Day 53 - Picnic in Kernave

In the morning we had an agent come over with a prospective apartment renter. The apartment owner was supposed to join them in the walkthrough but she was late as usual. We considered doing a scene from the Monster (the Italian version) but decided to be civil. I asked that the agent and her client wait for Nona in the kitchen while we were watching cartoons in the living room. After staying in the kitchen for 1 second, they headed out on a tour around the apartment without our permission. It was rude since it is still our apartment. Should have done the scene from the Monster. Nona and Gintaras came when they were already leaving.

Gintaras asked us if our visit to Poland last week was to attend the festival of the Jewish song in Krakow. They really figured us out. I said no, the roads are so bad that we could only get as far as Warsaw, and that in 8 hours. He went into the speech on how great the Lithuanian roads are.

Georgia and I decided to visit Meno gallery on Vilnius gatve 39. I was looking at the logo - the cute face with a tongue sticking out and for some reason thought it was a gallery that contained art made by the children. It wasn't so. The current exhibition was located in a few rooms. The mood that the pictures convey was depressing, dark, and remotely pedophiliac. We both decided that it sucks and got out.

On Wednesdays, there is a book fair in the same building so we visited that too. It featured a bunch of sellers selling mostly Lithuanian books within the same price range when they are sold in the stores. There were a few old books in Russian but nothing in a good enough condition to ask about the price.

The next point of the day was the Lithuanian Art Museum at Radvilu rumai on Vilniaus g. 22. They had 3 beautiful pagan crosses outside. Inside was a very nice exhibition of the Lithuanian folk art, including the clothing from the different regions, some handicrafts, furniture, and such. And many more crosses and for some reason a good collection of St. Georges killing various dragons. Georgia really enjoyed it. I don't know where it was the subject matter, which as a bit more concrete and less abstract than the other places she had been too. And maybe she is getting used to being dragged to museums. She asked lots of questions and maintained interest throughout the entire visit.

After that we picked up some food for lunch at the Wok and headed home to have lunch together with Dan.

A new page in the story of the souvenir sellers on the upper Pilies who lost their booths:

Later in the afternoon we drove to Kernave forest, the same place we did the photo shoot, for some shashlyk. It was a big crowd: us, Andrew, Natasha, Dustin, Alicia, and, Nina and Kolya, Alicia's cousin and his wife. Georgia, Kolya and I went to pick blueberries and raspberries while the rest were setting the table and warming up the coals. Incidentally while Georgia and I got like 10 berries after 30 minutes of picking, Nina and Kolya got the entire basket and a bucket after the same time period.

We had a really good time and somehow 6 hours went by incredibly fast. We picked berries, went to the river and walked around the forest. There was a swing for everyone and a slide for Georgia. In the end, Dan and I went to Kernave and got some ice-cream for everyone to have with their blueberries, which were on the sour side. It was awesome. Georgia had the most energy left at the end.

In the evening Andrew, Natasha, and Dustin came over and we spent a few more hours hanging out in the kitchen. They were talking about possibly moving closer since they go through the drive from Ekaterinburg every summer anyway and would like to explore Europe some more.