Day 3 – Bruges and Ghent

Today was awesome. In the morning, after a fresh portion of croissants (we are diligently working on the varied inventory of one of the station cafes) and Starbucks coffee we headed out to Bruges.

Georgia and I played the make-believe game on the way. I was a baby lemur and she was a mommy lemur trying to convince me to brush my teeth. After I whined a bit, she admonished me: “if you do not brush your teeth they are going to be just like they are now.” Pretty scary if you think about it.

The trip to Bruges was only 1.5 hours. The kids were in good spirits and so were we and we enjoyed walking through the city thoroughly.

Dan and I hardly remembered anything from our backpacking days and it was like discovering the city again. It is picture perfect and we took aplenty. Here are some.

Towards the middle of the day it started to rain and we sought cover in one of the restaurants on one of the main square. The service was very fast, the food was great, and the waiters very courteous. They even offered to warm up the formula. I forgot the name of the place…

It continued to rain even after lunch and after considering to scale the 366 step belfry with Georgia and being easily turned off by having to wait for the few other visitors to go down we headed down to Ghent.

The kids fell asleep on the way and Irina offered to stay with them while we got out and walked around Ghent a bit. Despite the rain, we liked it even better than Bruges. Some guides say that its charm is in that it is less picture-perfect and more real than Bruges. But part of the reason could be that its inventory of the beautiful medieval sites is at least as big but as a town it is also taller and more sophisticated.

There was a portion of the medieval fortifications wall, really awesome, and we counted 4 huge city-center worthy churches (would not know their names but the ones we saw inside they were equally impressive). And not to forget all the other beautiful residential and guild buildings all around. In one of the major square a huge TV screen and several mobile bars were set up helping the large crowd thoroughly enjoy the soccer game between Uruguay and Argentina. The views of the bridges across the river were great.

After we walked around for about an hour the kids woke up and Irina called us. We spent a few more hours in the city. It would be a worthy alternative to Antwerp to consider at another time.

In the evening we packed up and prepared for the next portion of our journey – onto Vilnius tomorrow. We got a banana for Isabella. She has been refusing to eat her bottled baby food and had grown sick of formula as well. She pretty much focused on the freeze dried bananas for the last few days and only ate formula at night (grandparents make a collective gasp). It has fun to watch her destroy the banana straight on the bed. She was completely covered in it.

Day 4 – Back to Vilnius

We woke up early today and Dan went out to get our final installment of the local bakefare. We drove to the airport – note, if you are returning a rental, the closest gas station is on the way out from the airport. They did not figure out how to do one on the other side of the road as well. However, with our trusty Tom Tom it was not a problem to turn around and find our way back.

The plane was half empty. That makes you think considering our trials and tribulations the night before.

Back in LT, there was a moment of truth. Audra met our two cabs on the playground and we walked upstairs to the third floor. The apartment was really not a three bedroom but two, but it was awesome, much like the one we stayed at in Warsaw but all on the same floor. It is basically two apartments connected into one. It’s kitchen, dining room, and living room windows face Vocieciu, and bedrooms face the playground in the back. Almost all the furniture is brand new; the apartment is large and spotless. Oh, what a relief.

We left our things and went out for a stroll. The streets were kind of empty but Svejais Bandeles was still open. They are now open every day until 9. Here is a bit of rationalizing but if we had known it earlier it would have been even easier to take the cope-out option. Some eateries did not survive the winter; others had sprang in their place. One that got us really excited was the empty abandoned building right next to St. Catherine’s. Now there is a wine cellar and a restaurant there. And it has been only a year since the local alcoholics and Georgia had left traces of their presence in that area.

But there were the same few buildings that were slowly disintegrating since the last time: the beautiful art nouveau building with the globe on the roof, still uninhabited and attempted to be sold off as a hotel. Another series of buildings on Vilnius gatve that used to the music school before the war. They were beautifully restored during our first summer trip and now is also falling into disrepair.

On the right is what I assume the picture of the Lithuanian underwear. When it get to be like -50 F outside. Sexy and warm. In Russia they probaby make the same thing from felt.

Georgia recognized a few things and forgot about others. When she saw the statue of Gediminas, she exclaimed: “I remember this guy, but where is the dragon?” She also asked if he was dead already. But she remembered the ice-cream kiosk nearby and demanded her portion for the day. That’s our little girl!

On the subject of eating, Isabella has progressed to the baby cookies. Our supplies of dry bananas are drying out so it is nice to know there are alternatives. We stacked up on the local baby food and cereals at Maxima to try tomorrow. They also sell Similac here and the other baby brands that we are used to so that is another comforting thing to know.

We even saw two of the three city characters: our extremely smelly homeless guy with the dreadlocks was still making his rounds via the very similar route. And also, in the distance we heard the bicycle guy singing his perpetual “America, America.” Rosita was missing but maybe she is taking a day off.

As the final word of welcome, a really strong thunderstorm started when we were next to the theater on Gediminas Prospectas. We stayed under cover near the post office and watched the barrels of water come down like there is no tomorrow. It was great.

We came back, bathed the kids, put them to sleep in their rooms (Isabella sleeps in the corner of ours), unpacked, did the laundry, and finally sat down with the mini sausages and kefir. We are really happy to be settled in and comfortable even though we do feel a bit like and expect to be called woosies. One last bit of rationalization that we will tell our kids would be that we did it for them. Promise to try harder the next time.

Day 2 – Antwerp and planning the next step

The kids did it again – even though we were all crammed in the little room they slept amazingly well. I woke up at around 9am (never before since October of 2009), and proceeded to wake up Dan and Georgia so we could get ready to explore the city some more and plan what to do with the apartment. We got Irina and finally woke up Isabella who was still sleeping amongst all the fun around her. She woke up smiling and happy to see everyone.

We went to the station to pick up some croissants and other freshly-baked goodies we saw in the half a dozen stores on the station. We finally settled at Starbucks, a monumental looking store, large enough to host weddings.

Then Georgia’s stomach started hurting and we headed back to our room. It was a bit like our last arrival day to Vilnius but not as much throwing up. Dan stayed with her and Irina kept busy with Isabella while I looked for the apartment with the help of 20 euro per day Internet, the highest one ever.

At around 2 pm I confirmed an appointment with Renee who had 3-bedroom apartment on Italiëlei 191. He said that if we move in on Saturday, it would be 3200 euro, but if we wait until Monday, it would be 2700. I was not sure why 3 days made 500 euros of a difference but assumed that maybe there was some kind of contract or work going on at the apartment at the time. Renee asked pick him up from his apartment in the South of the city but we suggested to meet at the apartment instead.

Dan was a bit suspicious about it having seen number 155 a day before but we did not hear back from any else. Audrene confirmed several options in Vilnius. One, on Vokieciu, had us really salivating where we saw the apartment and where the windows were facing. But, even though it was a nice option, going to Vilnius seemed a bit of a cope-out.

Having waited in the heat in front of the building for Renee for 15 minutes, I finally called him and somewhat frustratedly he said I should have just called the apartment and came up. Which apartment, on what floor? There were 6 of them in that building. He said on the fifth floor. So we rang and were let in. The building was modern but some features were really strange, like a super-narrow winding staircase between the floors and elevator large enough for 2.

Inside we were met by Vinny, Renee’s Oriental wife. The apartment was big and pretty, and, should it have been the first one we saw, we would be happily moved in by now. There was no towels or toilet paper here either. Apparently it is not the thing with the Europeans anymore. Having discussed with Renee on the phone for a few minutes she won that concession for us. Our only remaining concern was where to store the stroller that would not fit into the elevator. Vinny suggested keeping it near the entry door and the post office box downstairs. She said that the rest of the tenants in the building were the Eastern European laborers who woke up early and would not be bothered by the stroller. She also showed us the garage that the building came with. Renee offered it for extra 250 euros. It was definitely safer place to keep our stroller but it was designed with the same miniature people in mind who rode the elevator and walked the stairs - our van would not even make the clearing.

Still it suddenly became an option. We discussed it as we continued our walk around the city and became convinced that this is the best thing for us. Dan and I decided to call Renee to see if he would knock down 3200 to 2700 given that no one was living in the apartment right now.

After the opening statements Renee said that the apartment was now 3250 euros. I was incredulous and countered with the number he shared earlier in the day. He responded that as I wait, it would only get higher, not lower. I’ve never heard such a thing. I did the only thing I remembered from the business school and said I don’t understand and stopped talking. After trying to explain how his reasoning worked he gave the phone over to Vinny, She mildly said that he probably made a mistake in giving me the price earlier in the day. I kept my silence. She talked a bit with Renee and said that they are willing to give it to us to 3200. I said “great,” we will give them a call tomorrow evening after we come back Brugge about moving in.

Dan and I discussed this afterwards. We just don’t get it. Maybe it is because of who we are and where we come from? Maybe, he assumed that we are, like the rest of his tenants, willing to accept any option? Which, in truth, we weren’t far from anyway. And, incidentally, what Eastern European laborers would jump to the luxury to stay in a “luxury apartment next door to the old town.” We just did not get it. But Dan pointed out one thing that we overlooked. Booking even at this price would be at least $2,000 more than flying the whole family and Irina over to Lithuania and staying in the center of the old town there. My supporting argument was that given that it would be kind of crazy to get garage to store the stroller it would be a matter of hours before it was gone too. And we really liked the stroller. So it was Vilnius again for us.

We checked for other responses before calling Audrene. There were none. We also looked the flights to Vilnius. The only option was through Amsterdam. We called Audrene and confirmed our reservation. Wow, what a day.

Meanwhile, back in the city we had fun watching a group of Dutch take over one of the bars to watch and cheer the soccer game between Brazil and Holland. They were filming themselves with their own crew and that was kind of weird.

Irina offered to watch the kids and so Dan and I headed back to the city. It really is beautiful. Many streets in the historical center die off in the evening. We went to the bohemian South part and there was life on some streets. We found the area where the remainders of the gay pride parade last week enjoyed their drinks at the restaurants overlooking the river. The parade also explained why there are so many men in pink in the city.

We talked about where we had gone wrong. The main error was that we never researched this agent and looked in person at any of her other listings to get on the same page about what works for us and what doesn’t. Secondly, the location was not right even though it was “in the center.” For example, even though 1.5 km from the old city did not sound like much, it took us 35-40 minutes every time we wanted to get there. This is a very different kind of experience from being in the middle of it. We also should have visited the city prior to coming to meet other agents, explore the neighborhoods, and get better feel of the local logistics like the local supermarkets, playgrounds, and availability of the free wifi spots (primarily in McDs in this town). So far we did not find any supermarket in the vicinity that sold baby food. Finally, if we could find other telecommuting families like us maybe we could compare notes.

Further down south along the river there was a busy luna park with all sorts of attractions. We had a great late dinner at the Moroccan Lemedi and watched the people on the street especially the weird play between several drivers of expensive cars who blocked the driveway of one of the building owners preventing her from getting out. She went around looking for a person responsible and finally sat in the car with her cell phone. Eventually the driver showed up and moved the car so that the owner could get out. Moments later a convertible pulled in onto that spot and the driver walked over to another building entrance. Incidentally all the driveways on that street were blocked. We did not get it.

On our walks we saw a city character who, just like his counterparts in Vilnius and all the other larger cities, must keep the company to the ageless monuments and buildings. This was a homeless guy with beer who was singing.

Another travel note is that there are too many huy words around us. It seems like the language is full with them: hui, huichelaar, huis. Maybe it is the mood that we were in…

At home we spent the next two hours trying to book the flight to LT. Orbitz infuriatingly let you get to the screen where you got to select the flight and then indicated that the flight was not available at that rate, but rather the double of that. KLM dealt only with the numbers in 700 euros per person. Eventually I’d tried Brussels again out of the desperation and it worked from the Brussels airlines. On top of that none of our credit cards could be used to make the booking other than Dan’s working Amex. But at least we finally made the reservations for the Sunday flight. It was a much more convenient to be leaving from the airport in Brussels because we are familiar with it rather than driving up to Amsterdam really early. The girls woke up while all this excitement was going and kept Dan busy. But at the end of the day we had the plan again and had started to put it to work.

Day 1 – Arriving to Antwerp

We should have suspected something. It started too well.

Our plane neighbors and us prepared for the worst but the kids were great on the flight to Brussels. Georgia watched the dragon in training and fell asleep pretty much until the end. Isabella also had two long sleep stretches and no crying. We watched Dr. House for 1.5 hours and then CSI for about the same. And pretty much did not know what to do with ourselves the rest of the time. Towards the end even the grim-faced French-speaking people around us broke into occasional smile.

Then, at the airport, we got a brand new mini van instead of our planned mini-economy. It was a good thing too because we ended up using every available bit of space in the trunk with our suitcases, stroller, duffel bag, and a carry on bag for every person. Gone are the days when we traveled with just one carry-on one suitcase for the two of us. And then we got a sim card and called the apartment owner Coco and agreed to meet at the apartment. And then, in perfect spirits, we drove to Antwerp. And that’s when all the fun started.

The building on Italiëlei 155 looked pretty old. The street itself looked like a tree lined valley on the Google earth but turned out to be a major city thoroughfare with 8 lines of traffic going through. We still hoped that we would get something nice with all the high ceilinged windows facing the front.

When the Flemish-looking Coco showed up, Georgia and I walked with her inside through the narrow hallway with stairs. The apartment front looked as on the pictures – high wooden ceiling, pleasant leather sofas. The terrace was actually pretty private yard with grapes and roses, walled with the surrounding buildings kind of how it is in some Greenwich village apartments. The kitchen was just a kind of a counter with an old fridge and tiny microwave but it was not the type of place one spent most of their time anyway.

Then I asked about the bedrooms. Coco directed us toward the winding metal staircase. Three of the bedrooms were in the basement. Not the nice, put your pool table down and entertain your guests type of basement, but the real thing: cold, damp, and having the smell that brought to mind the multiple sewage spills. The basement was sectioned into several rooms with tiny windows, and two single metal beds in each room. The bathroom had no door. For the child-friendliness part Coco also provided the antique 3-walled crib and the baby chair from the dawn of the furniture construction for children.

It kind of dawned that it would be pretty tough to live in this 5* luxury as implied by her listing (http://www.antwerpflats.be/fotosfft0a.htm). I hope that others would not be fooled like us. Read the small print: kids friendly (Yes) actually means the metal staircase and a few other things to provide ample training and hardening to your small kids. In case you decide to forego the hardening, there is a staircase outside in the backyard that also goes downstairs to the basement. And since when does “linens” include the bathroom towels and the toilet paper.

I communicated my feedback to Coco. Coco said that other Americans (one older couple) had stayed in the apartment and were rather appreciative of the dampness and coolness. And her kids grew up in the similar conditions. And why aren’t I saying thanks for the crib.

Dan saw the apartment next and agreed with me. Given that we, or me, pretty stupidly, did not consider any other options prior to coming here, I went back to her and tried to get a heater for the downstairs and the crib that did not come from the dumpster of the museum for the child abuse. She said “absolutely no” to heater and offered a play box for Isabella. Having offered to make this concession she said that she is not happy with my attitude and complaining, and feels it is in her best interest to give me back my deposit so I could get out. After a short discussion it did come to that. She initially said that she does not have the money on her but I pointed her to the bank that was just downstairs and surprisingly she did give back our 500 euros.

We were actually very relieved. We drove to the city center, and walked around and eventually settled down on the beautiful stadthouse square for lunch. While we were waiting for our food, I walked over with the kids to the Tourist Information office to ask for the names of other apartment agents. The sight of disheveled woman holding a somewhat stained infant, and an older kid plentifully producing the snot, did not initially warm up the information clerk. But after I explained our sorry state, he got nicer and suggested to stay at the brand new cheap hotel Etap near the main train station while we sort things out. He provided the hotel info and offered to check the next-door government office for the ideas on how to approach the apartment hunting.

We finished our French fries and beer and walked around some more. Antwerp has one of the prettiest old towns. There are plenty of the colorful winding narrow lanes and awesome old buildings. The church of the lady of the town is huge and awesome. The city is beautiful not in a “preserved” and sterilized sort of way but does show the signs of continued life; such the Arab hosts inviting “bellas bambinas” to the Italian eatery. Incidentally, the number of food choices is pretty amazing. It makes sense considering how well integrated the city is. You have to hunt for the original Flemish and they usually would turn out to be from Holland anyway.

Our only worry was that we would miss Irina who was coming later that day from Vilnius to help us take care of kids. But, surprising us again, Coco gave our number to her and she was able to get in touch with us. We checked into the hotel and continued our exploration of the city. On the way, as a crazy backup plan, we called our wonderful Vilnius agent Audrene from McDonalds free hotspot and she promised to check into getting an apartment for us.

And we are back, back again...

Here is our family blog "Summer in Munich, Antwerp, Vilnius (III)." Our original plan was to spend 6 weeks in the summer in Munich with the kids. Early in the spring we did our research, learned the town plan, and contacted some agents. They suggested waiting until May when more options would open. But in May these options failed to materialize. The best one was someone called Wallace Burrus who offered a 4-bedroom apartment for a 4500 Euro on the German Craigslist. The only issue was that Wallace was willing only to work together was if we sent half the payment down with the Western Union. And then he would share his full contact information with us. We do a lot of dumb things, but that’s where we drew the line, panicked, and switched our plane tickets to Antwerp.

In contrast to Munich that required some fishing out of the agents, who incidentally take 40% portion of your monthly rent as a commission, Coco’s site (http://www.antwerpflats.be/hoofdeng.htm) was one of the first ones that came up when we looked. After dealing with Wallace it was like a breath of fresh air. Coco had not one, but 3 options, and ultimately suggested the child-friendly 4 bedroom on Italiëlei 155 for 2500 euros. She was communicative and responsive, and even provided her full contact and bank info for the wire transfer of the deposit. Now that was a deal and a bargain too.

Ultimately, however, as seen from the next post, we still ended up going “the usual” route. But hopefully, just like the sequels in the movie theaters this summer, this one will be Oscar worthy :)

The Last Entry for Summer 2009: Vilnius

Until the next year!!!

Day 60 - The last day

I am finishing this already back at home. The last day was a whirlwind of activities.

Georgia and I got out to her favorite fountain, then spent an hour at the felt shop getting the rest of the supplies, then we went to the playground. Dan called to ask for some help with packing. We packed the third suitcase and then all went to Alicia to say goodbye. Then the three of us went to the Russian bookstore to get some remaining books for Elena. Unfortunately there were none from the list we got for Georgia. Dan ran out to get a new phone for Alicia because hers broke.

We got home, returned the car to Autobest - they gave us the money for the cab to the airport the next day. It was better than having 2 of their team members drive to the airport at 5am. Then we got outside to walk around for the last time in a few hours of peace.

At 7 Vitalik came with his family. They heeded our desperate message yesterday and decided to spend another evening with us. We tried to find a decent place for eat at that would have some area for the kids to play. We stopped at the restaurant next to the post office. It was OK but not thrilling because some rollerskater decided to make this the evening to practice his stunts so we had to watch the kids to make sure they don't get run over. Then some dance group came and did their routine of international dances right there in the square. It was pretty neat. Georgia got the fairy wings from Dina. She is very happy about them.

We went home to finish the evening and then Sasha Lazutka came followed with the apartment owner. So it was not a boring evening.

And in the morning we hopped on the plane to Kopenhagen. wonderful airport that has enough for keep you occupied for 5 hours during the layover to US. And now we are back at home.

The pictures from Mike did not tell the whole story - our backyard does look like Kansas. There is no more grass left - the entire backyard is covered by the fallen trees. Pretty sad. And our air conditioner is irrevocably broken. So the vacation is over :) But it is good to be back home :)

We already miss Alicia, Vitalik, Dina, Ilyusha and everyone else that made this summer even more fun and exciting than the last one. We hope to be back the next summer.

Day 59 - Penultimate day fishing and Trakai

We took a walk back to the my third home in the morning to show the hat. Georgia really liked it and wanted to wear it all the time, even though it warmed up to 35 today. She is so sweet. I will do a better job next time. The team in the felt store liked the hat in the daylight too.

Next we went to the playground and saw that one of the swings was swang above the support bar so it was no longer accessible. Georgia was pretty upset. I said that hooligans must have done it. Initially the playground was empty but then a 5 year old boy showed up with his mom. Georgia stood up accusingly in the sandbox, and said "Hooligan!" I explained that it would take a much bigger person to do this to a swing and anyway we don't know for sure if this little boy did it. Next it was two older boys, possibly 10 and 12. Georgia asked me if those were hooligans. I said I still don't know and we might never found out. But these two boys fixed the swing so they did not qualify as hooligans.

Later we walked around the streets next to the Lutheran church. No changes there. Visited the old keramic studio on St.Franscisco street, absolutely no changes, layout of the ceramic trinkets included. The bearded gnome who inhabits the place was busy creating somethig from clay. But maybe he melts it back again in the evening?

Then we had a dilemma about lunch. Orphan kibinai closed for the rest of the summer, on account of there not being enough orphans or music students that is and us not being reliable enough customers to consume the entire kibinai stock on an everyday basis. We tried to go to the new crepery that was next to Gustos but they either need to fix their bathroom (incidentally the first thing you see as you enter) or their ventilation, or both. Otherwise the place is very reminiscent of the public toilet next to the Gediminas hill. And it has only been in operation for like a week. We finally decided to get kibinai from Rimi and some stuff for the cold borsht.

After lunch we left Georgia with Dan's mom and went to the torture exhibition in the museum of the cinema and music on Vilnius g. Very nice exhibition, which begs the question why we went there in the first place. It is one thing to read about these things, and quite another to see all of there exciting implements invented by people to hurt and kill other people. I wonder if you show this to 100 adults, what percentage will find this fascinating and will think about practical applications in today's life.

At 4 we hooked up with Vitalik and his family to go fishing to a place near Trakai. It was a very nice looking place - several lakes with a set of covered tables and chairs next to them, a playground, and the main building. Dan and Vitalik took a couple of fishing rods and got to work. Don't know the right fishing terms to describe it but the fish was responding like mad. At first Dan and Vitalik could not keep up with it and and a lot of fish got off with a free lunch. But finally Dan figured it out and got like enormous fish. Instantly a guy who was running around between the fishers ran over to us. He got the fish off the hook and hit it on the head a few times with a metal rod to finish it off. I did not expect it and was worried about Georgia's reaction. But she did not seem to notice and was jumping around happy that we got a fish. Then Dina got one too. And it got the same treatment from a guy. Dina said when they were fishing at another place, they got the metal rod with the job of the guy too. Somehow I did not think about this element of hunting. Incidentally if you catch the fish here and left it go the fine costs much more than if you just went along with it and ate it.

Dan and Vitalik took the fishes to the restaurant to pick out the way they would be prepared. We hanged out on the plaground, and ate our fishes with fries, salad, and beer and coke. We also tried our luck at the family seasaw. Georgia was not helping and we lost. It was wonderful and relaxing there. Nothing at all like the torture exhibition.

We decided to finish the day at Trakai. Got some ice-cream as we started to walk around the castle. There were 4 hot air baloons in the air and some of them were pulling incredible stunts. Like almost landing on the water and landing in courtyard of Trakai castle and then going back up. The sounds of the fire flares made it feel like those were giant airborne creatures around us, breathing. Maybe I spend too much time talking with Georgia about the dragons. The kids found a quiet spot near the lake and decided to go swimming. It is very convenient to do this when you are three or two. Not sure if putting a picture of your toddler swimming in the lake butt naked breaks any laws so will have to skip on that. The kids get along very nice and enjoy each other's company.

It was very sad to say goodbye. Don't know if we will have a chance to see Vitalik and his family again tomorrow. I know they may read this, but (sniff, sniff), they are primarily responsible for this being an absolutely amazing summer. From visiting each other and walking around the city, to hanging out in Palanga, to dacha, fishing, and more. I have to finish because my keyboard can only absorb so much moisture.

Days 57-58 - Dacha and the new hat for Georgia

I got lazy again yesterday and there wasn't anything really dramatic to write about.

On Sunday morning we went to the Russian book store to fill up on the remaining books for Georgia. They have a much better selection of the learning materials than in US but the items are really expensive. Natasha gave a few books to Georgia too and they are even better than what they had in the store. I wonder if Russia is blocking the sale of some books outside the country.

After that we headed to Olshevsky dacha. It is a great place to be. The hosts are wonderful and there are so many things to keep you busy: we picked currants and sour cherries, Georgia took dips in the pool, I played with Bush who has grown enormously, Dan chatted with d. Vitya, we also took a look at the collection of monsters in the back.

About Bush, the English bulldog, of the kind that can only be born through a c-section. He is about 1.5 years and probably weighs over 50lb, has enormous head with the lower jaw sticking out. He looks like a stout footstool and sounds a bit like a pig. Not exactly a cuddly puppy but it thinks it is one. Bush tried to lick anyone it finds itself next to and climb in their lap too. Gave a real fright to Georgia. It was sad because if he was a poodle puppy and did not look like a panting piggy he would be less intimitating. But I understand Georgia's feelings about playing with Bush. It is not fun when someone almost twice your weight tries to sit in your lap.

Later Vitalik and his family came, as well as Diana and Jonas. We had a really good time and were really sorry to go.

On Monday, Georgia and I tried to get out in the morning 3 times. First it was a sweater, then 2 bathroom breaks. Eventually we gave up and got Dan and all went over to the Gates of Dawn for a walking kibinai lunch. Spotted a new crepery, right next door to Gusto crepery. I wonder why they decide to open right next to the more established one. But they already had some people inside so maybe it was a good calculated business move.

Then I made saltibarsciai, attempt number X. I was able to move from the standstill point by frying potatoes that are served on the side, by using beets marinated in the apple vinegar, and kefir with dill already built in. Dan claims it is pretty good. I can't tell the difference with my one tastebud. But, at last, we can go home in peace now :)

At 6pm I went back to the felt shop to make a hat for Georgia. This time it was all me by myself. It was very intimidating and I spent two hours preparing and laying everything out but it kind out worked out in the end, if you discount a large hole where one of the earflaps is supposed to be. I feel empowered to do this at home now. Georgia was asleep when I got home so I still have to pass the final test tomorrow.

The felt shop is located in a really good place - right in front of Lokys restaurant. So the tourists, when they finish their meal usually look in the window and then come in to check out. Russian tourists seem the most open with their wallets. They run around and try everything and torture the poor store clerk to death but in the end buy something.

Misha sent some pictures of our backyard after the thunderstorm. Looks a bit like Kansas. Still we are ready to check it out firsthand :)

Day 56 - Still nothing to report

Here are a few pics from our photo shoot with http://fotopastele.lt/ though.