Le Meridien Villon Vilnius

... than us, as if we'd hijacked some sort of school trip. The driver also kept staring at us, as we were sitting in the front seats. At about 11pm, we randomly stopped in this seemingly abandoned car park in the middle of nowhere to change driver. The new driver looked a lot dodgier than the friendly old one, causing Tom to name him 'The Wallet Inspector', perhaps there to conduct a very unofficial inspection of our wallets and passports. But we were yet to experience ...

I have arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania since last night. Didn't really have too much time for sightseeing before sunset. So I checked into my hostel and had a nice chat with sev**al fellow travell**s from around the world and shared our travel exp**iences. Today I slept in til 9 am and I went to the Vilnius Cathedral. This cathedral is built back in 1600's but was partially destroyed during the Soviet occupation, now it is rebuilt aft ...

... Besides, I didn't mind. And even if I had, at the reception there was a long-haired girl in her late twenties, with her black hair very atypical for Lithuanian ladies, and easily one of the most attractive ones I'd seen around. Which in the Baltics was definitely no mean feat. I'm not one of those who shy away from friendly chats, but whoever knows me, also knows that I am not the one who initiates them. It's simply not in my character. And I don't chat up the girls I've never seen ...

... hobbling. While we'd been in the museum the sun had come out, so I wanted to take some more photos of Vilnius, in case this is "as good as it gets". We went into more churches & walked around more streets, before eventually going down into the Rimi supermarket & buying some water, apple juice & cheese & crackers. Then we came back to the hotel for some time out before dinner. For dinner we went to Markus ir Ko - supposedly Lithuanian style food. I had roast veal with ...

... countries a reason enough to look down at this new-comer on the world scene. Fortunately, it said nothing about Lithuania. It rather spoke volumes about those who regarded it that way. For, just as an example, at one point in history, some time in the 19th century, the number of students at Vilniaus Universitetas exceeded that of the Oxford University. Sure enough, and regrettably so, times in such a small country and for such a small people like Lithuanians are seldom rosy for ...

... will possess. In its own way, it was refreshing to see no popcorn, bubble gums, sweets, Coca-Cola and everything else that today you "can't" go to the movies without, and which in fact has got nothing to do with the film itself. Everyone knows which purpose it actually serves. Those rare survivors like "Skalvija" still served the purpose for people who went to the movies because of films and nothing else. The same ticket-selling lady shut the window at one point, unlocked the theatre ...

... or to be precise - late in the evening, with a few hours' delay, I arrived at the Vilnius International Airport on a LOT flight from Warszawa. The reason for that delay was, of course, winter and the fact that Frederic Chopin Airport in Warszawa had been closed earlier for air traffic for several hours due to bad, snowy weather. But all's well that ends well - even Shakespeare knew that - so at the end of the day I arrived, after four months, once again in ...

Victory at last! I finally have a visa for the Russian Federation in my passport. Perseverance and patience actually do pay off when dealing with infernal bureaucracy. While it sounded like things were a go when I last talked to the travel agent, the skeptic in me wouldn't believe it until I actually had the thing in my hands. I'm about $200 poorer for it, but at least now my travel plans can go ahead. The other ...

... claimed that they had not manually milked a cow in years and the cow would probably not be all that happy if they tried. The country side itself was incredibly beautiful with hills, lakes, fields and similarly to Poland, tons of storks. We got to Vilnius around 8 PM, and started looking for a place to sleep. Weather was not cooperating, as it was raining, and trying to navigate the many narrow, cobbled and one way streets of Old Town was difficult. We found the only ...

Well...this morning Meghan and I cooked a wonderful breakfast. Eggs with green peppers, onions, and mushrooms. Also some cheese and salami Russian style! (that just means on bread). We really didn't have much else to do, so we played on the internet a bit... and chatted with some American girls who are headed in the direction we just came from. It was nice. At around noon we decided to go get our bus tickets to Warsaw, Poland where we are ...