The long awaited travel entry

I was going to write this as a day-to-day thing, but I can't really remember which things took place which days (with some exceptions), so it'll just be...what it'll be.

The trip down was boring and uneventful. We spent about 4 hours at the airport before mom and Adrian's flight came in, and that was also boring. Then when they showed up, after a couple of exasperated phonecalls from my mom (WHERE ARE WE GOING NOW!?), we had something to eat and unleashed our credit cards on the taxfree shop. None of us had brought perfume, so we wanted to get that before we left for Vilnius.

We arrived in Vilnius as planned, and when we got off the plane, a wall of heat hit us. After weeks and weeks of a cold, rainy summer, this was amazing. What wasn't amazing was waiting inside the tiny arrivals hall to collect our baggage. However, we got it, and ventured on to find a minibank, and after that, a taxi. Taxi drivers in Vilnius are an interesting species. They don't speak much English, except the few words they need to tell us that yes, they are free, and yes, they will take us to wherever. Also, they drive like maniacs and couldn't give a damn that the seatbelts in the backseat aren't there or aren't working properly.

We then reached our hotel, which turned out to be part of a Polish community center. As such, the staff were mostly Polish and didn't speak much English, except for one girl in the reception, and one in the restaurant. Our rooms were a disappointment - we'd been shown pictures of spacious rooms with windows, furnished with beds, chairs and sofas. Instead we got tiny rooms with a tilting ceiling, ceiling windows, two beds, one chair and a desk. Hmm. The bathrooms were rather horrible too - very VERY cold, leaking showers, and fungi growing on the walls inside the shower. *shudders*

We had our first meeting with the food in Vilnius in the hotel restaurant. We all had veal in cherry/red wine sauce, and it was LOVELY. And so cheap, it would've cost at least thrice what we paid had we eaten this at home.

The next day was spent at Akropolis, one of Europe's largest shopping centres. We soon discovered that we would not be buying a lot of clothes here, as the Lithuanians have an intense love affair with glitter, strass and sequins. Oh, and let's not forget the text on some of the shirts etc. I can't imagine what grown women (as the stores were meant for those) would wear a t-shirt that said "Super GRRL power" in gold letters with strass all around. I claim no responsibility for any mental images you might come up with.

After this, we had a few days of wandering around Old Town. We did a lot of walking, and saw a lot of churches. We also did quite a bit of shopping here, and stopped by probably every single amber shop they had. Amber is the local specialty, and is sold by the bucketload in shops and in market stalls. I didn't buy any until the last day though, a cheap bracelet from a stall. My mom got a bit more, and my brother just bought a lump of it instead of any jewelry.

The stalls were very interesting. They had mostly amber, Russiand dolls and leather products (belts and wallets), but some also sold artefacts from the Russian occupation, such as medals and KGB fur hats. We got one of the hats for my dad. ;) Some also sold coins and stamps, and even old Bibles. Most of them were quite enthusiastic salespeople, especially this old lady who kept showing us how these wooden toys worked.

Wooden products were also sold by some. I fell in love with an icon egg, but the day when I went to buy one they were all gone. After this my obsession with the egg rapidly grew, and I finally found one on the last day. The woman even gave me a discount. We also got some other icon merchandise - a framed picture of the Virgin Mary for both me and my mom, and a tiny prayer bead...thing...for me. In case you didn't know, I have a fascination with the Catholic faith, and it appears my mom does as well. We lit candles in some of the churches we visited, something that isn't ordinary to do in churches here (for all I know, at least).

Oh, I also have to mention this darling old lady we met. She and another old lady sat in the park by the market in the afternoons/early evenings, knitting and crocheting and selling what they made. We initially went over there to buy a crocheted hat for my mom's goddaughter, but the old lady made me try on a green one and my mom bought it for me instead. The old lady kept calling me something or other in Polish or Russian or Lithuanian, I don't know, some word ending in -shka. Well, we think she was calling me something. What do we know...

Now, the churches... Lithuanians are a very religious people (in general), and after seeing their churches, I can understand why. I don't think anyone could walk into those buildings and NOT feel a sense of overwhelming awe. The ceilings are very high, and decorated with paintings. Most of the altars we saw were heavily gilded, and so detailed you wouldn't know where to look. There were also paintings of saints, clergy and kings on the walls.

However... The one that made the most impression on me was the Franciscan Church, which was under restoration while we were there. The floors were bare stone/concrete with some carpets here and there, the altar had just one single cross (albeit, a big one) and there were no wall decorations. The ceiling was high here as well, but the motives of the paintings couldn't be made out, as it was badly damaged. It looked much like an excavation, more so than a plain restoration. It was really something, I don't know if the pictures will do it any justice at all. That, of course, is the case with all the churches. Most of them didn't allow photography to take place inside, so we're also missing quite a few photos.

Outside the churches, however, the beggars sat... Often crippled, always grateful for any coin they would get fom passerbys. Not a pleasant sight at all...

Vilnius has other sights than churches, even though they are outnumbered. We wanted to see the Presidential Palace, but sadly they were working on it so it was covered in plastic. This was the case all over the city - about half of the buildings we went to see were covered up and being worked on. Something that wasn't, though, was the Gediminas Tower. It's part of an old castle ruin on a hill, and offers a spectacular view of Old Town (can you tell I've been reading tourist brochures?). We had to pay to walk up to the top, but the entry fee wasn't much. The stairs up were horrible and winding, and seemed to go on forever, but eventually we got up on the roof/observation platform, and it was definitely worth it. We could see EVERYWHERE. My mom had to go down again pretty quickly, as she claimed the floor swayed beneath our feet.

We also went all the way up to the top of a hotel, where a bar, properly named Sky Bar, was found. 23 stories up we went, and had a couple of yummy drinks when we got there.

At one of the shopping centres, Europa, we found a little shop that sold fancy dresses. My mom fell in love with a blue one, and said "aww, this would be the PERFECT wedding dress for you! YOU MUST TRY IT ON." And before I knew it, I was in a changing room with a lady who helped me get the dress on. It had three skirts - one with sort of hoops, to make the other skirts stand out from my body, one slip, and the outer skirt. The top laced up in the back, and let me tell you, that lady laced it up good. I almost had to hold my breath. How very Elizabeth Turner. Anyway! I got it all on, and wow. I looked like a different person. I swear my mom almost got tears in her eyes. It cost only, hm, 1/30 of what a wedding dress would cost here. So apparently we're going back there to buy me a wedding dress when that day comes. Apparently we're going to live in Sky Bar. ;D Or at least in the same hotel.

One evening, we found ourselves in the middle of a horror movie. To me it was, at least. We were sitting outside having dinner and watching a local dance troupe perform, waving away the occasional wasp, when suddenly...The sky almost went black with flies. They were EVERYWHERE. People fled the street and went to hide inside amber shops, not daring to go outside in the storm of what turned out to be huge flying ants. If you did venture outside (we did, eventually), you could feel them hitting your head with an audible BAP! It was pure horror.

• The waiters at restaurants would always take orders from women first, as well as serve women first. Very nice feeling to always be put first like that.
• Everywhere in Vilnius serves pizza. Does the sign say it's a traditional foodcourt? Well, it still serves pizza.
• ce cream = ledai. The one Lithuanian word I learned.
• f the person you're speaking to doesn't understand English, try a strange mixture of English, German and your own language, sprinkled with body language. They'll get the point eventually.
• Taxi drivers will assume you've no idea where you're going, and cheat you out of money. However, they're still cheaper than here.
• If a Lithuanian pushes you out into the street when passing you by on the narrow sidewalk, then don't worry - you didn't just encounter a bully, most of them are like that.
• Beer is cheaper than all other drinks, and if you're not careful with your pronounciation, you'll get a litre instead of half a litre.
• Everywhere within Old Town and somewhat outside its borders can be walked to, but you probably won't want to walk back again.
• A city without seagulls gets my vote anytime.

Allright, that's all I have for now. You can view the rest of the photos, with more coming, here: Vilnius 2006 set on Flickr