HC party central
Trip Start
Jan 17, 2006
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54
58
Trip End
Dec 01, 2006
Vilnius,
Lithuania
Friday, November 17, 2006
So anyway my time in Vilnius started with an annoying twist that made me quite angry. The worst feeling is when you know you are being ripped off, but you just have no bargaining chip to use - I just wanted to get from the bus station to the hostel and I had no map, it was cold and it was 1am. So I ask the taxi driver and he says he will take me there and quotes me 10Lt which is about AU$5 and I just say yes because of the day I have had
From a far
. We get in and he drives to a round about and goes around like 4 times and then drives to the hostel which was 200m from the bus station! THE BASTARD. He was taking the absolute piss out of me and then when I went to pay I gave him a 50 and he started yelling about it - does he think that at 1am in the morning, I have time to change my 50 from the ATM? And a 50 isn't even worth that much - it is like giving someone a $20 in Australia.So I get the hostel and I check in - it was quite bizarre, the first thing I see when I walked into reception was a picture of my housemate, Aaron, from Berlin - it was such a surprise - not only was it a pic of someone I had just seen the week before, but he looked like a scared cat with a piece of cheese in his hand...I met some English dude there who I had met at the hostel in Riga too where I was drinking, also a strange cooincidence. When I went to my room to get into bed I pulled out the sheets that they had given to me (and charged me for) and it was like two tea-towels. They didn't cover the bed at all, there was no pillow case and no doona case - I went back to reception to ask for some actual sheets and not dish-cloths, but they said thats all there was and not to use a sleeping bag - sounds retarded to me, but I've slept in worse conditions. So I slept and then when I woke up I had this Canadian guy saying something to me, which I've now forgotten, but he thought it was really funny and he kept saying it to me - I can't recall a situation where I have been lost for words like this, but all I could do was stare back at him strangely. I checked out as soon as I could.
When I went to find my first host from HC I had to buy a calling card because the public phones there don't take coins - this is their way of scamming tourists for money because they know you will never use all the credit
Lithuanian instrument
. Anyway when I buy this card I have my first experience with the 'Kiosk ladies'. My host, Simonas, described them something like this: "they are the most mysterious creatures in all of Lithuania...you never see them, hear them; all you do is say what you want and the hands pass it to you. They are like a vending machine with Soviet manners". These kiosks only have a small window down at waist level and then all the glass window is covered by objects like cigarettes and newspapers and chocolate bars, so if you want to actually see their face and talk to them, you really have to bend over. They don't like to be seen and when I did this she started yelling at me and waving her arms. Anyway after much screaming and hullabaloo, I get my card, call Simonas and meet him in the old town. My first experience with the Vilnius public transport was quite interesting - they have many different types of bus in Lithuania - the normal bus, the trolley bus and the mini bus. The mini bus is what I took and it was the famous minibus 5. These are the drivers that are notorious for being the craziest drivers in Vilnius. The mini bus is just a van with 12 seats in it and they are quite mobile - the drivers swerve onto the wrong side of the road frequently and slam on the brakes and all sorts of nonsense, but it is sort of fun. At my first HC house, I stayed with Simonas and Alina, his fiancee - it was nice and we had some chats about stuff
QUACK!
. We also went to a place called Trakai, which was the original capital of Lithuania many moons ago. There was a castle and I had these things that were like meat pies - the taste was sooooo welcome.My next host, Viktorija, was the one who was going to show me the people in Vilnius who I would come to love being with. She is an incredibly active HC member and meets with others on a daily basis it seems. She was also very nice to be around - we had a similar sense of humour and got along instantly like old mates - this was the best thing, being able to joke and be silly and having it reciprocated. Her job was a lawyer, so we didn't get to spend time during the day, but at night there was always something to do. A couple of times we went Lithuanian folk dancing which was awesome, but the second time was a bit strange. The first time we made fools of ourselves (well I did anyway) as we tried to learn these dances. Out of 50 people who were at this dancing lesson, there were no less than FIVE Australians there - what the hell is going on? I really cannot escape home, even if I want to. It wasn't all bad though as they were all pretty cool people and we taught the class the Heel And Toe which ended in disgrace haha.
Over the time that I spent in Vilnius I came to recognise some HC members that have just been hanging around and not leaving - if I had more time and more money I would also do the same because it is totally addictive - especially if you are in this circle of cool party-people
Reflections off the river at night
. One Italian bloke had been hanging around for months I heard and kept finding excuses not to go home - I personally found him extremely annoying, but different strokes for different folks. I am actually considering coming here to teach English and live one day - I don't know if this will ever happen though; I'm a little concerned about the crap amount of money that one earns living there. I worked out that an normal wage for the month is what I earn in two days at home, so I think it could be worth saving up money and then just coming here and living for fun.So something about the city would be nice for you I suppose - I have noticed in my blogs of late that I am always leaving this section, the bit you actually care about, to the end because for me the whole experience is now about HC. The old town in Vilnius is not as impressive as that of Bruges or Valencia or other places, but it is the biggest old town in Europe. The cool thing about that is that the city doesn't feel like some cheap facade, but it feels like it is really as it has always been. There are all sorts of restaurants and bars and banks and everything in the old town, so you don't have to look around too hard for anything - I like this. With this accessibility also comes the charm of the classic old town - churches and cobble-stoned roads and nice buildings etc. The history of the city is quite cool, but you can Wikipedia that for yourself, or go to Simonas, my HC host, who gave me an excellent tour
The main street in Vilnius
. Along with the old buildings are also ultra modern structures including this bridge to the north of the city that looks like it is twisted, but it is meant to be like that obviously. The genocide museum of Lithuania is situated in Vilnius and I went there alone which turned out to be quite a creepy experience. The top was like many of the museums of this nature with artifacts and videos and powerful quotes, but underneath was an authentic KGB jail which had been museumified (yes that is a made up word). They had cells like the solitary and the padded cell and so on. The bit that sort of freaked me out was the excecution chamber down into the ground. The whole jail was empty except for me and the execution chamber was deep into the complex. I went down there and it has been made superbly - there is mood lighting, pictures, shoe prints and everything. The most moving part about it was that there was a soundtrack coming out of these hidden speakers - the sound was a montage of screaming, hearts beating and other randomly disturbing sounds. Put together, they inspired me to get out as soon as I could. Whoever made it is a genius because they really captured the spirit of the room. I recommend this as something you have to visit when you are in Europe.
The food in Vilnius is quite cool and matches the feel of the city - the trendy fast food pizza restaurant 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!
