Dear Friends and Family,
On Saturday, we took the bus 8 hours from Warsaw to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. The clock moved forward another hour too, so we are now 10 hours ahead of you. The bus didn’t stop for food, so we were hungry. We quickly dropped our packs at our Old Town B&B and headed out for a bite to eat . We were shocked to find ourselves in the middle of 8-10 thousand people attending a giant free rock fest they hold annually on the September 1st weekend, the “Vilnius City Fiesta”,kicking off the Vilnius University school year. University education is nearly free here..3000 euros a year, and the streets were swarming with young men and women, drinking and dancing to the loudest bands we’ve ever heard. What a backdrop to the street food we hungrily gobbled up. There were long lines, but they weren’t for food. Everyone was buying beer. Vilnius has had to discourage drinking by limiting evening purchase times. Sunday night was another Rock Fest and finally, on Monday, students went to class.
Our B&B was delightfully quiet after all that rocking out. On Sunday, we walked to a street market where they sold hemp infused food and drinks, veggies, sausages, and smoked fish. Smoking high THC weed here is punishable by 2 years in prison, but the purely CBD edible version is quite legal. It produces no high.
Linda was too tummy sick to go on a walking tour, so Bruce attended alone and learned a lot about Lithuanian history. This is a very old, well preserved town and country that Hitler didn’t manage to destroy. It had one of the largest Jewish populations in Europe, in fact, Vilnius was named after a Jewish man, and has always had a reputation for tolerance. Vilnius has 40 churches, some Catholic and many Greek Orthodox, but it was a Pagan stronghold for many centuries. The tour guide quipped that the #2 religion here is actually Basketball. Lithuanians are exceptionally tall and they love the game.
There is a self-proclaimed country within Vilnius called Uzupis. It’s actually an artist colony of around 10,000 people. They have their own constitution, prime minister, and mayor. Their artistic statement is a hand with a large hole in the palm. It symbolizes their belief that art cannot be stopped, it will find a way to be expressed! They brought in eleven retired grand pianos and have them scattered around “to die amidst artists.” A sign post shows the way to other artistic outposts in Europe.
The food was good here. We especially enjoyed the blyneliai su varsky, a dessert kind of like blintzes. They are light pancakes stacked with cottage cheese between the layers, topped with a tangy red fruit sauce and drizzled with thin sour cream, then sprinkled with powdered sugar. Mmmm! We made our own omelettes in the mornings in our cute little kitchenette. Our bungalow was built between the 16th and 17th centuries and was really comfortable. We had a kitchen/living room downstairs and a loft bedroom above. We’re on our way to Riga, Latvia where we’ll be staying at a hostel.
Will post again soon!
Love n hugs,
BnL
bnlmos 
Great to get your posts! Keep it up! Rita
Sent from my iPhone
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Thanks Rita! Nice to hear you’re enjoying them!
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I’m so jealous! you got to go to Lithuania! That is my family’s heritage on my father’s side! Every time I ever hear anything about Lithuania, it sounds awesome! And one of John’s son’s was just there earlier this summer, for a dairy farm stay there. (Like we did in Holland.) Missed you guys at the August SWC meeting. Glad you’re having a good trip!
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That’s so cool, Cassandra! We loved Vilnius and bet you would too! We thought of you guys and hope it was a fun-filled evening as usual! Thanks for your post!
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Great photos! Enjoyed your post. Love the artist colony! We have been camping for two weeks in Oregon and the Redwoods with Gary’s bro & Yo. Was a lot of fun! Heading home now. Safe travels friends! Love n hugs, G&M
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We know you guys know how to have fun!😍 We’ve heard the smoke/fires have died down and hope you had clear skies! Thanks, “hello” to Larry &Yo, and safe travels to you too!
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Wow! Looks like your timing was perfect for Lithuania. Sorry we missed it ourselves earlier this year. Rock on! I think that you will like Latvia as well. Don’t forget to go a bit off the normal tourist path and seek out the often over-looked KGB Museum in Riga. Nancy felt that it was one of the highlights of our trip. The Baltic countries, like Poland, were historically and alternately pounded by the Russians and the Germans. Whenever one of them pushed the other out of the Baltic countries, things would seem to get even worse than they had been before. They cheered the Nazis as liberators before WWII, were then happy to have the Russians take over during the Cold War in the 1950’s, only to then live under the threat of the KGB and a one-way ticket to “the woods” or Siberia until the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1989. Things are better now, especially because of the advent of Western tourism, but they have been through a lot. Nice people, but very unlucky, geographically speaking. Check it out. Gene.
Eugene Moscovitch, Esq. Judicate West 11601 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 2040 Los Angeles, CA 90025 Phone: 310.442.2100 Fax: 310.450.0376
genem@judicatewest.com http://www.judicatewest.com/
International Academy of Mediators, Immediate Past President
LA Daily Journal “Top 50 Neutral” (Four ConsecutiveYears)
LA Times “Best Lawyers” (ADR) 2004-2017 California “Super Lawyers” (ADR) 2004-2017
Southern California”Super Lawyers” (ADR) 2017
http://www.moscovitchmediation.com/
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The KGB museum is in the basement of an apartment building in what was the actual KGB headquarters. It has been left as it was…interragation rooms, prison cells, and all. Be sure to take the interactive tour (I think it was free)…chilling and informative.
Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S8, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone
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We did this today-thanks!
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Awesome you guys, great timing with the concert! A sure sign that the vacation gods are with you! 🙂
Glad you’ve having fun, love Jose
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