Blogs from Lithuania, Europe - page 36

September 1st in Lithuania is a marked day on everyone’s calendars because it is the first day of school. This year the 1st of September was a Saturday, nonetheless they had school (in the US, of course, we would simply begin school the following Monday if the ‘first day’ happened to fall on a weekend.). September 1st for athletic coaches, baseball coaches included, marks the beginning of the scouting season. It signals that it is time to head to the elementary and middle schools in search of players for their upcoming seasons. Last year I spent two days visiting schools with Sigitas looking for young baseball prospects, and this year it was planned that we would do the same. Tuesday, September 3rd: Today Sigitas picked me up at 8 am from Viktorija’s flat, on Asygile Gatve, ... read more

We had a nice long sleep in again today and neither of us particularly wanted to get up. When we did get up we headed across the city to the bus and train stations to plan our escape route to Poland. Turns out whichever route we take we're spending the full day traveling. We went for dinner back at the veggie restaurant. Rob finally got his falafel, and I had a vegetable crumble, all very satisfying and yummy. During dinner we booked our hostel in Warsaw. We're going back to dorm life, but hopefully it'll be slightly livelier than Vilnius. After dinner we had a gentle meander around a square we hadn't seen before. We made a decision to try walking to the Coke Cola Plaza again. We didn't really have anything else to do, so ... read more

We woke early this morning, but easily fell asleep again until midday. The weather was overcast and didn't really inspire us to get up and do anything. When we did eventually get up neither of us was particularly optomistic about the day ahead. First stop was cathedral square to find the tile that the human peace chain ended at. We really couldn't find it anywhere, so after a quick look around the cathedral itself we headed up to the Gedimino tower. It was around then that we realised we were exhausted. By the time we'd climbed to the top we were shattered, this could be due to a lack of decent meals. This was duely noted. On the way down from the tower we saw the three crosses hill which is where three monks were executed ... read more

These days I met some old travel companions of mine and we talked about our expedition in Eastern Europe from some while back. There were many beautiful things that we saw, the people were wonderful, even if we could barely understand them, the language was melodious but who knows what they were actually saying, right? And I also remember well the Castle of Kaunas in Lithuania, because I met someone special there and well… you know how it goes. Anyway, the castle is really an impressive sight, it’s really old, from the 13th century or so and some crusaders happened around at some time or other and made a mess of it. And then it was reconstructed and then the river (the Neris, I think) came along and kidnapped all its towers. But it’s still impressive, ... read more

Well i had doubts about writing this entry or not as i am still having problems in being away from Canada. Yes, it was one year ago !!!! the day i arrived in Canada and started the self discovery journey that brought me to Lithuania. One year ago i was arriving on Calgary international airport full of excitement and with high targets for the future. Evaluating my last year i can say it was full, full of good moments and also not so happy ones but all together it was a lifetime experience. I have traveled to Canada, Poland, France, Slovakia, Czech republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and i also went home for a few months so i can put down Romania as well, 10 countries in one year. I made new friends, loads of ... read more