Day 27 - Dinner in front of the prison

We went to the youth park in the morning for communication purposes :) On the way we passed French tourists. One of them went into his pocket and pulled out some candies aiming to give them to Georgia. I said "Absolutely Not" and we kept going.

Where do people get such ridiculous habits? It is wrong on so many levels. Starting with developing expectations in children that strangers would give them candies and it is OK to accept them and go begging for some more. Now send in a child molester and you could start getting children to do things for you for candies. It's besides the point that mom (me) was walking next to the kid at the time and I might not be OK with it. And the kid could be diabetic. And I don't know of any kids in this country whose parents could not afford to get their kids candy. I've seen gypsies beg for bread, cheese and other things at fairs and invariably get them from the stall owners so there is always a way. When we were traveling in India kids did beg for candies or ANYTHING. Undoubtedly it was the tourists that got them used to this humiliating behavior.

Two more thoughts on to add to this long ramble. What would this guy think if someone offered candies to his kids in his country? And, it somehow felt different from Taiwanese tourists offering Georgia candies for allowing to take a picture of her as a way of thanks. They are also probably used to this being OK in their country. But in either case this is not acceptable. Incidentally Georgia does not very much like tourists. She says "Here is another flock" and tries to stay away.

Anyway, off to the youth park we went. One the way we made another stop and walked into the St. Anne's church. It had been beautifully restored, the walls freshly plastered. Medieval stations of the cross hang on the walls. Somehow I expected to see exposed red brick inside as well. It is very pretty but not as outstanding on the inside as it is on the outside.

At the park we met the lady I spoke with during my last visit - she is a Russian living in Germany and married to a German who got some contract work in Lithuania. She has 2 kids, one the same age as Georgia. So they live here now, in the old town as well. She gave me a little update about the daycare Georgia went to last year since her younger kid is going there now. They were hit with the crisis pretty bad and much of their funds were cut. In the summer they had to send most teachers on unpaid leave. Georgia's age group was now condensed from three groups and consisted of 30 children with only one teacher. When they take naps they have to do it in separate rooms and the teacher has to run between the rooms maintaining the order. Plus parents are responsible for utilities, cleaning, and have to bring the toilet paper for their kid. Pretty grim picture. Not sure why she is still keeping her kid here if she does not work. I think she is secretly relishes the post-Soviet experience. She could go back to Germany, even if she gets unemployment there and support for kids to go to school it should be more comfortable there.

For lunch we went Trattoria Da Antionio on Pilies. We kept passing by this place and decided to finally honor its superior location. Well, we were not fans of Italian and the place did nothing to turn us into them. The usual breakdown of dishes: pizza, pasta, and lasagna that we ordered was so so. Plus, they bring bread only to priveledged customers and we had to ask for ours especially. There were some foreigners in the place, oh, well, we were there too. For the last time.

In the evening we were invited to Diana and Jonas on who live Kražių g. We started out early and walked past Jaksto again and checked out the soup place. They only have soups and salad but the place smells really good so we will be back. We continued on Kastonu - another beautiful street. They also have the second branch of the orphan kibinai. Definitely a great street. We passed the church of St. Philip and James on the way. It is almost as big as the cathedral but looks pretty delapidated and we did not see an information plaque. There is very little useful info about it on the Internet.

Beautiful houses on Savickio Gatve:

We walked past Dan's school, and the prison, and then onto Kražių a few blocks away. When we found the right house an old lady wearing a pink terry bathrobe over her clothes came out and started screaming something to us in Lithuanian. Because we did not understand anything we started to take out the beer, the cake, and Georgia from the stroller aiming to walk right past her into the house. Jonas saved the day. He appeared out of the doorway and distracted the old lady while we walked up the strairs to the second floor into Jonas' and Diana's cozy apartment.

They got it fully furnished. The owner went to the extreme lengths to utilize every bit of the small room and built out attic. The kitchen had custom made cabinets to fit the irregular shape of the wall. There were beautiful arches with shelves build in, and even the bathroom located in the attic seemed roomy with all the extra storage space and beautiful design.

Diana was nervous cooking what must be one of her first dinners as a hostess. Everything turned out great. In about 50 minutes Vitalik and his family, and Alisa, and Jonas showed up. Jonas had been holding up the pink lady all this time. She has nothing to do and spies on people who come in and knows everything about people in the building and the surrounding ones. And once she latches on to someone, there is no way out.

We had a great time sipping beer (yes, they have something for me in almost every brand) and eating little sausages in front of the large flat screen TV and watching cartoons.