29th October - Vilnius, Lithuania
We arrived in Vilnius in the morning after a long bus ride, and realized that we had arrived in the Baltic States because of the blustery cold that greeted us when we stepped off the bus. We were tired and not quite awake when we arrived, but we quickly woke up when we stepped out into the zero degree (Celsius) weather. We quickly retreated into the bus station to escape the cold where we arranged to stay in another apartment and gathered information about our next train to Riga, Latvia.Vilnius, and all of Lithuania, have a bit of a hippie feeling, with a wacky counter culture population. For those who remember, the Grateful Dead had some ties to Lithuania, and sponsored their very good National basketball team that won a Silver medal in the Olympics while wearing tie-dyed jerseys. One of their best players played for the Warriors in Oakland for awhile too. This culture is evident in the part of town called Uzupius (possibly meaning utopia). This part of town, that is just across the river from the main downtown district, is actually a self declared independent republic with its own bill of rights. Hippies of an older generation, squatters, artists and drunks decided to break from Lithuania, and have formed their own community. They posted the Constitution on a wall inside their borders, and some of the 41 points included things like the right to make mistakes, to idle, to love, to be unique, to die (but this is not an obligation), to not be loved (but not necessarily), to hot water, to heating in winter & to a tiled roof, to be undistinguished and unknown, to love and take care of the cat. Their independent status is humored by the rest of Lithuania. We walked around the district for awhile, and didn't see anything that really held a candle to Haight Ashbury, but it was fun anyway. The district is a bit run down, so maybe they are contemplating a reunification effort with Lithuania soon.
Lithuanians are said to be flamboyant and overly dramatic, but we only saw evidence of this in their dress. The women wore knee high boots with jeans tucked in, fur rimmed hooded jackets, wild colors, styles and fabrics.
One third of Lithuania's population was killed either during the Nazi occupation or during the Soviet occupation. The former KGB HQ and prison in Vilnius serves as a museum and memorial to Lithuanians who were shot dead or tortured and then sent to Siberia during the late 1940s. Each stone in the building's walls contains a carved name of these victims. Meanwhile just a few blocks from here is the Zaliasis Tiltas (Green Bridge) where statues of Lithuania's Red Army comrades stand in tribute to the Communist past, and because the locals love these statues, they weren't torn down like the rest of the Lenins and other famous historical figure's statues in the rest of Vilnius.
Overall Vilnius is quaint and the architectural style that reigns here is Baroque. For the Baltics, Vilnius is very well priced. We had an excellent meal in one of the numerous cafes in the old city area. It consisted of fried rye bread served with a cheesy garlic dipping sauce, Cepelinai (meat balls served inside a potato pancake with mushroom sauce), and a really good beef stew. All the food they serve everywhere is hearty, but it all tastes great and is perfect for refueling on cold days. Since we were only in town for one full day, so we did not have the time to see much more than the old town and surrounding areas. Besides the strange story behind Uzupio, it was nothing much to write home about. We were expecting more counter culture and cafes, and they really weren't there in the numbers we expected. We couldn't even find the Frank Zappa monument, which was erected by his fan club in 1995 and is the only one of its kind in the world. However, it is a cheap place to eat good food and would probably be quite pleasant along the river during summer.
posted by The Blaus @ 11:27 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home