Holiday Inn Vilnius

... Major things to see:

- Aušros Vartai Street. The icon of The Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy is venerated in a chapel at the medieval gate at the top of this street
- take part in the Orthodox Mass - it takes about 3 hours but it's the most amazing experience
- there are about 40 churches in Vilnius and some of them are really beautiful
- Town Hall and the Royal Place is worth seeing
Vilnius, Lithuania ulka

2/16/09 Happy Independence Day Lithuania! I wake up and head to the very top floor to get ready. The bathroom up there had a heated floor and it was so nice. I get ready and start walking around. I stopped at a coffee place to have breakfast. I followed some tourists in so I knew the girl spoke English. Then I continued walking. There's not a whole lot to see today because it's a holiday and most things are closed. I did get to see a lot of ...

... bus. I took a mini bus to Trakai Castle, some 30 km away. It was the only castle on an island in Eastern Europe and had been the house of the Dukes of Lithuania. The castle was located in a beautiful little town, which was surrounded by three lakes. There were no seadoos, no big yachts, no motorboats, which made the area that much nicer. Other than that, it reminded me much like Canada, with very cold temperatures in the morning, hot in the evening, leaves falling ...

... spite of all, the museum generally grew and expanded, becoming the largest depository of the Lithuanian historical heritage along the way, having today in its departments almost million of exhibits stored. At the clearing in the park, in front of the museum itself, there was the Monument to Grand Duke Mindaugas, the same guy who had had the original cathedral built. Around the monument, in circular lay-out there were a number of wooden benches where quite a few people were sitting ...

... a tiny supermarket for those who couldn't survive an hour at a PC without a snack or a drink, and of a larger room where local kids mostly played video games, so the air was full of sounds of blasted flying saucers, slaughtered aliens and an occasional bell or buzz, marking a mission successfully accomplished. I was interested in email only. An hour and a half later back in the street again, it not only had not started raining again, but the sky cleared up. It was already seven thirty ...

... park surrounding the manor, with its thirteen ponds and statues of ancient goddesses. We nicely inspected all that, well, not all but rather what we could, regarding the fact that Uşutrakis was closed for visits and that the darkness was rapidly descending on Trakai. Once again I couldn't resist the call of the lake and had to walk on its frozen surface. My courage grew with every new occasion and every time I went further from the shore. Everything ended fine again, so Ruta and I ...

... were killed by the Red Army, the KGB and the various agencies at their disposal- the last forest brother was killed in 1980. Afterwards I went down into the basement of the building- the KGB prison, once you were in, there was little chance of ever leaving again. Amongst the normal cells were several other cells the KGB used to get the information they wanted-The padded cell, complete witha strait jacket to restrain those mad from torture, the solitary ...

... natural setting takes more of the spotlight. Add a spectacularly restored castle at the end of it all (and a charmingly ruined one along the way) and it's a great place to spend a couple hours poking around. There are both paddle and rowboats available for rent (along with more expensive, piloted ones) and the area appears perfectly set up for cycling as well. Unfortunately the rather changeable weather (it went from sunny to cloudy to blue skies to rain in quick succession) made ...

... hall but also that both of my roomates were snoring. So I just grabbed ear plugs, lifesaver!, and laid back down. Although it wasn't the best sleep it still worked. The next morning we all had breakfast at 8am/12am your time, and then we had our first class. I would like to say that our classes are going to be easy but Dr. LaFrance proved my worst fears valid. Not only does he call on you for random questions but the material we are covering will be covered very indepth. It is ...

I'm always trying to figure out what sucks more, losing a day to travel to the next destination or putting up with really ****** and uncomfortable sleep. I haven't figured it out yet. My bus left at midnight and got in at 5am into Vilnius. Booo. Not to mention the bus driver's assistant was being real shady about giving me change back. The ride cost 40 Litas, I only had a 100... so I gave him that. He ...