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Hello Ladies and Gentleman! SO much to say, so little time!
Where did we last leave you? Ahhh yes. In Vilnius where the day took a wild turn! After Sonja wrote that novel of a blog and I was so frustrated because it took me 2 hours to post 10 pictures, we headed out for supper with the group.....
BREAK!
We haven't said enuogh about this group that we've been hanging with which is now necessary because they have become very important to us and also will play bigger roles in our stories now. So the Aussies are Andrew, Anna, Kirilea, Jeanette and Stacey. The American is Julie. Jarek is our Polish tour leader.
END BREAK
We had supper in Vilnius at this restaurant overlooking the city. The food was expensive, the portions were small but the view was amazing. After supper we headed to a small pub where we may or may not have gotten a little rowdy. Earlier, a few of the others had discovered something called "funny pins" (I don't know where that name came from) which consists of 6 shot glasses each filled with a different Lithuanian liquer all servered in a wooden slab that looks kind of like a paddle. Well we EACH ordered one of those. At first the bartender didn't even believe Julie when she ordered them. He said "Nooooo!" And laughed. But she corrected him quickly and made sure that he understood that we were to each have 6 shots. (Not Sonja though, Sonja's mom. She was just chaperoning (sp?)). After some beers and some MORE shots, all within an hour, we were "SHHHSHed" by oher bar patrons and then not so subtly given the bill before our drinks were finished!
We were kicked out of a Lithuanian pub!!The pictures to accompany this evening are quite funny, maybe one day you'll get to see them.
Sonja has reminded me that I need to backtrack. The day before the funny pins (Saturday) we went to the town of Trakai where we visited The Castle of Trakai. It was a good day. It was my first castle! It was big and castle-like.
Here are some things:
The pop. of Trakai is 38 200.
It was the ancient capital of Lithuania.
You know what? No time for that info. You can google it.
Except that there is one interesting thing to note: Trakai is famous for its Karaites (or Karaimai) population. They're a mixed Judaic and Hebrew sect that originated from Baghdad. 300 families were brought over from Crimea by Vytautas (grand duke of lithuania) in 1400 to serve as bodyguards. Of the 10 000 Karaites in the world, 360 live in Lithuania, most of which are in Trakai. Cool.
Next! Monday May...something or other.
3 hour train ride to Ginuciai in Aukstaitija National Park. I didn't know what to expect on this part of the trip but it turned out to be the best place that we have stayed so far! It is a tiny town on a lake and we were welcomed by Mr and Mrs Maksimovas to their B&B which is actually just their house. They were the nicest people on earth! Didn't speak a word of English but since Jarek also speaks Russian and most people in Lithuania speak LIthuanian and Russian he did all of the communicating. It was two days of homecooked meals (wonderful wonderful food!! Sour cream at EVERY meal!!!!)
As soon as we got there we dropped off our stuff and then se out for our 3 hour kayak trip (WTF!!! KAYAKING?!?!). Sonja got stuck with me (of course) but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Sonja was an excellent instructor as she is a kayaking expert and we work well as a team, if you can't already tell. Everyone was impressed with our kayaking skills (no I'm not joking!!), they said that the Canadians looked like pros. We told them that when we're not clubbing seals we're kayaking, that's what goes on in Canada!
The next day was nice and relaxing. After our 10km walk to an ancient bee keeping museum of course! But who doesn't start their day with a 10k walk?!?! No sweat.
The museum was all in Lithuanian and they didn't give tours in English so we didn't get too much out of it except for meeting an awesome Lithuanian man with mad gold grillz selling honey out front!
I can't do the B&B lady justice just by describing her in the blog but I will try! It was like staying with your Grandma, or someone's Grandma that you're borrowing. She was so sweet and worried about if we were all happy with our meals and whatnot. She also did all of our laundry!!!! Well, not for free so that's not very Grandma like but she IS running a business guys, cut her some slack.
Sonja and I spent the rest of the day just hanging out, reading and...no that's it. A much needed day with little to do. Our days are getting so packed with sightseeing because we have so little time in each place!!
The next day was pretty brutal. We travelled on trains from 9am until 8pm! We went from the park back to Vilnius to catch a train to Warsaw. We arrived in Warsaw at 9pm Warsaw time (because now we are in a different time zone!). Warsaw is Jarek's home town and a friend of his was having a party that night and invited all of us to tag along. After 12-ish hours of travelling we didn't feel much like partying but of course we were able to pull it together and make a good showing at this party (mostly Sonja).
I'm glad that we went because it was an amusing evening. Jarek is 37 so the crowd at the party was slightly older than what we are used to. Good to see that the general idea of a house party doesn't change no matter how old you are. There were a few obvious differences though so now I'm going to tell you what you need in order to throw a good "thirty something's" party:
Dress nicely (in Europe this means the standard Euroman pants and shoes and probably a weird looking shirt, in Canada it would probably be one of those shirts with a bow-tie drawn on.)
Bring in a guy to make bruscetta and chicken wings!
Loud dance music and one pretty lady busting a move while 6 dudes watch.
Free flowing wine! Now this is the biggest difference I'd say between the "twenty-something" party and the "thirty-something" party as the twenty something's gaurd their beer as if their friends are the least trust worthy people they have ever met.
Everytime our glasses were empty someone was filling them again! The owner of the house was actually a very nice Canadian Polish guy who studied at U of T for a while like us!!! So that was kind of cool.
Also a similiarity at this party was the token extremely drunk guy. Soooooo drunk and acting "crazy." Poor Kirilea got the worst of it, he was pretty intent on making her his own! ahaha!
Finally we are on to yesterday, so we are in Warsaw!! And it's amazing! We only really got one full day here as we arrived late the other night and we're leaving today for Krakow. I really would like to have more time here. Yesterday was another rushed feeling day and we're having too many of those. We try to cram everything in. The really great thing about this trip has been that Sonja and I agree on most everything and we both feel that although we would like to go to museums and it's a great way to learn the history of a place, we would usually rather be out and doing things and seeing things rather then be in a room looking at pictures. It is hard to prioritze what to do though when you have limited time and also when you don't know how long everything is going to take. We did go to one museum yesterday that was worthwhile although extremely depressing. But of course we are Warsaw, Poland, what can you expect? That's the history! It was the Pawiak Prison which was the largest political prison and held approx 100 000 prisoners during the Second World War of which 37 000 were killed.
....
So yeah.
We also walked around old town and Sonja and I went to the Palace of Science and Culture which hfkj2905u39026091tu4 3mn34y8 34
Nevermind.
We will have to continue this tale another time. Sorry to leave you on the edge of your seats like that!
We're off to Krakow where we have a bit more time so then Sonja can fill in this entry with the snoresville stuff! ahaha!
Oh yeah!
Sonja is chinese! According to some man at that party. He asked her if she had any Chinese in her heritage which we found quite funny.
Goodbye. Blogs are draining!
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Eeenie F. Baby
non-member comment
eurobonics?
"Lithuanian man with mad gold grillz selling honey out front!" is this some kind of euro street slang that i'm not familiar with?