Kernave

Nice weekend, except kids are refusing to call it a day.

On Saturday we went to Kernave forest. We tried to settle down on the big meadow near the swing but it was completely filled with tents. We got a little worried and drove over to the two little lakes. There were just a few fishers there and we quickly chased them away by starting to unpack our loud bunch from the cars. This was a much better place because there was a large covered table enough to sit and shade everyone. And more importantly there was a place to set up the BBQ – complete with some bricks.

It was awesome – we went berry picking – blueberries and raspberries. Israeli Dan was very unsure about eating them without washing. He tried to go exploring on his own but he was quickly brought back to the camp by calling his cell phone and asking him to stay put. We walked around the forest, and then had some BBQ and celebrated Natasha’s and Andrei’s 29^th anniversary. 

As we were leaving, Alicia spotted some red leaves along the road and asked to pull over. It was massive quantities of wild strawberry – both the forest and field variety. We spent some time making sure it did not grow up for nothing.

After that we moved over to Kernave, and did a bit of walking around and climbing the mounds. Some additional buildings were erected since our last visit here. They are in the “old style.” There was also a functional well. We tried some really nice tasting water from it.

Dukstos Oak Park was the last stop on the way. Supposedly it was one of the most important pagan religious sites and it still had the main altar stone with some runes on it. As per suggestion of the predecessors we left some cookies and coins for the forest gods, and their local representatives.  

We dropped off Alicia, got some food from the supermarket and called it a day.

Unfortunately the camera ran out of battery early on so practically no pictures.