In the way to Nida we stopped to look at heron and cormorant rookery outside of Juodkrante. It is a home to over 4,000 birds and the noise and the amount of white-colored trees around is a testament to this being a very comfortable home for all these birds. It is definitely worth a stop.
Next we walked around Nida for a bit before heading up to the sundial dune - the tallest in the region. Georgia walked up all of the 180 steps. The views of the area as just as we had remembered. It is hard to believe that this hill is an enormous pile of sand and there is rock below. Before heading back we walked over to the side of the dune that was facing the land and spent some time there. There is so much sand that it looks like a desert. Georgia loved running and then flopping down in it.
Next we wanted to go to the beach but the number of cars parked near beach in Nida was staggering so we went over to the next town, Preila, and went to the beach there. Georgia played with the polished marble rocks that were everywhere and we looked for the amber. She was more lucky with her rocks and made us carry a bucket of them back.
While Palanga has a really multicultural character, Nida caters heavily to Germans. Most signs at the hotels and restaurants are in German only. The town had been really prettied up and is spotless and clean. There is not a sign of delapidated house.
We had hoped to go the Witches Hill in Juodkrante but Georgia fell asleep and anyway it was time to go back to Palanga to meet up with Vitalik. They were at the beach so we joined them there.
It was much colder and windier in Palanga. Mind you, the air temperature was about 18 Celcius in Nida. There were few people on the beach. Noone was swimming. We stayed in the dune where it was less windy. Then another classmate of Vitalik - Oleg, the architect, joined us and we decided to go out to dinner together. Given that Georgian is no longer in business, we headed to the familiar Ukrainian to celebrate our last night here with some more hot borsht and horilka.
It was a lively dinner. Dan and I were busy trying to defend our country against the determined US-phobe solid on all the documented facts provided the Russian media. The subject matter was the economic crisis and other stupid ass things that we did and do as a country, like not export our oil, and manufacture our own Chinese trinkets. The key argument from our end is than an entity who made some mistakes, and went about admitting them and trying to fix them might be better long-term than an entity who identified the foe respondible for its troubles and went about ranting about it. We did not get very far. But at least it kept us warm the entire time.
After dinner we went back home to put on all of our warmest clothing and headed back to the Basanavicius. There, on the dune, Dan and Vitalik had the final encounter to solidify our get together in Palanga. They met their class lead instructor, responsible for many memorable and painful moments, the much discussed evil Larisa. Even though she did not remember the names, she recognized them and started a cheerful one-sided conversation. Dan was in stupor so she focused on Vitalik. She was keen on getting the fresh updates about the price of their apartment, professional background, and wages to the nanny. Georgia turned away from her and refused to tell her her name. Maybe she was put off by Larisa saying "What a weird name" when she was introduced. And maybe she just detected the evil. When Dan said how about a photo, a hairbrush appeared instantly in her hands and she prettied up her skimpy curls.
Anyway, this required some serious washing down with the neutralizer so we helped ourselves to several portions of hot chocolate covered waffles on the stick. And more beer and pork fat on the balcony.
It is sad to go back - we really had a great time here, but more adventures await.
I can't believe Danik just didn't tell her off... But she probably doesn't even remember the specifics. That's the thing, to teachers we're just ones in hundreds of faces... So who cares if you insult a few?
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