my brother was involved in the dancing. i enjoyed the sightseeing but being part of this celebration was like nothing else ive experienced. im proud to be Lithuanian.

Day 1

We arrived to Lithuania and woke up. We were tired but managed to go to the mall. We ate at cili (a Lithuanian chain owned by a Hamilton Lithuanian). We then went to old town. In old town we climbed up the hill and went up to the top of the castle. At the top we saw an excellent view of the city. We went back to the hotel and got ready to celebrate Canada’s day (although a day early it was neat to be with the Canadian embassy). We went for dinner and I had meat filled potato pancakes. We then made our way back to a karaoke bar where we met our friends and later on went to the hotel.

Day 2

My parents and I went to old town. We had amazing soup and zepelini and potato pancakes. We went into the town. We looked for gyntaras shops. We some how got 140 lits from the parking metre from placing 6 lits in. we ended up at Casmir cathedral it was amazing and nothing like id ever seen. There were lots of amour and different altogether. We were at the grand opening celebration and headed home.

Day 3

I went to old town and a giant shopping centre. I did many local activities, which was followed by going to a local club. CLUB WOO. Great local experiences

Day 4

Today I saw St. Ann’s church. A 700-year-old gothic cathedral built from bricks. I visited many churches, a lot of them, which have been neglected for decades. I also visited Frank Zappa statue, which is one of the top 10 random and cheap things to do in Europe

Day 5

We traveled south to a very Russian occupied area. We found the area of ULBINAS and checked out many of our family members in the cemetery, we saw much beautiful landscape and rivers and had another unforgettable meal.

Day 6

We stayed close to Vilnius because the big dance festival that my brother was in was this day. We went for zepelini but our camera along with much of our pictures was stolen out of the rental van, which consequently had a broken window. We went shopping and dealt with the police. We then got ready and went to see the festival. We watched an amazing performance with 8000 dancers. When it ended it as great partying and dancing with rock folk music.

Day 7

It was amazing to see all the people marching in the parade. It was for the Lithuania’s 1000th birthday. We marched 5 km to the park where the song festival would be held. It was amazing over 12 000 people marching. It was a great thing to be apart of.

Day 8

Everyone was now parting and we made our way tot he hill of crosses. I have no idea how its not one of the 7 man made structures of the world. Throughout communism its been destroyed 3 times until here were mysterious deaths. The demolitions stopped and the crosses were a sign of the Lithuanians faith. There is now over 200 000 large crosses not counting rosaries. After the hill we went to palinga. Its Lithuania’s own little wasaga beach. The water was very cold but a beautiful place to stay. We then ate and listened to Romas Dambroskas who truly looks like could be related to my mociute and my father.

Day 9

It was one rainy day. We did a lot of driving and eating. Some of the best meals I had eaten. We played many carnival games and drank some beer. We went to our friend’s condo and played cards and ate true Lithuanian snacks.

Day 10

Woke up to a beautiful morning. We grabbed some sand from the beach and hit the road. We ate some crepes before it rained. A very heavy downpour came as we left for kaunas. We did some shopping and looked around where my grandfather used to live. We saw some beautiful churched and headed back to Vilnius to get ready for our return trip

It was an amazing experience and im glad I was able to be there for its important 1000th birthday,

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