Day 15 - Going to Tallinn

On Thursday we worked until noon and then dropped off Isabella and her stuff at Irina's and headed out to Tallinn. It is about 606km and we planned to make 2 stops along the way. We were shooting to get there by 9pm.

First we stopped on the rest area 100 km from Riga where we stop every time when we go to Riga. I used to think that they used to have a decently sized zoo, but I was wrong. Even now there are still only ostriches, clearly suffering in the heat, 2 sleeping bears, and deers in every remaining enclosure. Some of the play areas on the playground are not working anymore. The bathroom is dirty. In general, it looks dated.

The second stop was at about 300km from Tallinn, in Latvia, courtesy of the Latvian police. We were going 95 in the 90 zone. They were originally facing us, they've started flashing their lights, turned around, caught up with us and we stopped. The cop said that our license is wrong - it is supposed to be international, it is a law all over Europe. Somehow we were not told about this law by two rental compainies we used. And also "we were going too fast." He said he has to write up a protocol and left. Dan grabbed a 100 Euro note (mental note: should have taken dollars and in smaller denominations too) and headed to the police car. He asked the cops (there were 2) that perhaps they can work something out. The passenger cop got out and Dan worked it out within the next 20 seconds. Dan got back in the car and we kept going. The cop said that there is another one in 20km so we were extra slow.

Essentially the profession of road robbers has never been eliminated, the robbers just changed their name and appearance. In more civilized countries like US they deal with it by installing cameras in the cars and better monitoring the cops. However, for example in NJ, you can plead guilty and get your points off with a hefty fee. This way your insurance does not go up and the state plays the role of the robber. And you can do it twice in 5 years.

A final note about cops and traveling between LT and Estonia. We passed a good number of cops on the way. A custom of flashing ones' lights seems to be forgotten.

In about 100 km there were several areas where you can get off the road and go on the beach. We went into one of those areas. There was a nice parking lot, a bathroom and great clean beach. The water was light amber because the sand was brownish. It was also very shallow for a good distance in, which is characteristic of this region. Because of the color and depth, it was really warm. We changed and spent maybe 40 minutes in the water and on the beach. As we were trying to dry off to continue our trip gadflys and flys attacked us. We got into the car as we were - in the bathing suits, and drove on until Tallinn.

Georgia was good all the way. We did the most extensive role playing ever. She also watched a few cartoons and slept a little too.

We arrived, checked into our awesome Merchant House Hotel steps away from the main square. It was incredible change from Etap: The room was facing the courtyard, lined with the pots containing various herb plants. The room had a king sized bed, armoir, a comforter, and real fluffy bathrobes (yeah, that kind of hotel). But the best thing was the bathroom. It was almost the size of the room, a few steps down into the basement. With the gleaming modern bath hardware and a shelf full of various creams, salts, and other goodies. The bath! Georgia and I both hopped into it at night and it was large enough for us to float past each other. It is so enjoyable to watch CNN after almost 2 weeks of Al Jazeera.

We spoke with Irina to check on Isabella, changed and headed out into the city. Even though it was 9pm, it was still light out. We had dinner at one of the touristy places on the main square. The meal was nothing to write home about but what was impressive was that the waitress appeared to speak at least 4 languages fluently. And that was the case with most people in the tourist sector we met later. The service was superfast. Faster than the fastest Lithuanian. The only thing was that the prices were quite a bit higher and the Lithuanians still got Estonians with their beer. And women.

Georgia complimented the waitress on her butterfly clip and got it as a present. It is nice to be a kid!

Check out the pricing on that muffin on the menu on the left. I would bankrupt the family if we were to stay here for extended periods of time.

After dinner we walked around. Turns out that just like with Riga, there was a whole bunch of "new" streets that we missed on our prior visits. Perhaps they were not as nice and safe looking before. And maybe we learned better ways at looking at the cities from living in Vilnius for such long stretches. We walked into the courtyards and looked at different hidden nooks along the way. Finally we decided to leave some for tomorrow and headed back to the hotel.

Days 13-14 - Random shots

Nothing super dramatic to report over the last few days. Just a few random shots and pictures.

In the mornings Isabella and I walk outside early in the morning. It is nice to see the city at this time. It is pleasantly cool and pretty empty except for the occasional swiper, garbage-bottle-picker-upper, or (rarely) a working person on a way to work in this ungodly hour. We feed the doves in the square next to St. Paraska's church. On our last stays the old town used to be littered with the broken bottles in the mornings, especially the playground, but not this time. It is fun to go to the market and see the vendors set up and get the first pick of the berries. She is sitting in the backpack and smiling and waving at all the passersbys bringing reciprocal smiles to their gloomy faces.

On Tuesday late afternoon we went over to Alicia to say goodbye to Andrei and Natasha. They were very sad. We agreed to meet up next year for a huge birthday bash for Alicia.

On the way back it started raining. We got lucky to run for the cover of the Cathedral. It was nice watching the thunderstorm from there.

On Wednesday afternoon Georgia and I covered a lot of ground. First, we went to the exhibition in the city hall – the poster had a picture of a king on a horse and we figured it would be something similar to last year. But it was so-so, and there was a cover of 4LT as well. The kings, uniformly had red bushy eyebrows and sneaky light eyes. Georgia liked Mindaugas the most, he was the least sneaky. Then we checked out the tiny crypt under St.Casimir’s church. Inside were some medieval frescos done in what appears to be coal. The style is very interesting. They also have a relic of St. Boboly or something like that. It was clearly displayed piece of an unidentifiable bone with some dried meat on it. It looked pretty disgusting. I wonder how the procedure goes for chopping up the saint for the distribution.

Next we wandered into several different stores/worshops/galleries on Stikliau. The felt shop, is a bit less interesting this year because the hat design has changed to that of a beret, and it is not as pretty. They also have lots of felt lampshades, kid’s toys and similar stuff. It is interesting to see what bold new horizons they would explore next year. We also visited the stained-glass workshop. They have amazing things out – beautiful designs on glass enclosed in the very complex shapes made up of copper. Georgia never asks for anything in the stores but here she asked if I could get her “anything”. However, their prices were equally amazing. Even a plain uncolored piece of glass you would stick in a bowl for a decorative purpose, is between 6 and 12 LT. It is probably cheaper to get a batch of these in a fish area at Petco. The seller registered my shock and explained that multi-feature pieces like stained-glass flowers are never done by the master nowadays, but the master comes up with the design and the students implement it. It does not seem to be logical but maybe I am missing something here. We also saw a beautiful store called Elemental where there are highly decorated ceramic animals were sold. We kept passing by and admiring a hippo but it is gone now.

The street was completely blocked by police cars and limos parked in the wrong direction. Apparently someone really important was being entertained in Stickliau restaurant. To give credit to this city, there were no crowds outside, no reporters, just ordinary typical people traffic.

In the evening we walked around a little bit more – Isabella was pretty fed up with walking today and would only tolerate being carried in the backpack. We checked into the micro brewery Būsi Trečias on Totoriu 18 for dinner and were not disappointed. The service was fast, staff pleasant, and the food is good-tasting. We tried a few beer varieties and would definitely recommend this place. They had an awesome dish called "Musicians from Bremen" - potato pancakes with layered chicken and beef and pork patties, with mushroom sauce. Will have to try it at home too.

We sat outside where they also have a nice play area made up of an old Russian-style fireplace where there is a platform covered in a blanket and lined with pillows that you can sit on. They also have an L-shaped old sofa and an old Russian Refrigerator Moskva. All the fun things for the kids. At night we saw Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.

Used bookstore near the Dominican church. Notice how they say "Previously Loved Books"

Day 12 - Measures love for one's job

It was blisteringly hot today. In time, the locals would realize that this place is subject to the global warming just like any other place and would start investing into A/C in the apartments and restaurants. Irina took the kids in the morning to a bunch of hyper-stores close to where she lives - they have proper temperature controls and a huge pet store.

They joined us for lunch at a pitstoppizza on Vilnius gatve. Pizza implies fast food. Pit stop implies very fast food. Dan decided not to risk it and ordered saltibarsciai, I got the same thing for me, and ordered 2 mini pizzas for Irina and Georgia. We waited for 40 minutes and they brought out Dan's soup. Turns out the cashier thought I want some other kind of pizza. I argued with her and she said OK about the soup, and moments later came out and they are out of soup. By that point and at that temperature it really did not matter what it was. Dan finished his soup and went back to work.

I tried to figire out what makes them take so long and noticed a chubby guy resposible for making pizzas behind one of the counters. He was in love with his job. He spent minutes rolling the dough to some precise thickness and had some kind of device to cut them perfectly round. As I looked, he started to cut of a bit of an imperfection off the side of one pie. Isabella was pretty unhappy with this turn of events.

Finally our pizzas were done. Irina and Georgia stayed to eat theirs. I grabbed mine that was in the box and ran home with wailing Isabella. She fell asleep and I was climbing the stairs to the apartment.

In the afternoon the guy from autobest.lt came over to replace our car (they could only give it to us for a weekend). The new car is smaller but newer. They moved it into our spot. If I did not mention it before, residents of this and a few neighboring buildings carved out permanent parking spots for themselves in the backyard by placing heavy metal cones on the group and looping metal chains across. We got such a spot too from the owner. It was a prime spot next to the building. The only thing, it was pretty gross fishing out the end of the rusty chain from the puddle underneath the car where it unvariably went. But, as possibly the only benefit of the scorching weather, the puddle has dried up.

We all stayed at home in the afternoon. Then Georgia, Dan and I went back to the Ukrainian to finish off where we started yesterday. Alicia, Andrei, and Natasha joined us there. They arrived by cab using the company #2777 that all of us have on our cell phone and had been using for years. This year they've gone evil. Andrei and Natasha complained that the driver ranted about the dog the entire time even though they warned the taxi controller when ordering, had a smelly car, and drove like he wanted everyone to get sick in the back and further contribute to the smell. Still it was better than last night when the taxi driver just left upon seeing the horrible scary Kerry Blue Terrier.

As we sat outside the restaurant drinking kvas and eating pork fat pate, Dan was in a good mood and offered to clear things up with the taxi company. It was not a good idea. The lady on the other end decided that it was a customer dis-service day and worked very hard to get this message across. As the phone call went on we all urged him to hang up and then proceeded to clear out the taxi number from our phones and chase out the rest of the bad karma with a shot of horilka (Ukrainian vodka) with more fat pate (kid and dog excluded).

The staff of Ukrainian restaurant was amazing - the food appeared and empty plates disappeared. They even brought out a round of horilka with more pork fat. They were really good last night too. I think it was the best example of service we have ever seen in LT. It did not have to, but it seems to have made the food taste better too. Everyone was very pleased. In good spirits we descended down to our apartment and finished the evening off with some ice-cream.

Here are 3 things that we will make when we some back:
1. Kvas with mint
2. Pork fat pate: grind some pork fat with salt and garlic, decorate with dill (simple and beautiful)
3. Roasted peas with fried onions and bacon (I hope there would be some extra wide seats for us on the way back).

Speaking of the soccer game last night. Yeah, it was pretty exciting and everyone was excited. Lots of drinking, screaming, and singing. The Brit in the bathing suit burst out of it by the end of the night, at least some of his body parts did. Many people were cheering for Holland so there was some disapponitment and crying in the end. By 2am everyone was gone like nothing ever happened.

Day 11 - Kernave park

Today was a great day. We left the city at 8am to avoid the heat and headed out to Kernave park. We walked a circular track around the park stopping frequently to sample blueberries, raspberries, and wild straberries that grow here in abundance. Georgia got so full that in the end she refused to eat even when being handfed the mixture of the three. Isabella got excited about the blueberries and it was fun to watch her crush the berries with her toothless gums and smile if a berry was sweet and vince if it was not. She feel asleep pretty soon from breathing all this good air.  

The track is very well designed and except a few places is stroller friendly. And even in those spots it is easy to get on the dirt road for the cars that runs in parallel. There are frequent rest stops with picturesque streams and wooden bridges, or carved wooden birds or picnic setups. It was very quiet and pleasant, and not hot at all. There was just one other family in the park. 

At 11 we headed back and near Dukstos made a right onto the road that leads to Vievis. About 1km down there is Kavine Pusynelys that we saw the last time we were here. We decided to stop here for lunch. The property is amazing: The place is located high on the hill above the river. Neris makes a turn at this point and you can see amazing pine vista in both directions. The restaurant itself has a huge playground, which is customary to these kinds of places. Georgia immediately settled in the sandbox filled with toys and emerged only of a quick walkthrough of the other play areas and to eat. The is a large open air roof set up around some of the tables. It provides a good shade; that's where we sat and it was very cool despite everything outside getting pretty toasty. Not to forget the obvious: the food was awesome. Dan got homemade kvas that was sweet and cool and refreshing, I got homemade cider and it was also great. That's what we have to try at home. The rest of the food was great too. Isabella woke up and sampled some rice and potatoes. She then joined Georgia in the sandbox. 

With some resistance we dragged the kids out promising to take them to the stone sculpture park on the lake a few km away. However when we got there, we realized that majority of the population in Vilnius, and probably some other cities too has decided to come to the lake too. The parking lot of the lake was full and the cars were parked on both sides of the road for 500m before and after the site. We turned around and left. It is scary to think what this mass of people would do to the lake. 

We found another lake suitable for swimming right next to Kernave; right before the final left turn to Kernave, there is a sign for swimming, eating, and lodging and you have to make a right to get there. We checked it out and it looks like there is free swimming if you just park by the side of the lake. But if you want a nice parking lot, changing facilities, and the bathroom, all of it is available for 10LT per person in a pretty new establishment right next to the lake. But we did not want to go back to Kernave at at point.

So we drove back to the city and first and foremost washed the kids who were completely covered in sand and some berry leftovers. They both enjoyed playing in the bath which is possibly more sanitary than the lake is by now. Afterwards Isabella and Dan caught a nap while Georgia and I did some painting. In the evening we went to Maxima to get formula.

While there, we foolhardedly decided to stop by at Borsch on Algirdo that we spotted on Friday for dinner. Poor Isabella, we did not have a bottle for her, or a pacifier, or any toys. She tolerated our lack of care for a little while and then started protesting. So we got her a sippy cup with some apple juice, bread, and baby biscuits and that appeased her somewhat. But in the process she got completely soaked in the juice and covered in food. She refused to sit on the stroller on the way back so I carried her and we both got sticky. At home she got another bath, which she did not mind and we walked out into the city some more.

 First, Georgia fed the doves. Isabella was dozing off but woke up and got very excited about them. Next, we parked at the Coffee Inn on Pilies and watched the people go by. There were a few college kids playing Beatles songs on guitar and singing (the last part dismally, but maybe it was their first show). Their girlfriends were supporting. A homeless guy or girl really enjoyed the show and spent some time dancing in front of them and shooing away other passebys. They were only too happy to walk away because the he/she was probably more than a few years behind on the shower. Poor kids. But the homeless person eventually left. Georgia wanted to give them some coins but was shy. 

We walked back and watched more and more people gather in the center. The center was getting ready for the final soccer game: there were many cops out and people were taking up the places in the city hall square. We saw a bunch of Brits dressed up in weird constumes and working on staying hydrated. I asked to take a picture of them and they obliged. Then, one of them, dressed in a ladies bathing suit and with a wig offered for me to be in the picture as well. As I posed with them a few of them pinched my butt. I feel so young and beautiful. I am not in the picture on the left.

After we put the kids to sleep Dan walked out on the city hall square to hang out with Andrei and Natasha and watch the game. Will share his story tomorrow.

Day 10 - Trakai, the nth-time

Today we picked up Alicia and went to the quinticential weekend destination - Trakai. The weather was great and we had a really good time but I must say that the place has never been more touristy. The edge of the lake is covered in all shapes and kinds of boat rental: from antique reproduction, to sail, to motor, paddle, canoe, you name it. The souvenirs are now perfectly generic, hugely overpriced, and I would not be surprised if some of them are made in China. Finally, the holy-of-holies, the kibinai, are now over 8LT/pop. And you can get better stuff in Vilnius for 2LT at the orphan kibinai. It is a good thing that today was a working day for some so with a few foreign tour groups the number of people in Trakai was manageable. That being said we had a fun and relaxing time and continued relaxing by having a family nap at home until 5pm.

In the evening we walked over to the Parliament. Gazillions of flying ants flooded the air. They did not do any harm just buzzed around in search of the new home. In the square near the KGB museum all the city crows were taking advantage of the opportunity.

The signs of failing economy are much more visible as you get further from the old town - the entire blocks with 3-4 stores are up for rent. However the area immediately around the Parliament is under construction so it is good to see some progress. Here are some fun things we saw on the way:  

Day 9 - City, city, city!

Today was the day of many discoveries and rediscoveries about the city. Georgia and I walked around from 1:30 until 5:30. And then Dan, Georgia, and I continued for another few hours. And finally Dan and I finished late in the evening.

Georgia and I started on the Cathedral square. We checked out the updated Stibukla tile where Georgia made some wishes for me and Isabella. She told us the next day that she wished for Isabella to grow up soon and was disappointed it did not come true yet.

Then we saw St. Casimir's chapel - the most beautiful one in the church. The statues on the altar are designed in such a way that it looks like angels and other figures are floating in a white cloud. Really sublime. We also found out about the tours of the cathedral crypt and will be checking these out next week.

The next stop was the little Japanese garden on Pilies. As implausible as it seems they've managed to add a pavilion to it. Inside the gallery there was a bunch of ladies doing beautiful paintings on silk and with aquarel. Despite the tranquility of the setting they've glared at us like a bunch of old "tetkas" that they were. This time we were not going to be intimidated. We stuck around until we figured out who the decision maker was. That was the friendliest lady. She said that it was their last class and that they would be starting the new one in the fall. She gave us a flyer from another instuctor who would be coming in town shortly and might have some extra classes.

After that we did a quick run through the 2W gallery located in the courtyard of the Argentinian restaurant. Nothing thrilling. Next was the gallery of the red lady. Here is how you save 2LTs: you walk in to the gallery when the sole attendant there is washing the floors and ask to break 100LT note. She waves you in.

All the paintings and etchings there are for sale. That makes it even weirder that they would charge the cover price and that little as that. I think the only explanation is to cover the expense of the attendant. We were left alone to wander around even to the secret offices of the gallery. Inside the building is pretty plain and most of the beautiful architecture is plastered white. The artworks are very pretty. Georgia asked me to tell her a story about many of them and insisted on the happy ending before we were able to move on to the next one.

The day was very hot so next stop was to get some ice-cream.

After that onto the University bookstore - nothing special there. Check out the picture on the left enlarged, just another little courtyard in LT. We headed up the Traku gatve and found what for a moment looked like Mecca - the milk bar across the Coffee Inn. Unfortunately they got the bar part right and missed everything else. Not even a little bandele in sight.

After that, with a few more stops on the way we visited the Orthodox Church of St. Michael and St. Constantine. Georgia really liked it. It is as always under construction but looks pretty nice. Finally we stopped by at Tautodailininko Dirbtuve where the artist creates amaz, which was one of our main destination points on the way. The artist who works there creates amazing artworks by carving out shapes on paper with a scalpel. Unfortunately it was closed despite the posted hours. Next time we would have to call in advance. One more look at the Orthodox Church. Maxima to get some food for the evening. And we were off to the Meno Nisa gallery on Basanaviciaus. It features some beautiful jewlery, mostly enamels, and, among other things, horrific looking paintings in strange media that looked like colored play foam.

It was an awesome afternoon. We picked up Dan and continued down Pilies. Watched the procession of Krishnaits. Would be interesting to find out more about them. What drives these people to go on these periodic walks chanting "Hary Hary Krishna" and other stuff knowing all to well that they have just provided 3 minutes of the entertainment for the most people around. Maybe it was a punishment?

Do a close-up of the picture on the right. Must have been a lot of effort to put it up unless they have some special equipment.

It is enjoyable to walk through the souvenir booths that at night turn into simple photo screens and look at the old streets and try to see if we can recognize where they are today.

We went down our favorite Literatu street and saw that art college students had continued their tradition of plastering their art to the walls. There were a whole bunch more "things" hanging of every possible kind.

There is now an organic shop on Literatu. Fruits and veggies look like a somewhat rotten variety of their counterparts on the market but other things like meats, cheeses and deserts undeniably appeal to your senses. We had to think about dinner coming up and our rapidly expanding figures so we left this experience for the next time.

Next we went to the youth park and then met up with Andrei and Natasha. We dropped of Georgia at home and had dinner together on the city hall square. It was really pleasant to sit there and watch the people go by. Walked back to the Literatu street later. We finally got home at around 11:30 but 10 minutes too early - the very last thing of the day were the enormous fireworks, barely visible from Georgia's window.

Additional notes about the Lithuanian way of working:

While we worked in the morning we had a quick phone call with Alicia. She said she does not need a cleaning woman and that's why she asked Rita, the parasite, to give her the key. But that she still needs help with getting her groceries and other small tasks and Rita would be helping her with that. It is like some kind of a crazy circle. Dan tried to reason with her but I don't think he was very successful.

Then, coincidentally t.Ira called and gave me the contact info for the person who watched her boss's late father as a full time job. The idea was that we are looking for someone to clean the apartment once a week and spend 4 hours weekly doing various chores like grocery shopping. The lady I spoke with sounded pleasant and chatty. I conveyed the expectations and the first thing she said was that "older people need a lot of company, I will be there every day." I repeated the message in the nice terms. Then she said that the house needs a wet cleaning every day with cats and all. I still repeated the message. Then we dicussed the price for a bit. For 6 hours of work she wanted 1/2 of what she was getting the last time around for 30 hours. I gave her our numbers and she countered that we can still discuss it, very pleasantly albeit saying that Alicia needs a lot of help and she would get an idea of how much from her directly. Initially I agreed to meet with her on Monday.

But after hanging up and thinking about how she spoke and getting a clue about the math, Dan and I decided to call her back and say that we will not continue the conversation. She was pretty upset and unpleasant about that. But I really don't like it that a person who did not even make a personal contact is already dictating her rules. We called t.Ira to explain and she said she will continue working on getting the contact for us.

To continue the rant on the subject of the work ethic, Irina has been really great so far: kids love her and she is very patient with them, takes them to her apartment, buys Georgia water and treats, and even treated us to lunch on Friday. But she has not showed up once on time during this whole week and said she had stuff scheduled in the evenings even though we agreed that she will work 3-4 evenings per week. I guess this is how it works here and in most other countries. But I am used to and like better the American way of doing things where the terms of the working relationship are very clearly defined and still leave room for a personal relationship.

Last night our portion of the building lost the power late in the evening. Our German neighbor said that he walked into a man messing with the wires outside our building and he ran away. Dan was concerned that someone might have been setting up the house for a robbery since the power failure disabled all the alarms in the builting. Just in case we called Algirgas the aparment owner. He said not to worry - our apartment has a double metal doors. Nice to know he cares.

Day 8 - Making the plans

Nothing thrilling unless you don't count the barbeque flavored mini-bloodwurst sausages that we found in Maxima today. If you like bloodwurst, you would die for this BBQ flavored variety. We are so lucky to be here.

Anyway, it rained the whole day. Irina managed to get the kids over to her place where they'd stayed for the large part of the day until we got the car and picked them up. We were at home. The kids really enjoyed themselves.

Dan and I walked around during lunch. Had a doner kebab from the new fast food joint on Pilies. It is lousy. The staff is really unfriendly too. Can't believe we already have eaten there twice.

Then we decided to check out the new galery at the beginning of Pilies. Apparently the entry fee is 1LT. We took a free look around and saw similar paintings with the same woman all around. So we decided to skip on that. Now I am thinking that it might have been deliberate and there are other paintings with other women if you only shell out that 1LT (or 37 cents). It might also be interesting to go in to see the building inside. Maybe we will go tomorrow with Georgia. Decisions, decisions.

Coffee Inn from Pilies moved across the street. The new location is even better - there is a cozy separate room with the tables and couches. Don't know how they stay in business with that much real estate not really generating much of the return.

Alicia, Natasha and Andrei came over for dinner. It was very nice to have them over and we had a good time. The story with the parasite was sort of muffled over. Alicia says she spoke with that woman and she would be giving her back the keys. We got a call from Dan's mom's friend about some contacts to be reaching out to us shortly. It could probably work short term.

What else? Having a high chair makes a huge difference. Previously we went through elaborate setup with Isabella with one person holding her and another maneuvering the food in her mouth while protecting themselves from her swiping the food off onto them. The car seat seems to be the top part from the two part infant car seat. There are stickers on the side showing how to attach it to the car with the seat belts using various protuberances on the carseat.But such setup is flimsy and carseat is being held in place by the front seat. Plus, Isabella is too big for it and has to keep her feet holded when riding. We got her a new seat from the car rental company. It is better. It is a big booster seat with some stickers showing how to use it on the 7kg babies. And it is front facing. Maybe there is a different attitude about the baby car safety here. But not to sorry - I think she will be grown out of her 12month clothing by the time we are back.

We reserved hotel Alma and a car for our stay in Brussels next month. Hopefully there won't be any surprises there. Will need to make plans for our trips to Palanga and Tallinn later this month.

Day 7 - Turbulence and Parasite

Today was great on many levels. First of all, it was raining in the morning and we left kids at home with Irina and tried to go to work in the Double Coffee on Vociechu (like the spelling of my name by some third parties, this one evades me). But the waitress threw her body in the doorway and declared that they only open at 10. Somewhat taken aback by the rashness of her act we slithered back home.

But it was not bad. We got a lot of things figured out: we will be getting the car tomorrow from the autobest just like on the other trips. Marius, the director, who used to be a really helpful during our past trips, apparently is still associated with the company but in a supervisory capacity that does not involve picking up the phone or answering his emails. You would think it would be the other way around. But anyway, we would be getting a bigger car for almost the same price. Algirgas, the home owner, came with technician, turned off the light everywhere and got the dishwasher fixed. He also asked what we do for work. Aparently inspired by the telecommuting he told us that he wanted to share the fact that he is selling the apartment for a bargain price of 900,000. It is really a major markdown from 1,100,000 they were offered years ago. At these prices one would think this place is hotter than Paris or New York. I hope that the European Union would press them to take the property taxes, that could fix this bubble or at least get the poor crumbing historical building fixed at last. Alex Lazutka came in the evening and brought a car seat and a high chair. If only Isabella's appetite would match ours. We made some planning for Belgium where we will be going at the end of the trip. We also chatted with Diana Olshevsky who lives across the street and decided to meet soon.

For lunch we walked over to the Gediminas prospectas to soup and kibinai place. Soup was so so, especially considering that the single woman who was working there went into the kitchen loaded with the dirty soup bowls and emerged moments later having filled them with saltibarsciai. I remembered my squeamishness in Madagaskar and decided that I would never be like that again. Kibinai was to die for. I could practice replicating it for years and I would not even come close. Afterwards Georgia and I gathered and split the crumbs and went outside for a walk while Irina was with walking with Isabella, and Dan went back to the apartment to work.

Georgia and I enjoyed a pleasant walk down the Vilnius gatve stopping every now and then to check out the drawing supplies for Georgia or a toy for Isabella or a cup of coffee for me. When we got to St. Catherine's she said that she is ready to hit the galleries but needs a few minutes of sleep first. So we went home and she went to sleep pretty much until 5p. Forgot to mention that yesterday we saw a very interesting dog - an old english sheepdog. It looked like a mixture between a dog and a sheep. More like a sheep actually with its thick fluffy mane and pink skin around the eyes. I guess it works like that: the old english sheepdog hangs out on the grass pretending to munch and then a wolf comes by and aims for its butt. That's when the dog turns around and barks. The wolf drops dead from the instant heart attack. Next wolf...

At 5 we walked over to Alicia. On the way we passed the raising of the flag near the Presidential Palace. We took the picture because the soldiers really looked leisurely about it. Some, kind of gathered around and were watching the guys who were raising it. Those guys were keeping their form. Maybe it was a practice or something. On the way we also passed by some evidence of extra-terrestrial life hanging suspended under one of the bridges.

So speaking about Alicia, we figured that's the most humane way to break it to her that we are here. But Kostik beat us to it 4 minutes prior to our arrival - he called her on Skype. Still I must say he did not make it any less exciting. We also got to see Andrei and Natasha from Ekaterinburg.

That's when I get to the parasitical part.

Alicia has a cleaning woman that leaves her apartment smelling like a cat shelter in a third world country for only 100LT/pop. That is in contrast to other women who made apartments we lived in in old city in prior years clean for only 50LT. I guess it makes sense to charge extra for the smell. We tried to convince Alicia last year to try someone different but she could never do it to such a wonderful human being. So, anyway, Alicia has a bank card for to be used when really needed. Dan tracks transactions on it. We noticed that the card was charged twice early in the month when Alicia was traveling in Poland. We asked Alicia who she shared the card and its pin with and she said "with 2 other people": her relative Nina (who would walk naked with bare feet on the burning coals, rip out her tongue with tweezers or do other horrible things to herself before considering something bad), and her cleaning woman with excellent work ethic. The cleaning woman had the keys to the apartment and Alicia, and even Andrey and Natasha noticed the aroma and changed settings on TV and computer when they arrived. And, so by the method of deduction, it is not to hard to figure out who took the liberties with the card. Dan wanted to question the woman right away, but Alicia and Natasha did not let him. They argued that Alicia is comfortable with her and needs someone to help her. They even called the woman to warn her and got vehement assurances that she is pure. This makes me really sad. First of all that this is clearly an example of a parasite feeding off the elderly lonely helpfless woman. Secondly, that this woman would be so dependent of this parasite that she and Natasha would lose perspective on who works their ass off to refill the card and would actually defend the perpetrator. And thirdly, that few people would understand the helplessness and frustration one feels when dealing with such a situation.

We were very sad. Irina stayed with the kids and we walked around a bit. It was very pleasant. First of all, there is a GIANT TV screen on the city hall square and most of the surface area of the square was filled with people sitting on the chairs watching the game between Spain and Germany. Now that's the way to watch the game. We walked up to the Gates of Dawn, my favorite part of the city. Will have to take Georgia to the wax museum and let her touch the pope. Then we walked down Pilies and saw that one of Double Coffees that was closed yesterday, opened today as Gorky Bar. The hotel that was up for sale actually has a bar in it and there were people inside watching the game as well. There is also a new gallery in the beautiful old building on the left at the beginning of the street (next to the Argentinian restaurant). Incidentally Argentinian went underground. And there is also a new chocolate cafe next to where it used to be.

Then I decided that I need some ice-cream to call it a day and we went down Pilies and around to Vilnius gatve looking for anything that was open, and at 10:30 almost nothing was.  Even the traffic light on Barbora's gatve shut down at 10:40. We finally got back to Vocieciu and sat down at the restaurant outside and downstairs of our apartment. It used to be Cili Kaimas but it is now Hesburger. Hesburger used to be at the place a few doors down that went through the multiple transformations and ended up being a Kebabai house. To complicate the matters further, across the street there used to be a blinnie place that opened up last summer. We wrote about it - it had a kindergarten like ambience. This summer it is something like a Rapid Chiken. If it is confusing, I can supply pictures.

We asked the waiter for ice-cream and he brought us two expressos. Then we asked him for some ice-cream and he brought us two vases of vanilla with fresh wild strawberries and preserved whole cranberries. I wrapped myself in a blanket and we ate the desert. It was really great and awesome way to finish the day.

Hence the turbulence.

While we were sitting there, a girl passed by offering the fliers from a night club that is in the former hotel. Apparently the schedule goes as follows: Monday: some boring music, Tue: Italian (like what, opera?? but I guess to put on in the mood), Wed: RandB. Thu: Wet foam party, Fri: Happy Ending, Saturday: Midnight fever. On Monday you restart the cycle.

The game was over and fans filled up the streets as people headed for their cars, bikes, and I want to say feet, but that would be wrong. We got up and left too. Stopped on the way to look at the schedule in the Double Coffee. Apparently they open at nine in the morning, unless it is Sunday. I guess it is easy to get these confused: nine and ten share two letters. Incidentally Coffee Inn on the Vilnius gatve opens up at 7am. This is kind of miraculous.

There were some ups and downs but it was a really great day.

Day 6 - Just because

Nothing really interesting to report. Saw Rosita at last. She looks beautiful in the orange flowing robes, golden slippers, and in full makeup. Incidentally the "America, America" guy does not have his bike anymore. This sucks, really, ruins his image. I am going to take pictures of all the special chracters.

There is also a national holiday going on for the forth day. Not sure how it started, but today was the anniversary of crowning of King Mindaugas who was Lithuanian first king. At 10:30 there was hardly a person on the street. But by 1pm small groups started to gather on the Cathedral square waiting for some kind of costumed show at 2pm. It was pretty hot. We waited until 1:45. Watched an argument between the leader of knights and the leader of soldiers, in English. We finally lost patience and went home leaving the kids with Irina. She took some pictures.

In the evening we went to Forto Dvaros. Still as good. Smoked pig ears are the best. Called it a day early. At night there were some wild screams from the outside. Someone must have scored a goal. There isn't as many public displays of soccer watching here so I don't know who beat whom.

Remember the big fight over the souvenir shop when all the booths were closed and vendors spent days doing the sit in and hunger strikes to bring international attention to their plight. What happened this year was that they all reappeared across the street on the St. Paraska's parking lot. They have beautiful new booths with the walls covered with the pictures of Old Vilnius. It looks very nice. In the evenings there are tours around the booths for the seniors. So it is a win win any way you put it.

At 11pm we called Alicia who was supposed to have gotten home from a 10 day driving trip around Poland. I want to do that when I am almost 80. We did not tell her we are here because we are thinking of the ultimate way to break it to her without giving her a heart attack. We considered telling her that we got the tickets to Belgium and she has to pick them up on Vokieciu. Maybe we will just walk over to her place tomorrow.

Day 5 – Settling in

Today was a pretty uneventful day. Irina picked up the kids in the morning and took them to the park while we worked. We joined her for lunch at Gusto’s. It seems that she was the only Lithuanian in the room – everyone else was a foreigner. It is probably because there is a 4-day national holiday going on and many of the people are away on the coast or on their dachas.

In the morning Georgia worked poor unsuspecting Irina to buy her water and snacks.

After lunch the apartment owner came in to take a look at the dishwasher that was not working and make us the list of the English-speaking channels reached by the huge satellite dish between our balconies. The only ones that have a strong signal and readily come up are Vesti and Al Jazeera. I thought there would be a secret method but he simply went one by one through the hundreds of channels recording the numbers on a piece of paper. I hope they have a printout somewhere.

He spent hours trying different settings on the poor 14-year-old dishwasher that just wanted to die in peace. It became clear that his family never used it in other than the rinse mode while living at the apartment. That also explains why the dishes are so dirty. He also followed us around and tried to turn off the light after us, teach us how to use the washing machine, and in general offer useful advice. He has a special attachment to the rag made from a former towel that he keeps outside on one of the balconies. He said it was really amazing and I should just “try it.”

This thriftiness is in sharp contract to the attitude about the water – they pay fixed fee for hot water and he and his wife advised us to not worry about using as much as we want, and if it does not come out hot right away just wait as long as necessary. Not only Belgians have their mysterious ways.

We walked around a bit in the evening. Saw few more potential eateries. Lots of locks on the bridges to Uzupis. And more pregnant women on the streets than I have ever seen. I guess you have to do something. Incidentally the wealth gap is much more apparent this year. There are now more people on the streets with the “fresh out of Bentley” look and more drunks as well. That being said, lots of regular looking people are outside enjoying the nice weather, the restaurants are full, so there must be some things going right here.

The apartment owner came back later again; this time with the technician. They spent hours until finally finding the problem. They will be back again tomorrow to replace the pump. Dishwasher would be really handy. The owner asked not throw out the rag, which, being the active participant of the dishwasher molestation, by now had changed the color quite substantially. I’ll give it another 10 hours. To be fair to him, he spent a big portion of his day off chasing after this problem.