Naujasis Vilnius

... the beef steak as it seemed the most normal, accompanied with 5 large fried potato wedges and......wait for it......pickled vegetables. Yes, pickled vegetables. This brought it all back from my previous visit here when I was intrigued by pickled vegetables. Now I dont want you thinking that I had pickled carrots or pickled peas and such, no, the king of vegetables here is the ...

... is a mix of speeches/lectures and songs which the crowd new. After the first hour, it got a little old (history professor, politician &#8230;.). The best part was watching the crowd. <br><br>Costs in Lithuania (at least Vilnius) are closer to the US than inexpensive Poland. I am sure cheaper than Scandinavia but doesn't feel like a bargain. Prices are up about 1/3 from my Lonely Planet dated 2 years ago. <br><br>In case anyone is wondering, I am 11 hours ahead of Denver.

... come out of classes & there were a lot more people around. We heard occasional English, sometimes quite accented, so obviously English becomes a common language for people from different lands. After the university I was trying to explain to David what was behind my mood - but I didn't know, so how could I explain. We stumbled across another bookshop & went in. I asked the same question as before, was again told no, but in this case I did find some books that came close ...

... place. Here the locals buy everything from clothes and shoes to fruit and veg. Interesting to see. After this we passed through the border which now these countries are in the EU was an open border. Another 2 hours drive we came into Vilnius. We are now waiting for our luggage to arrive at our room after which we have dinner in the hotel and then hope to go for a stroll across the river to the old town. So nothing of real excitement to report. I'll update photos later.

... a remote forest outside of Vilnius. The French National Geographic Institute discovered in 1989 that the geographical center of Europe was at this location so Gintaras Karosas spearheaded the construction of a park. It was like a scavanger hunt trying to locate more than 100 sculptures in this forested park designed by artists from more than 70 countries. There were some poorly defined trails which I used as I tried to follow the hand-drawn map given to visitors. I think the point is to ...

... two. I did however pass on some essential knowledge, a card game called '********'. I've played it all over the world with people from countries all over the world. Everyone might know it by a different name or slightly different rules but it's a great ice breaker in hostels. I'm not joking, a deck of cars is one of the first things I think to pack when I'm getting ready for the off. I was taught the game by some lads I lived with in college years ago ...

... multiplex cinema centres in Vilnius we picked "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". From the viewpoint of Ruta's place location, this film was shown in "Forum Plaza", the nearer of the two. Christmas evening was less pleasant than the night before, but we just parked and hopped over to a centre which, as it had been a trend in the west, served a purpose of not only a shopping, but also a leisure complex. Advantages of living in small towns like mine ...

... Lithuania is quite the basketball power house. Who knew? The following morning was less revelrous, with rain and cloudy skies, but I set out to visit the old town anyway. Vilnius has the largest old town of the Baltic states, with abundant baroque architecture. First stop was the univeristy and its 13-interconnected courtyards and 14th century church. The passageways reminded me of the tunnels connecting Canadian universities in winter and were interesting enough to wander. I ...

... EUR (29,34 Lt) Tuneliai Austrijoje. - 38,50 EUR (132,90 Lt) Pranc&#363;zijos autosrados. - 44,10 EUR (152,23 Lt) Italijos autostrados. Parkavimo mokes&#269;iai 59,72 Lt Keltas Venecijoj 155,34 Lt - 6 asmenys &#303; abi ...

... CiliPica litters the city with outlets and then there are lots of cool restaurants that make these Lithuanian dumplings. They are basically meat with this spongy white stuff around them - I can't work out what the spongy white stuff is, but it is very nice. I'm not a fan of pork, so I just tried a little bit. Anyway, thats all I have to say about Vilnius, other than you should definately go see it: the old town and don't forget the hideously ugly Russian style apartment blocks too! Yay!