Rumšiškės & Kaunas

This morning we joined Dan on his run to the Tauris hill.  On the way we stopped at Bandeles place for a breakfast bite – what can be better than hot-off-the-oven chocolate filled buns.

Collectors and sellers of mostly junk were no fun so kids and I headed back stopping at a really great playground in the backyard on Basanaviciaus. Did not know they still make them this good here. Then we stopped at Bandeles for the encore. And finally we finished off with some latter (for me) at the Coffee Inn. The day had started out right! 

Our first stop was Ethnographic museum at Rumšiškės. Laid out like the map of Lithuania over a pretty large territory near the Kaunas Sea they’ve placed various structures (houses, churches, schools, etc) taken from the respective areas of the country. Today was Harvest and St. Anna’s day celebration. All Annas were wecome to enter for free. The museum is over 150 years old. It looks like even the vegetation was deliberately designed to represent the flora of the appropriate regions. Much better than its counterpart in Estonia.

At one area there was a sign for a Yurt. We went there without really thinking what we will see. It was a yurt - wood logs on the inside on the dwelling including the floors, earth on the outside. There were long rows of beds inside. It looked kind of cozy. As we were coming out an old lady with a walking stick came inside. She said in Lithuanian, that this is all wrong. There was no wooden floor - just a permafrost. And that there were women and children living in those Yurts next to the North Sea in Russia. Most of them did not make it through the first winter. We came outside a saw the map of Lithuanian resettlements all over the least habitable regions in Northern Russia. I did a bit more reading about it afterwards. The first wave of deportations  and impisonments by the Soviets targeted intellectuals, politicians, clergy, well-to-do farmers and others like them. This was to destroy the brains of the country. Many of those arrested did not actually get to be deported. They were in prison, and as Germans attacked, Soviets killed them off having inflicted the worst kinds of tortures beforehand. That's why there were mostly women and children deported - they were their wifes and kids. Many children did not make it through a month long voyage on the cattlecars without the basic human needs (like a toilet) available. And those who made it faced winter in hell without any basic tools to survive. It is a story of one of the worst ethnic atrocities. It is good that they put in on the map of Lithuania in this museum.

But onto the rest of the day that was more uplifting than this segment here.

We got to one of the regional settlements and spent some time watching the butter being spurned, and then ate it spead on the homemaid bread. The organizers laid out some treats – bread and pork fat and butter and salami, red currants, kvas and local apples. Awesome. The harvest part meant the men were going to mow some rye with scythes and sickles. Barefoot women in local garb saw them off with the songs. We followed until we realized that it will take them some time to get to the right field. And it started to rain. So we continued our tour.  

We visited one church and witnessed real live christening of twins Isabella and Alexandra. At another church of the museum there was a wedding taking place. Views of the sea were really wonderful. It was a great experience – every moment of it was worth it.  

By the end of the day we made it to Kaunas. Did a quick run of our usual touch points. Art is moving forward. Lots of interesting new ideas at the galleries. Prices are also not standing still.

Weddings are on as usual. It is a bit sad because it looks like the main highlight of Kaunas life are weddings. They must be so boring and repetitive. And with divorce rate in this country why do people still continue with this useless extravagance. We saw one couple who wanted their wedding pictures to be different in the sea of mandatory City Hall shots. They were seated outside at one of the roadside restaurants. While they were having their goblets of orange juice a videographer and photographer were running around recording this historical moment for all the eternity.

In the evening we met up with Alicia’s crew and had a dinner at Marcelutis Sletis. Waiter was sublime. If he applied his convincing skills at a sales job, he would be extremely successful. He got Andrey to open up all the way. It was good and relaxing to be all together.

Isabella was like an energizer bunny – running around the place – I think this time we saw every single room on all 4 floors. But she finally collapsed towards the end. And we are about to call it a day too.

Question to the Lithuanian Speakers

What do these mean?

On the bridge:

OK, here is the explanation: this is the number to call to get some advise if you need emotional help. They have two lines - kids and adults. Not sure what adult one sounds like. But kids one most likely has one of the museum ladies working overtime and night shift. And whatever she did not have the chance to share about the person who is calling, their personal life, and parents, they would have ample opportunity to learn if them call. Joking of course... but it is sad how few people actually treat kids as humans here. All those little distractions in the restaurants and rest areas are not because kids are that much loved, it is just easier to get them out of the picture.

Here is what appeared to be a graduation cerenomy for the military college graduates in front of the Presidential Palace:

This means "When will Lithuanian FBI and constitutional court stop using Soviet methods? Where is batman? President and people = free reign of corrupted officials." I guess it makes more sense in the context..

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday

 Somehow the days had gone by and I did not put up any posts. Here are the highlights of the last three days.

On Wednesday we went to Vilnoia lake park after work. The day was so hot but by the time we got to the lake it got pretty cool. I did not brave the swim but everyone else did, shivering. The lake has beautiful statues sticking out and around it. And the area around it is very clean. Lots of families with children. As we were leaving the audience had started to change to the younger drinking crowd.

On Wednesday we went out for lunch to Coldunine (Ravioli) place on Saviciaus. It is new and right new to the wonderful bakery from last year – right across from Graf Zeppelin if anyone is looking for this level of detail. The inside looks starchly clean and homely. Waitress is painful to watch. She was running around without any order or system. She would come out to bring a fork on one table and then soup on another table. Took our order in English nodding and claiming to understand and then brought one soup out to Dan and clean forgot about us – we ordered three. Unless they figure it out, this place is doomed. That place does not have anything but ravioli and soup, both of which take no time to cook.

Speaking of food we went to Shriuba Namai at Gedimino 9 for lunch on Thursday. Totally different experience. Waitresses looked like ballerinas. The food appeared on our tables instantaneously and disappeared when we were finished to be replaced by the next dish. Georgia said that she cannot shake out salt out of the shaker and a hand appeared to replace the shaker in moments. Seriously this was awe-inspiring.

On Thursday our stinky homeless guy was trying to sell some book to the staff at Coffee Inn. He was screaming something in Lithuanian and shaking his staff. I thought I could make out “Devil.” Pretty scary. Normally he is pretty calm. On the positive side it looks like he took a shower. I may have written it before but he was and could still be someone else’s kid. He could be in mid-thirties but it is hard to tell with dread-hat and perpetual sunburn.

There was a really bad thunderstorm in the afternoon. We always have windows open on both sides of the apartment and when it started, they were knocking so hard that we had to close them all. It sounded like a poltergeist. Kids were at Irina’s house and they were scared when neighbors’ laundry and other small things started to rain down on the ground. When we came outside afterwards we saw that many trees were knocked down or lost a good portion of their branches. The funny thing, I was reading about canoe trips on Neris prior to that. And one of the things site talks about is beautiful shingle (seriously, check it out). I get it now – if you happen to be canoeing during a storm like this, you probably will get beautiful shingle raining down upon you. 

 

On Thursday evening we went to Sushi house for dinner. They said that preparing it will take a half and hour. We looked at the empty restaurant and asked what we could change to speed it up, they said “Nothing.” So we went for a walk on Vilnius gatve while it was cooking. When we came back we understood why they needed so much time. Nearly every bench of St. Catherine’s square was filled with people eating sushi. That’s a comforting thought considering our daring request for sashimi. We sat next to the school and ate watching families passing by for their evening stroll.

Isabella is growing fast. She is trying to say more complicated words and strings two words together pretty often. She has funny way of going to sleep. She sleeps on a mattress next to our bed. When we come in to check on her in the evening we find her sleeping next to the closet, near the door,… one time on our bed even. At night she occasionally wakes us up by knocking her head against the wall, closet doors. I get up and carry her back to bed.

On Thursday Georgia did a beautiful comic picture story about what happened to her this week at Irina’s house. Very very nice. She is proud of it.

But on Friday she decided to call it a week on studying and we went for a walk around the city center. Finally went inside St. James on Lukiskis. It is not very pretty inside. Separate elements are nice, but overall impression is that of some kind of heaviness. It must have gotten knocked up pretty bad on the past.

Tuesday, Sushi Inn

Today we went to the National Museum to look for some really rare, totally amazing coin that was found during the construction of the lower castle. We did not get to the coin but we got to the creature of the museum. That genetically perfected type told us no pictures allowed whatsoever other than the Grunwald battle model. And no, not even the the little pieces of cardboard with the information about the exhibits.

We rebelled and got some administrator who said that it is OK to take the picture of the information about exhibits. I suppose that’s no Louivre and exhibits like coins and metals decay from exposure to the camera radiation, and you know how hard those are to come by… So we kind of lost interest in the rest. We did see the Homecoming exhibition that talked about thousands of deported Lithuanians. Very controversial topic this one so I’ve leave it as it. Suffice to say that there was no Homecoming for the other large group of Lithuanian citizens about the same size helpfully disposed of by mostly locals. And there is no mention of that either.

So, to get to the good thing we went to the Sushi Inn for lunch. They did not have any raw fish or soup, and Philadelphia cream cheese was just lightly touched to the roll, but they were good. And ½ price of their orgasmic counterparts across the street.

After work we stocked up on some picnic items that we promptly consumed in the car and went to Pushkin park. Pushkin was a bit like Peter the Great. He stopped by in a lot of places. The park was OK. A bit on the boring side. Belmont park is must bigger and better. We came back to continue our walk in the city.  

America America guy is back. Georgia almost bumped into him. We froze because the guy has this really loud voice that carries around 5 blocks and everything he says sounds like a scene. But fortunately he was talking to someone else and did not notice her. Now only Rosita is missing.

Monday, supermarket Japanese

No highlights - worked all day. Came out during lunch to try some Osaka sushi. 4-piece Philadelphia roll was 17LT (or $6.91). They also offered 8-piece Philadelphia roll, for 34LT for the math experts out there. One InYourPocket review said the experience of their Philadelphia roll is orgasmic. We weren't sure that we were up to uhh.. that thing, during lunch, with the kids and nanny involved. They could have asked for theirs you know. So we settled on the WOK.

However we did get our lucky break during dinner - Alicia's guests came over. We got pizza and cold beet soup and Inga brought a few supermarket rolls - cucumber and egg. She too is feeling deprivation. Georgia downed most of them. We know what we will eat for a week when we are back.

Merkinė, Medininkai & Belmont track

Today was great as well. We decided to go to the ruins of the Pavlovo Respublica. It was an interesting and, for a brief period of time successful experiment in democracy and utopia. On the way we stopped at a very nice church at Turgeliai. On the grounds there were some tall tree stumps. Georgia immediately requested to be put on top so she could pose from this pedestal. We obliged and then some lady from the neighboring yard started to scream that this is a sacred place and you cannot do it. I guess any further desecration from up there (use your imagination) is out of question.  

We got off the pedestal and kept going. Merkinė ruins are very nicely overgrown. Most of us were wearing skirts and were not equipped to go through the thick bushes of nettle. Dan was the best dressed. But curiosity was stronger than a few stings and we got to a few of those buildings. Oh, how we miss having a metal detector. They were awesome, absolutely delectable ruins. With crumbing cellars and everything. And most certainly not the safest structurally to hang around for the complete delight.

Isabella is wearing a proper treasure collecting attire... at least on her head :)

Next, Irina suggested Medininkai castle ruins some 15 km away at the Byelorussian border.

The castle wall and some of the buildings inside are already restored. But the work is still continuing and a lady who was impersonating the dog picture on the gates growled and did not let anyone in. Maybe she is a sister of the Turgeliai’s lady. We walked around a well walked path around the perimeter of the wall. Very pretty. Dan carried Isabella on his neck. As we were leaving we saw that the dog lady was not made of stone after all and let in an old LT sedan with some suspicious people in it. Maybe they will help her to dig for treasure.

There is an old St. Casimir’s church nearby that looks like Pagoda.

On the way home we stopped in the forest on the way and tried some berry picking. The forest was disgustingly dirty: broken bottles, boxes, you name it. It looked like a dumping ground. We got back in the car and drove a bit further and tried the other side of the road. Same thing. Really disgusting. I hope it does not happen to Kernave.

The next stop was Belmont. It is incredibly well developed area with restaurants, playgrounds, waterfall, ponds, gazebos, and other niceties to enjoy your time there. Very popular spot for the weddings or at least taking pictures for those who cannot afford the full package. We saw that a number of new things were added to the complex since our last visit.

But the real treat was the walk at the Belmont park along the Vilnyale river. It offers lovely views and a number of amusements along the way: hanging bridges, sundial, breathtaking cliff for watching and climbing, and more. Totally awesome. Georgia did tremendous amount of walking today. She has quite a stamina. Practically no whining.

Isabella decided to call it day even though it was 6:30pm. We thought we could wing it and rushed home. But then she woke up. And so we went outside for a walk and she walked for an hour outside, and we played at home, and now it is 11pm and she is still playing…

Saw a nice shed along the way. Dan said it is a good subject for demotivational poster: "Try as you might, end result is the same" :) Maybe we should offer it to demotivation.com

Kernave

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The New Resolution

Today was a very nice day. Georgia and I hanged out at the Coffee Hill in the morning and studied. Today, a waitress was in charge instead of the multilingual guy and on the account of no customers she watched Beoynce concert on her register computer. It was blasting and she was watching it transfixed. 

Kids had created a few challenges for Irina today, but everyone had a great day. Gross details shared upon request.

In the evening Dan and I walked around the city for several hours. It seems emptier than in prior years. And compared to the hustle and bustle and diversity of Tallinn almost provincial. Even the stags are low profile if not missing all together. Maybe the trick is to go to a city who had been declared Europe’s Capital for a year.

This poor fountain does not have enough power left in it to whip up some bubbles.

Went to Sushi House on Vilniaus gatve. It has a few cute local elements – no chopsticks, spider roll means salmon and tuna roll, they serve food with scallions. I’ve asked for the coke to neutralize the poisons but they only have gazillion versions of green tea and juice in the plastic cans. At least no dill like in the prior years. It was so enjoyable to eat sushi after a month of deprivation that we decided that we will systematically evaluate every single one in the remaining time here. Wish us luck and no poisoning.

We did see our homeless guy. He did not have the chance to change or take a shower yet since last year. He was moving too fast to get an updated picture. Rosita and America America guy are nowhere to be seen. Maybe in Palanga still?

 New sculpture in front of the library. Very pretty. Not sure what the sign says.

For those natural born Vilniees, apparently there is a metro station up here. We did not walk up there but looks pretty realistic.

Gediminas does  indeed cast a shadow on the lower castle. His arrow is pointing right to the gates. Maybe he is trying to say – open up?

A share of bachelor / bachelorette parties. Some girls made a poor driver of enormous limo drive around practically in circles on the Gediminas – Vilniaus gatve circuit. On the good note, he would be driving in circles if he was in Kaunas where the only venue is the main city square. 

Money Museum and Eateries

On Wednesday we went to the newly restored Money museum on Gediminas across the post office. It is the best museum of its sort that we had ever been too – lots of thought went into creating interacting exhibits that convey the subject matter in a way that will get even the most disinterested visitor really excited. Not like there were any visitors of that sort. And it is free, and they give out souvenirs. For example they have the scale that will measure your weight in the current value of gold, silver and Byelorussia money.  And they pull live figures off the Internet. If I was made of gold, my value would be in excess of $2,000,000. That’s an exciting additional reason to continue our gluttonous quest to which I am about to get. We also spoke with a curator – she was very engaging and knowledgeable and clearly loved her job very much.

So on to the food. Did our morning studying at Coffee Hill – the new opposition to Coffee Inn. Décor, taste, and pricing about the same. The guy at the bar spoke flawless English with a beautiful British accent, Russian and Lithuanian. So amazing.

Wishing many years of success to the Kibin Inn. I think we are starting to scare them with our repeat visits and predatory buying behaviors – we dropped in at 5:30 on Wednesday and bought off all the meat ones for our dinner with Natasha, Andrey, Alicia, Inga and Danik. Poor other customers J. They have perhaps 30 different kinds of kibinai.

Ekaterinburg crew were on the Kuronian spit last week and brought SMOKED FISH. I know it is a little lame to capitalize, but I meant it. Inga brought Israeli food goodies. So our weight in gold is probably well ahead of the market rate.

On other subjects, other than the dying playgrounds near St. Catherine’s and our backyard there are no functional playgrounds anymore in the old town – the ones in the park are all vandalized. Very sad. I wish someone would make them build new ones while they are in prison.

 Had dinner w. Vitalik’s family. It was very relaxing and pleasant. Ilyusha is very tall for his age tonight. Very nice kid. There was supposed to be an open air concept near St. Francis’ church and a great number of youths J gathered there but it started late and we left without waiting.

Visited Dominican church on Traku. I know it isn’t St. Peter’s in Rome but it is awe-inspiring. It is restored beautifully to show its age and history and wealth in a dignified way. Macabre frescoes are my type of thing. Walked down Literatu in the evening. Even more art on the walls. There was some kind of a corporate scavenger hunt doing on and young adults were running at deathly speeds and looking for something among those artworks. Dan was out after dark yesterday and he says that there were some lighting changes on the Cathedral square and now it looks like Gediminas statue is projecting a shadow on the lower castle.  

Dead or Alive tour

Today, we made a quick run to Trakai castle to confirm that it is there and kibinai are still as they used to be. Check out the sign on the left. Line 3 - I wonder who the target audience is :) As we parked on our typical spot in Trakai next to the large Church at the beginning of Karaimo street we noticed that the entire church yard is dug up. Several teams of men were doing excavations with metal detectors. By the look of how they all stopped at stared at us until we left it makes me think that not all of the artefacts found will make their way to the excavation catalogs.

After that we went on a general tour of checking what survived the winter in Vilnius. Here is the list. We did not actually go into all of them so cannot comment in more detail.

Gone

Double Coffee:  I will miss their luscious muesli breakfast

Ruma Namai: good riddance

Soup place in the alleyway off Gediminas – very sad

Still there

Coffee Inn, Vero Coffee had expanded in several locations, Wok the walk, McD, All Pizza places, Gusto Blini place near Austros Vartai still there, Indian near Cathedral Square, Bistro 18, White Elephant.

 

Newcomers

Coffee Hill, Kibin Inn, an interesting Asian restaurant decorated by the birch trees and having menus shaped like turtles, a few kebabai places and Italian restaurants. A new grill restaurant Kerchma opened up where Dubliner used to be. They also have outside terrace where there used to be a big hole in the ground next to Dominican. I wish they tried to restore the whole monastery complex instead of razing the parts of it and converting them into a parking lot. This is a pic of one of the last standing buildings in the complex. Looks like abandoned Chapel.  

There are more bookstores and they don’t all sell the same things. Office goods store, gourmet kids clothing store, bike rental on Vilnius gatve are all gone. We still did not see Rosita and our homeless guy yet. Though there is plenty of new faces of the same kind around.

 Visited Alicia. Spent some time talking with her outside. Even though she said that she only lays claim to 4 cats, we saw 5 line up for petting around her bench.

There was a free concert by Ozomatli near the city hall tonight. It was very nice. Large crowd gathered.

Digging through the pictures. Will put more out on prior blogs.