Day 17 - A little more of Tallinn and back

We tried to be more leisurely and the working A/C did help so today we headed out to breakfast at 8:30. We pretty much ran around the upper and lower towns again.

Today, on Saturday there were substantially more people out at this time in the morning. In the top town we noticed that there are stairs going up near the tower where we had mulled wine. They were pretty narrow so with some difficulty we managed to get up to the first floor. There was a lady who was selling the 30 Kroon tickets to go the rest of the way. So, like the proper dumb tourists we paid up and walked up the same number of steps to the coffee shop that was on the balcony of the wall. Great! We tried to milk it for all its worth - walked every square inch, took loads of pictures, examined the medieval bathroom, but after 15 minutes there was just nothing else to do. Great business! Once we got down, we helped another couple to not make our mistake, and satisfied got on our way.

The next item on our agenda was the ships festival. The port area stretches around 5km and festivities were on at different times and in different places. Plus, there is no ground connection between the ports so you have to get back to the city before getting to the other port. So, first we tried the port that was the closest to the old city - we saw lots of locals heading that way. Turns out we were partly right: there are some ferries leaving from that port so the locals were going there. But there was also a fish market there so we were in luck. They were selling freshly caught fish and also smoked and fried one as well. We got some really delicious little hering like fish that was dipped in bread and eggs and fried.

But it was time to check out the festivities. So we went to the right where the Helsinki and Stockholm ferries were leaving from. On the way we got up to the huge concrete monstrous Soviet era building, clearly a work of a madman. It was enormous, with some crazy stairs going nowhere, some passages littered with the broken bottles and covered in graffity and clearly used by the local alcoholics in more than one capacity. Some areas of the building actually looked inhabited. Taking pictures of this monster would not do it justice. We finally escaped through a hall in the wall and went through the overgrown grass field towards the ferry area.

They did have a small market going on with some more fish kiosks and souvenirs. At the information desk the volunteers suggested taking the ferry boat to yet another area with festivities and directed us to it. After waiting for 20 minutes in sweltering heat with 50+ other people, a small boat came up that could possibly fit 15. There was no chance for us. We left, even though Georgia was disappointed.   

Not sure about the the image on the left. There was a guy that was wearing what seemed to be the top part of the milirary uniform and ripped fishnet stockings on the bottom. He was riding Segway. There were no other men around him, (other than the guy from the rental company) so it did not look like a bachelor party.

The next stop was back at the Solaris mall where we all needed some cool temperature accompanied by food. On the second floor they have the Food Court. Notice the capitalization. Incredible food court. With lots of restaurants, the main one being the serve yourself with amazing selection of food at working end of Newark Chinese Buffet prices. There were maybe 6 varieties of fish alone. The setting is really beautiful too. The high ceiling of the place has been made to look like the village - with the houses and other areas. This seriously begins to look like an option for the next year. Dan got him some more personal souvenirs while we were there. Having gotten some buns and water, we were ready to go.

The first stop was the shallow beach in Latvia again. This time we pulled over as soon as we saw parked cars along the road. And we were not disappointed. There were very few people on the beach and pretty far from us as well. The water was great. We all but ingested the incect repellent so gadflys left us alone. We spent about an hour. Georgia really loved it.

As we were nearing the Latvian border we were stopped by the police again. During this trip Dan was going annoyingly exactly the speed limit. The TomTom really helps. We just entered a small town and Dan started to drop his speed from 70 to 50 when he saw the sign. We explained this to the cop, and he let us go. Even the license was OK. This is a miracle. We did not take a picture of that cop, so there is no proof. And there is no rational explanation. So I guess we would leave it at that.

We drove on for the next 4 hours without stopping from all this excitement. When we started thinking about the dinner it was already too late and all the coffee shops on the road were closed. We got home at 11:30. In our absense, the evil owner had put an ugly tablecloth on the table and did a few other annoying misardly things. And Isabella's first tooth had come out.

Day 16 - Tallinn

The only fly in the oinment was that a/c was not working. It was nice and cool outside but pretty hot inside. And leaving the windows open did not help for some reason. The staff tried resetting the unit and drained it a few times but to no avail.

We woke up at 7:30am and went to Entrecote Restaurant for breakfast. The waitress spoke beautiful Russian and flawless English with the British accent. Breakfast was great. I really liked yogurt which came in several interesting varieties like baked apple and cinnamon and also linden berry and cheesecake.

We decided to start at the top and went to the top of the Toompea hill. The old city is split into two parts - the high city on the hill, and lower city. The top of the hill used to have the houses of the nobles while merchants lived in the lower part closer to the port. There is a heavy door and the gates between the towns to "keep the rif raf out." Tour guides tell stories about weird rules like coffee not be allowed in the lower town. Nowadays the high town houses the parliament,  some state building (with  an awesome micro-helipad off the side of the fortified hill)), different embassies and there are several blocked off houses and courtyards for the people with the means.

Most of the areas were beaufully restored. Next to practically every building there is a glass board with the historical info about the building in Estonian and English.

The only thing that's gone is the restaurant in the wall of the high city. We used to have mulled wine in the beautiful and scenic cellar in our previous visits and fantasized that we would wish our basement to look like that. It is probably good that it is gone.

As we walked around the streets started to fill up with tourists, and with locals dressed in the historical costumes and cheerfully selling various wares in various languages. We especially liked the nut vagon where they sold almonds dipped into a mix of roasted mix of spices. They offered a try too. We examined every little backyard and went into every church and were done in about 1,5 hours.

On the way down we visited a few souvenir shops and galleries. While many of the places had gone the route of generic, there are still places where you can see the unique creativity and craftsmanship.

We spent some time in the lower town. Checked out the oldest pharmacy in Europe. They have an old section which is a kind of a museum. Check out the bottles with a few ingredients on the left. Based on the travel channel they were supposed to be selling love potions. Georgia wanted to get it for one of the boys in her pre-K, Jacob She did not want him to fall in love with her but she wanted him to start being nicer to girls. Disappointingly they sell a piece of marzipan with a few almonds stuck into it as the "love potion." Could have really tried a vial with some syrup instead. We got one anyway, though I suspect its potency.

Next, the supermarket. It was located on the lower level of the Solaris mall. The supermarket is looks like a successful offspring of Wegmans married to the hypermart. We liked everything. I especially liked 20 brands of smoked salmon. We settled on the mix of freshly baked buns.

Next we went to the money museum next door. Dan got him a few things from the shop and then we walked through the small museum. Georgia got a gift - a puzzle in the form of a 100 Euro note. The museum is very well designed. Estonian monetary history with covered well but without obsession. There is stuff in there to catch interest of laymen and experts alike. They also had the wax figures of various historical figures related to money standing in small group throughout the museum. Walking up to them or brushing against them every now and then was a bit disconcerting.

Next we walked to the song and dance grounds 2 miles away where there was supposed to be a carnival. Dan carried Georgia most of the way because it was pretty hot. On the way, we tried to determine which buses/trolleys/trams go there. There seemed to be so many that we very quickly lost track. We got there at 2pm and found out that it opens at 5pm. So we headed back along the beach. It was much cooler there. The water was cooler too than where we were a day before. Geogria had a lot of energy and jumped and splashed around.

Afterwards we caught a bus back to the city center. Both the bus driver and another passenger were really helpful in directing us on how to get back. The passenger also recommended to buy the tickets in the news kiosks because it is at least 50 cents cheaper per ticket.

We dropped off out things and went to the Beer House across the street. They make their own live beer. It was still a minimal improvement over two versions of Estonian saku last night. I don't know what we were thinking but we ordered 3 appetizers and pizza for Georgia. Appetizers were pretty big, but pizza was at least 14inch pie. We tried very hard but could not prevail. We took pizza back to the hotel and finished on our subsequent trips to the room. Incidentally they did manage to fix the A/C after all.

Later we went up to the viewing platform of St. Olav's chuch. The views of the city are great through not all to different than from the high town. We are very proud of Georgia. Don't know too many 4 year olds with the stamina and patience to get up 250 steps in the narrow and cramped staircase.

Cake stop next to retain the strength and calories lost. There were a few girls passing that had the look that said "not a professional, but getting there." We overheard one of them saying in Russian "What does he think, I am a girl?" using the literal implication of the word. Georgia amused herself and us by singing "I am not a girl anymore, I am not a girl anymore."

Final bit of walking closer to the outskirts of the old town. There is a beautiful modern urban rest area behind the parking lot of the Niguliste church. There are little sections with beach chairs and square "pools" made up of blue glass and look like they have water fountains underneath. These areas are separated from each other by neatly cut bushes. The impression is that of being on the beach.

The children's play area is not that bad either. It has the tilted rotating rings. It looks deceptively easy to walk around on the ring, but if you try to walk the ring it starts rotating and pulling you down to the lowest point. Kids can do it without particular difficulty. Georgia managed it pretty soon. But we had a hard time and so did other mommies and daddies who wanted to repeat their kid's feats. Georgia enjoyed beating us at this. Dan and I finally managed it by doing it together and using each other as a counterbalance.

The final note. The paid bathrooms are aplentiful. It is a major plus not to have to worry about searching for the nearest bushes or McDonalds when traveling with the kid.

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.