July 22nd. The Last Day in Vilnius

Today we did the last round of runs through the city. Walked toward the parliament to see the infamous maps but did not get to it. It was way too cold.

Cheese Danish at Svegais Bandeles, on the other hand, is highly recommended :)

On to the other streets. This time around for some reason there were a lot more open backyards and we discovered many more than we had previously thought existed. Many offer interesting perspectives on the views of the city. Some are decorated with incredible flower gardens and others are as dilapidated as they were years and years back.


Guess where?

We stopped by at Kibin Inn and got some kibins for the flight and obviously samples some just in case. While Dan and I were sitting there kids were playing in the play area. We overheard one of them asking the other: "Would you prefer  duck or a penguin for dinner?"

Vocieciu fountain is back in its former glory.

There are two new food places on the street - one is a donut place - Spurgene. Donut is an approximate term here. These things made from the fattiest of farmer cheeses, lovingly boiled in hot oil and either lightly sprinkled with a touch of the powdered sugar or stuffed with condensed milk, nuts, and even mayo. Some were round and shiny like Venus, others showed browned sides indented like the surface of the Moon, other, still, were like the rings of Saturn. Please warn the kids to stay away. This was food porn in all its glory.

The next stop called the Old City Chocolate place was somewhat anti-climactic. After walking past similar establishments galore in Brussels, we were somewhat immune. But still it is a great addition to the city and the dark chocolate bar with chilies that we got there and ate on the plane were very good. A compliment even coming from the master Chocolate lover. Check out the first floor of the building where they are located. They have glass displays of some of their creations. Based on their recent establishment there is no dust and they look really good.

We met up with the gang for the final bite of pizza/ceppelins and hot wine considering the weather at Charlie pizza on Pilies. Very good to see everyone again and sad to say goodbye. That being said, Michal will be our first official visitor. She is coming on July 29th. Hurray!!! We will publish our calendar soon and hope to see more blank weekends and weeks filled in.

Flight back was OK except we hit the ground at such speed we all thought the landing strip would not be long enough. There was clapping when we saw that it was.

At the passport control they took our fingerprints again. Almost feel like a green card resident in US. The border clerk, a friendly lady, laughed about Isabella frowning that her prints were not taken and took hers. I thought she would do it in jest, but no, she went all the way. So Isabella is now in the system too. Did I say police state? We paid for long term parking and Dan explained that the system works by reading your plates and correlating with your order. Today the system was down and it took some extra effort to get out of the parking lot. But it again made me marvel just how much oversight there is here. Despite its distance, Luten is not a bad airport for EU-based travel. We were out and back home in an hour.

Isabella played being our "little behemoth" in the car. I wonder where she gets these things.

Have to go through lots of pictures. So come back!!