AJ specifically came on this trip because of my work in Lithuania. His ancestors and [our] last name is Lithuanian and he wanted to see his people for the first time.
Vilnius was kinda wild. It's very pretty - beautiful old town and classic architecture and very clean but also... very empty. It's also very far inland, close to the border with Belarus, and not on the water like the other Baltic capitals. It made it colder and little more desolate-seeming. But, everyone was very friendly and kind, English was widely spoken, and the food was delicious - and they were good about pointing out Lithuanian specialties.
Before I get to the pictures, I can tell some neat things we learned about Lithuania:
1. Amber is one of their big things there - tons of amber trinkets and jewelry
2. Iron wolves: talk about a neat mascot. The guy who founded the city had finished a successful hunt and spent the night on a hill in the area. That night, he had a dream about a lot of iron wolves howling, and when he had the dream interpreted, they told him it meant he was going to create a great city there. So, iron wolves are all over
3. At one point, their vast kingdom stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea!
It would have been nice to explore the area more, especially outside the city and the Baltic Sea parts, but it was great to see nonetheless, and AJ felt very in touch with his roots.
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| Church just outside the hotel |
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| Lithuania and America! |
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| The Gates of Dawn have great significance and are a pilgrimage site for many |
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| Outside door of the gates to the old city |
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| Neat hill with the tower on top behind the National Museum |
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| One of the ceilings inside the Museum of the Royal Duchy of Lithuania |
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| Queen Kiki |
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| Presidential Palace |
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| I believe these were on the menu as potato dumplings, so when AJ and I were ordering six of them to get different flavors, the waiter looked at us shocked and almost afraid and told us it would be a lot. So, we started with just 2. Imagine our surprise to see they were A WHOLE FRIGGIN POTATO. Imagine if we had gotten six (in addition to the rest of our order)! |
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| I love painted eggs! I know it's a part of culture in Russia and the Baltics, although I haven't yet had a chance to look up this square and area, but was pretty to pass |
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| Lithuanian Hare Krishna's. That's not something you see everyday |
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| Cute mural |
OMG. The Cat Café. There's not so much to do in Vilnius but my Lord did that cat café deliver. This was, by far, the best one I had ever been to. First of all - it was more than a café, it was closer to a fully operational restaurant. Appetizers, entrees, desserts, drinks (hot, iced and alcoholic!). It was super cute - like 3 or 4 different rooms all done up differently with different cat toys and structures in each one. And - so many cats! Like 15? And it really operated like I always expected cat cafes to - like a normal café you're chilling in and cats are just roaming around. (Most cat cafes I've been to are basically just a shelter you can visit and buy coffee from in a separate room). We really enjoyed our time there.
Whenever I can, I opt to take public transportation to my work events (as opposed to a taxi) and I was able to figure out my way to the Lithuanian expo hall from the hotel on the bus. The first bus I had to ride however, was an empty, short little red bus. It was funny.
The fair was insanely busy. It must have been like the one education fair all year for the whole country. It was also huge. And there was a half court basketball game set up with a ref, shot clock and scoreboard and everything. (Lithuanians are big on basketball - we even have some in the NBA!) That was fun to see.
What a language. Practically zero cognates between Lithuanian and English. I sent this to AJ and said "oh the spurga sound good" as a joke, but he texted me back and said that spurga are donuts. I later found out their word for donut means royal cupcake? So beautiful!
So, that was our time in Lithuania. I just need to visit Latvia to complete my tour of the Baltics! We are enjoying Stockholm though. We were here in February 2018 but there's not much snow around here at all this time, whereas in 2018 there was definitely a ton. I just love this city - it is so clean and friendly and beautiful, all the islands and water make it so perfect!
We were out and about riding scooters all over and came back to put our feet up before dinner, and now it's pretty windy and rainy out which is going to make dinner interesting. I'm just relieved to be officially done with work and on vacation starting tomorrow!
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