Blogs from Lithuania, Europe - page 7

Vilnius is an easy place to like the city is compact so I have walked everywhere today, visiting a chilling museum in the old KGB building first, that describes the history of Lithuania in the 20th century, the cells and execution room in the basement were shocking. Next I continued along the main shopping street stopping briefly to eat before continuing on to Cathedral Square, the church is lovely, but the highlight is the stunning royal palace. It has been beautifully modernised/restored and explains the history of Lithuania during thre two or three centuries when the Duchy of Litnuania was the power in central europe. I was very impressed with the way information was presented, particularly as every exhibit was in English. I then went to the national museum which was average then climbed the hill ... read more

Three hours by train North of Minsk, and we are entering in a complete different world! We know the European Union has spent a lot of money making sure some of their new members could catch up faster in terms of development and infrastructure...well, it shows here, and it's pretty nice. Vilnius is our first stop, before going North later on to Riga and than Tallinn. The Lithuanian train was modern, comfortable, and packed! Our taxi driver spoke Russian, like around 30% of the population here. We were in Vilnius for 28 hours, time to discover a world I had heard a lot about...but in reality, I knew nothing about... We stay at the Novotel right in the middle of town. Cheap, comfortable, efficient....that did the job. The good news, is the Capitals of the Baltic ... read more

Needing a break from both churches and castles, we spent a couple of hours one afternoon walking along a boardwalk over the Kodru bog in the Korvemaa Landscape Protection Area in Latvia. We'd never have found the trail without the help of the young girl selling tickets for a museum there who walked half way across a mown field full of sharp stalks in flip flops to point out the beginning of the trail. When we emerged from the trees the landscape looked like something from a post-apocalyptic movie, with wizened-looking trees, quite different from field after field of grain or the herds of cattle we'd been driving past, and we had to watch out for tiny brown frogs and small lizards leaping from the boards as we put our feet down. Driving on to Viljandi ... read more

Geo: 54.9, 23.9We got picked up at 10 after the supreme breakfast buffet and were soon on our way to Trakai Castle, about an hour and 15 minute ride from Kaunas. We switched up the passenger order so that Barb and Irena could spend more time together along with Diana and Rokas, our faithful and talented translator.Soon we found ourselves headed toward an island castle, walking across boardwalk bridges and past numerous musical entertainers. The castle dated from the 14th century and was largely restored during several periods of the 20th century. We gathered in the castle confines for an English guide and saw several interior rooms, a courtyard, and learned a lot about the impact of Vytautas on creating the kingdom of Lithuania and of various plots to prevent said kingdom from happening. We were ... read more

Geo: 54.9, 23.9After a limo ride to O'Hare, we departed for Frankfurt and arrived at the time they thought was breakfast but felt like bedtime to us. Jake, as usual, got pulled from the security line, this time to have his hands swabbed to check for bomb-material residue. It must have been the beard or the NHS t-shirt that had the letters shown in sign language. (Maybe they thought gang signs?) Upon arriving at Frankfurt, we were confused about when to drink our beers and when to take our pills. So, we did them both. For a German breakfast of hot Italian sandwiches and radler.Following a slightly longer than expected layover, we were off to Vilnius. On the plane, Barb met a lady from South Carolina who had, literally, traveled the world and shared her thoughts ... read more