Crowne Plaza Vilnius

Eigentlich ist &#8222;Kommunismus" ein System, das viele Vorteile bietet. Vorausgesetzt es halten sich ausnahmslos alle an die Regeln. Wie die Erfahrung uns gelehrt hat und es noch heute tut, scheint das aber nicht so einfach zu sein.<br><br>Doch spurlos scheint er an Menschen nicht vorbeizugehen.<br><br>Ob es nun an dem Regime der Sovjet- Union oder an der allgemeinen Genetik der Balten liegt, von Zeit zu Zeit treibt es einen zur Raserei - und der Grund lauert in alltäglichen Situationen ...

We talked with Ivan for a little while – he’s pretty big into science and engineering, and while we were all in Warsaw there was a Science Fair of types in a couple of the parks downtown. He was CouchSurfing with someone in Warsaw and seemed pretty pleased with it, and we traded information afterwards and are now friends on the CS website in case I ever find myself in Lithuania again or if he wants to come to the US. Eventually we all decided to sleep, though ...

... difference, so we get into Warsaw around 11 pm. Don't expect a blog tomorrow night. Our guide, Chris, who will be picking us up at our hotel on Saturday morning emailed us & offered to pick us up at Warsaw bus station tomorrow night & take us to our hotel. That will be good. We'll take something to eat on the bus because apparently it is not likely to stop for any meals. And now we're going out to try to find a light snack for dinner/supper. Cheers, from Kerry & David in Vilnius

... ferry but it literally takes all of 5 minutes. Possibly the shortest ferry trip I have ever had. Once you get there you can rent bikes and cycle the length of the spit but it's nearly 60km long just on the Lithuanian side (it extends into Kaliningrad but of course it's Russia and you need a visa to enter). I got to the Curonian Spit later than I had planned so I just got a bus that drove down the length of it and ended up in one of the main towns down at the bottom end of it. Got to ...

... didn't enjoy ourselves in Vilnius, but this was not the case!We both thought it was a beautiful city, and would like to revisit again in a few years time, and I'm sure there will be much improvement, as there is definitely money being spent on it!We also had only one day to visit, so I'm sure given more time there is much more to see and do! Just one last stop at Trakai in Lithuania, then we'll be bidding farewell to the Baltics &amp; hello to sunny Poland (hopefully)!!

... so we bee lined for the closest nightclub we could find. It felt great to let the hair down as I hadn't been clubbing since I left Ireland. The nightclub was dark and dodgy looking but the music was pretty good. I think there must have been some open mike night for dj's, every half an hour there would be someone new spinning the disks. The music was dance but it was a bit tame compared to the clubs back home. I don't know if it was my dancing or if ...

... Eve and on weekends, and would not open even if your life were on the line, here King Profit comes to the fore above all else and a lot of things were in full throttle. Ruta's second-hand "Rover" had been parked still since the night before, or late afternoon, so it was, just like everything else that had not moved, covered with snow. Therefore we first did some cleaning on it, so at least windshields would be as they should. Then Ruta sat in the car and, naturally, couldn ...

... that our joke had backfired - word had gotten to some of Mary's other friends and the news spread like wildfire. We were beginning to wonder if it was all a mistake, but decided that there was nothing that could be done at this point. It would be best to tell everyone in person when we returned rather than send out another mass email. We hopped a bus to Trakai castle. Lunch was at Kybynlar - traditional Lithuanian ...

... First afternoon we organised our Warsaw train tickets (38 euro Iarnrod eireann take note) from here and once you find the right counter which is in fact a special glass office at one side and not a regualar ticket counter (but the ones at the ticket counter keep sending you from billy to jack and then shout at you!) they were pretty nice. So then we started our walking tour via the 'Gate of Dawn' where the revered image of the ...

... moved across the lake, almost capsizing a boat, and then as we left, the sun came out, lighting the castle perfectly. We had been well and truly won over to the place by the time we left, definitely another highlight. We caught the bus back, which took even longer than an hour in the traffic, and then went back to our hostel, and the awful dorm room. Luckily our only two room mates were a nice and friendly couple of English guys.