Vilnius and Trakai, Day 2


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April 26th 2007
Published: April 26th 2007
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26 April 2007. Started out the day walking around Vilnius on some of the other main boulevards we missed on Wednesday. The morning light on Cathedral Square was auspicious and lasted throughout the day. I was intrigued by St. Helena atop the cathedral and can’t recall many other cathedrals topped with a female figure other than perhaps Mary herself. Now to figure out what St. Helena’s claim to fame was….

We had a coffee on Gedimino prospecktas across from the National Drama Theatre with its dramatic sculpture of the three muses overlooking the theatre entrance. We also stopped at a cool record (and some compact discs) jazz and classical music shop called Thelonious (www.thelonious.lt). The basement door was locked, but the owner quickly opened it and was clearly excited to tell us about his favorite jazz and traditional albums.

Somewhere along the way we saw more of the gray and black crows/ravens that have a particularly wise owl look to them. And saw a majestic larch in early spring green in front of a royal looking—but closed—palace (sic) office building.

For lunch we walked across the Vilnia and up the hill into Uupis, which the In Your Pocket guide describes as “ramshackle, crazy, unkempt . . . bohemian . . . charm and an indefinable something that evades even poetic description.” They worked hard at that description so I’m using it. Along the way we glimpsed a portrait of Roger and Stephanie in a “Lithuanian Gothic” rendition…. Lunch on the terrace at the Tores café (www.tores.lt) was a delight! On past some artistic graffiti on the way back down the hill before setting off by car for Trakai.

The Trakai castle dates from the 14th century but was destroyed in the 17th and 18th centuries in battles with the Russians. Restoration work (with some pretty modern looking bricks…) apparently began in 1955. It was a gorgeous day to walk around the castle which sits on an island on one end of Galvè lake. We ventured inside the castle only to be greeted by a ticket vendor with Soviet-style charm who sold us our entry tickets and then snipped that photos were an extra 4LT. Now that’s about $1.60, which is nothing, but I seriously can’t remember paying to take pictures since visiting the former CCCP.

Once inside, I was summarily convicted of insolence for my unpleasant smirk following the photo taking tariff debacle and thrown into a wooden neck and arm brace (it gave my shoulders a rest). Roger and Stephanie were guilty by association and thrown into a rolling wooden jail. Rested, I broke free and rode like Poseidon on cannons of glory.

Exhausted (not really), we took a very pleasant 45 minute sail around the lake which offered some great views of the Trakai castle and Uutrakis Palace which was a private mansion until 1939.

Leaving Trakai, we stopped at Kybynlar restaurant (www.kybynlar.lt) which serves kibinas (beef or lamb filed pastry), the national dish of the Karaite community, a group of Macedonian-origin settlers who have lived on the lake for 600+ years. Their colorfully painted homes all have three windows facing street side, one for God, one for Vytautas the Great, and one for self.




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27th April 2007

Delightful
Glad the weather is nice and the sites seem lovely. . .your commentary is lively and the pictures are truly great! I'm learning a lot. . .I'll check out some of the websites later. Loved the photo of you and the jazz cave CD fellow: he'd found a kindred spirit!

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