Labas, everyone! Figured before I leave Lithuania (in two hours), I should at least quickly give you an update of what my visit was like. I somehow knew that I would really enjoy a visit to Lithuania but I had no idea that I would have SUCH a fantastic time. Over the last two weeks, I had a chance to meet tons of relatives, see interesting parts of my heritage and really get a feel for the Lithuanian lifestyle. Two thumbs up. I love it here and can't WAIT to come back someday.
Day 1- Arrived here around 2pm, met Asta & Ramune and their adorable mini-schnauzer Sky, took a long walk around Vilnius (they live right in Old Vilnius-awesome location.).
Day 2- Learned how to decorate authentic Lithuanian easter eggs from the woman in town who is most famous for her decorating abilities. I'll put up a post later with details, so you try to repeat the process; it's very different than the American way! My teacher said that I have a natural talent for this method of decorating the eggs & kept asking if I do any drawing or painting at home. Hilarious, if you know me. I'm the least artistic person I know. Or so I thought... after Easter egg decorating, we picked up fresh bread & cheese & veggies at the "eco-market" (farmer's market) and then my cousin Vejas from California picked me up and I had lunch with him and his new wife and their hilarious Russian friend, Katya. After lunch and some shoe shopping (flip-flops and running shoes weren't going to cut it in a trendy and cold city like Vilnius), I met Richard back at Asta's place. Richard is 29 and his mother is the accountant at Asta's office. Since he's close to my age, speaks a little English and is currently unemployed, he was assigned as my tour guide for Vilnius. He took me to the apartment of his friend Vladas, who is an up and coming artist in Lithuania. Very impressive stuff. http://vladasart.com/
The three of us went to Cafe Paris for dinner & then I headed home. Long day!
Day 3- Asta was generous enough to hire an actual professional tour guide for me; we walked all over the city for about four hours and she took me into places that require a guide, like the catacombs below the main cathedral in town. Afterward, Ramune made Lithuanian Potato Pancakes (yum!) and then Richard picked me up to take me to his friend's 24th birthday party. Such a great night, but pretty ironic too. Guess how a Lithuanian girl celebrates her birthday? She throws a house party, makes a bunch of finger foods, buys beer/vodka/chasers, makes a new playlist on her ipod and invites all of her friends over. Pretty sure that is almost EXACTLY how my friends and I have all celebrated our birthdays for the past few years. Everyone was incredibly friendly & wanted to know all about life in California. Too much fun.
Day 4- We packed up the car and headed to Ukmerges and Hill of Crosses. Hill of Crosses is about three hours from Vilnius and Ukmerges is about half-way between. In Ukmerges, we visited the house and grave of Simonas Baskauskas, my great-grandfather. Currently, Inga and her husband live in the house and haven't been able to afford to make too many improvements on the house, so its almost in the same condition as it was when Simonas lived there. Inga made us some blackberry tea, from the bushes outside and chopped up some honeycomb to suck on as a snack. She told me what she remembered about my great-grandfather and his son, Vytautas. They were both very generous and sweet men and Vytautas was apprently very handsome and always incredibly well-dressed. Go team Baskauskas. After visting Simonas' grave, we headed up to Hill of Crosses. Amazing and overwhelming- hard to even explain it with words. There are about 100,000 crosses on this one small hill in Siauliai; the first crosses were put there in 1831, but more recently, during the Soviet era, Hill of Crosses took on new meaning as a way of peaceful resistance against Russia. It is common for people to bring their own cross when them when they visit and leave it there, which is how it grew to be such a huge demonstration. Very impressive and beautiful site- I highly recommend a visit, if you're ever in Lithuania.
After Hill of Crosses, we stopped in Panavezys to visit some more relatives. Asta had asked them to make an authentic Lithuanian meal for me, so we had lots of potatoes, fish, Lithuanian black bread & homemade moonshine. The father's friend had made it, so denying the drink would have been a huge insult. Instead, I took a shot every time he offered one to me. 5 or 6 shots later... it was cake time. Ramune made a delicious Devil's Chocolate layer cake. It was such a hit that she ended up making it THREE more times this week, since relatives had heard rave reviews and wanted to try it. Not mad about that at all.
Day 5- Easter! Went to Easter mass at St. Anne's church with Asta, where we actually sat about 5 rows away from the former President of Lithuania. Very cool. The service was in Lithuanian, but I really enjoyed it. About halfway through the mass, the sun broke out from behind the gray clouds and came beaming through the windows of the church. Magical. After mass, we had Easter Brunch at Ramune's mom's apartment. Food, food and more food. And more of the chocolate layer cake. Two thumbs up. After brunch, one of my distant cousins (Solveiga) and her boyfriend came by to pick me up and take me out. We visited Belmontas, which is a park with bridges and walk paths and a small cafe- a great place to visit after eating and eating and eating... after a hike through Belmontas, they took me to the TV Tower, where we had a beer and enjoyed the view from 1071 feet above ground. The TV Tower was the site of a tragedy in 1991 when 14 unarmed civilians lost their lives and 700 were injured opposing the Soviet military seizure of the tower. Nowadays, its a bittersweet reminder of the Soviet era with a nice view of the city.
Day 6- Asta and Ramune took me to a Lithuanian Heritage Festival! We walked all around the park, visiting the examples of different houses from various regions of Old Lithuania. We sampled homemade honey beer, sausage made from potato and potato/meat dumplings called Zepelins. Delicious!
Day 7- Richard and Vladas took me to Trakai for the day. Trakai was built in the 1400's and is a gorgeous castle built on an island. We walked around, took pictures and had a nice little visit. On our way back to Vilnius, we grabbed some beer and a bite to eat and then visited six (yes SIX) museums/galleries for the rest of the afternoon. Blame it on the fact that I was with a local artist? He kept insisting we "had" to see this one more exhibit... but it was great and I had a blast with Richard & Vladas. And now I know more about Lithuanian art than I ever thought was possible!
Day 8- Solo day. Walked around Vilnius, got caught up with some of my blogging/photo uploading, shopped a bit (I found a Zara! yay!) & got some reading done. By the way, HIGHLY recommend The Book Thief- awesome read.
Day 9- Day trip to Ryga, Latvia for the day with Richard and his sister Renata. Lengthy post about that later. Had a fantastic time.
Day 10- Was a gorgeous day, so I spent most of it outside, walking around Vilnius and getting some sun. Had lunch with Asta and Ramune at their place and then went out with Richard, Vladas and their friends at night. We went to the opening of a club called X Factory, which until about 2 weeks ago was a gay club called Men's Factory. Pretty sure the bar staff didn't get the memo about the change, since they were all wearing white speedo shorts with gold suspenders & sailor hats. REALLY bummed I forgot my camera that night.
Day 11- Went to the flower market with Asta and Ramune, since we had to pick up flowers as gifts for Uncle Jonas' 80th birthday later that night. I am obsessed with the Lithuanian tradition of giving people flowers every time you visit them. Flowers here are more beautiful but less expensive and for about $10 US dollars, I picked up a gorgeous bouquet of tangerine colored roses for Uncle Jonas. Later that evening, we headed out to his birthday party, which was at a Chinese restaurant in Vilnius. Sweetest and happiest and HEALTIEST old man you've ever met. We didn't speak the same language, but Asta was a fantastic translater for us. Its standard for each guest of the birthday party to give the birthday boy a toast, so I toasted him after dinner and Asta was able to translate it for him. Very special moment. During the dinner, I met a few of my "cousins" (our great-grandparents were cousins, so the relation is pretty distant) who spoke English. One of them, a gorgeous little 15 year old girl, is a professional dancer in Ireland and recently placed 9th out of over 200 couples in a European Ballroom Dance competition- so cool! Two of the boys offered to take me to Pacha (European club chain) in Vilnius, so at about 1am when the party was over, Asta dropped us off at Pacha. Had an absolute blast partying until about 6am, when we headed back to Uncle Jonas' house to crash on his sofas in his living room. For about an hour before we went to bed, I played clips of American music for them on Uncle Jonas' computer while we drank champagne. I think I sold them on Gavin Degraw. =) But their favorite song was "Players Club" by Rappin' 4 Tay.
Day 12- Asta and Ramune picked me up at Uncle Jonas' the next day with a fresh change of clothes & some sparkling grapefruit juice. They really are the best Moms I could ever ask for. They took me to Europa Park outside of Vilnius, where they have an annual membership, and we went for a small (flat!) hike around the park while Sky ran circles around us for about three hours.
Day 13- Today, I leave Lithuania. Ramune's mom is cooking some homemade Zepelin's for me right now and then I'll head to the airport. I've had SUCH a fantastic visit to Lithuania, all thanks to my awesome hostesses, Asta and Ramune. I already can't wait to come back - Kate and I are hoping for a Lithuania/Estonia roadtrip sometime in the next few years.
Now its on to Copenhagen for a few days before I fly to Thailand on the 20th!!
Literally having the time of my life. <3 Thanks again to all of you for your support and love from back home!
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