I don’t know what happened to today. I was determined it was going to be a nice relaxed day but somehow or another I came back to my digs totally exhausted. A bit too much of the ‘I’ll just pop in there, I’ll just do a quick detour here’ and suddenly the day is over and I could hardly struggle home.
It was a gorgeous sunny day, the first in ages, with the temperature in the mid 30s. That in itself makes life exhausting when travelling. But I’m definitely not complaining as tomorrow is forecast to rain all day. Best enjoy it while you’ve got it. I set off after my coffee to find the Tourist Office, a task that took half the day to achieve. Firstly it had moved, but secondly as I wondered off to find it I got waylaid. First a ‘must see’ church, St Johns. In I went, oblivious to the fact that it was Sunday. No worries, I can sit through a church service while taking in the church itself. So I thought. But it was a very chummy, all-embracing bloody church and before I knew it I was being blessed, hand shaken and hugged. Shit I was embarrassed. I didn’t know what to do with myself except the old pretend to be invisible trick that they weren’t having a bar of. And the service went for at least an hour. Then they came along with the offering bag thingo. I looked blank and they had the decency to move on. Was it worth it? Not really, lovely blue stain glass reminiscent of San Chappelle.
The church is in the same complex as the University of Vilnius, another must see item I thought I should pay attention to. Nice quads/ cloister type buildings. Then I could hear drum rolls so I went in that direction which fortuitously led me to the Presidential Palace and the changing of the Guard. Funny looking guards with tin helmets and very serious flag raisings. Even the Presidents Palace is draped in the yellow and Blue. And while I’m on that subject I’ve sent a photo to show you the buses which all have the destination alternating with ‘Vilnius – I tried to insert a heart here but failed, you’ll just have to look at the photo-Ukraine.
I finally found the Tourist Office and it was closed for an hour. WTF. Fortunately there was a restaurant next door so I got an O/J and a bowl of soup. At the Tourist Office I booked to go to TraKai Castle on a mini bus tomorrow. It’s a gorgeous fairytale castle but as I said, it’s forecast to rain all day. Some luck.
Then I went to explore the sights in that area, the top end of town. The Cathedral (tick) and the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. The palace was huge. A magnificent Museum but it gave the history of every Duke from 1200 onwards. How could I possibly retain this information. What I got from it was that Lithuania was quite a player in its time, was joined or aligned to Poland and was constantly marrying and fighting for territory. Russia and Sweden played a big role in trying to grab territory etc etc.
That took ages. Then behind the Palace is the Gediminas Hill. A shitload of climbing involved there. But wait, there is a Funicular. So, with one last burst of steam and effort I headed off to find the bloody thing to transport me magically up the hill. When I finally found it, it was out of operation. SHIT.
So back I plodded with the unhappy task of having to get back to the other side of town. After I got up the hill ( I mean street incline, not the real hill) on the way back, I stopped for a Spritz. Then I went on a bit further and stopped for dinner (it was 6pm by then) at a French Restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet. That was a quick way to spend a lot of money. And I got stung by a wasp…that hurt, literally!!
Oh and I forgot, to my complete surprise a group of Hari Krishnas Hari Haried through town in front of me today. I could hardly believe it. I thought theyd hari’d away about 40 years ago. I sent a photo just to prove it actually happened.
That’s it for another day. Love you all xxxxx