Vilnius
Angel in Uzupis
July 10, 2005
We got in really early today, about 5:30 in the morning. We found our hostel, dropped
our bags off and since we couldn’t check in until noon, we went into town. The city
was obviously dead at that time, but we saw every piece of architecture the city
could offer and still had to wait for noon to come.
Our breakfast was not real authentic Lithuanian, but filled me up. The architecture
was nice, but my lack of patience got the better of me.
We went to a museum that had the original KGB basement; the highlight was a padded
room, with a straight jacket in the middle. It was pretty incredible, and the museum
was well organized and laid out. At noon we headed back to the hostel and relaxed
for a bit, trying to figure out what to do for another day and a half.
Fountain
Theater
July 11, 2005
We slept in today. At noon or so we met one of Derek’s friends, well actually Derek
doesn’t even know him, but they graduated together from Colgate. He is now an advisor
to the president of Lithuania and told us all about Lithuania including the tension
between them and Latvia, and the great relations with Estonia and Poland. He also
talked of the Russian minority being fairly well accepted, but the still sticky
relations with Russia.
We ate at a four star restaurant, at which I could afford nothing more than the
pel-meni (a Russian dish, similar to meat ravioli), which was good. After lunch
we headed to the top of the city's hill and got a great view from the top. The view,
however only confirmed my beliefs of it being a small city.
At this point Derek decided to go see a movie and Dan went to an internet café then
another museum. I went back to the hostel to read and relax. We again played cards
to pass the time that evening as I dined on my noodles, the Lithuanian equivalent
to ramen... superb!
Frank Zappa Statue
Pilies Gatve