for the rest of the trip, our mode of transportation is a private touring bus. this enables us to explore the countries in more depth and visit places unreachable via public transportation. we have a private driver named griss or something like that. last name bear … grizzly bear. ba-dum. he is a fine driver. helpful with the luggage. poor guy waits for us everywhere we visit and whiles away the time by playing suduko.

we woke up early to get started on a full day of visiting different sites in Latvia and Lithuania. i didn’t sleep very well all night. had some crazy dreams. that often happens when i am sleeping away from my bed. all i know is that my sister should watch out for the dragon. i also got the crazy idea to get my family’s coat of arms tattooed on my shoulder. guess my mind is playing with the medieval scenery. my family coat of arms is three beer bottles at a diagonal on one side and the other side is a bottle opener.

the itinerary for today consisted of a visit to an 18th century palace, delve into our spiritual side, chill out at a beach resort town on the coast of lithuania, and sleep near another seaside town called klaipeda.

rundale pils

We left Riga in the early morning heading south toward pilsrundale. a town in the countryside where the rundale palace (in latvian, rundale pils) is located. the drive consisted of another stretch of basically flat farmland. this time i took pictures to show how exciting it really is.

Rundale Palace was built in the 18th century by an Italian master, Bartolomeo Rastrelli, for a German baron Ernst Johann von Bühren who was the chief adviser (and lover) to the empress of Russia, Anna of Courland. He began building Rundale while Anna ruled Russia, but when she died, von Bühren’s enemies sentenced him to exile in Siberia. Rundale wasn’t completed and left to ruin.

After 22 years, Catherine the Great, a German in the Russian throne, allowed von Bühren to return and finish Rundale, also restoring the parts that decayed during the time. Rastrelli returned with two colleagues. While the initial design was in baroque style, Rundale was completed in 1768 in a newer rococo style. The palace has seen many owners and at one time was a school. Today it is a historical museum and the organization is in search of the original furniture that once decorated the palace.

The grounds surrounding the palace had the appearance of being a farm. the palace was in the middle of nowhere with only a few houses in the vicinity. We walked up the long path leading to the palace. After crossing a bridge, the yellow and white palace came into view. It was a massive three story structure with one hell of a gated entrance. on top of one of the chimneys was a stork’s nest. at one point during the tour, i was able to take a picture of it (featured on below). we walked around to the side to enter the palace and meet our tour guide.

the tour consisted of viewing the various rooms, such as the bedroom, the bathroom, sitting rooms, ballroom, etc. what is with all the babes in 18th century art? babies playing the flute, picking flowers, baby’s heads, babies with wings. the place was covered in art featuring babies.

the chandeliers were not that incredible although i specifically took pictures of all the chandeliers i saw.

i know this may sound strange, but i like the staircase. each step is about 4 inches high, and it wraps around a large room. if the steps were any closer, the staircase would have been a slide.

after the tour concluded, we went to the gardens in the rear of the palace to eat some snacks we bought in town and enjoy the grounds. the landscaping was beautiful with a secret garden kind of bush walls, tunnels, and hidden alcoves.

the wind was blowing really hard and the cloud cover looked like rain, but it didn’t start until we had made it back to the bus.

overall, the palace is an amazing place to visit, and I would recommend it due to its history and location. however if you have seen the biltmore estate in the NC mountains, then i was much more impressed by the biltmore than rundale.

hill of crosses

ok, border crossing. we are entering lithuania. a new country, a new flag, a new language and a new currency. before making our way to the hill of crosses, we stop in a small town to exchange currency.
in one of the previous posts, i had discusses the joys of dealing with a new currency. the exchange rate was 2.4 us dollars to 1 lit. so, we divide the cost in half to arrive at the us dollar equivalent. in latvia, it was double, in lithuania, its half. after spending a day in lithuania, the country is the cheapest out of the countries we have visited.

after exchanging currency, we visited the hill of crosses. the main story behind the origins of the hill of crosses is a father who, in a desparate attempt to cure his sick daughter, planted a cross on the hill. the daughter was never cured, but the hill became a symbol of hope based on the father’s actions. during the soviet occupation, lithuanians planted crosses on the hill as a symbol of hope and suffering. the soviets punished whomever planted a cross on the hill, but people continued to plant crosses on the hill. the hill was bulldozed several times, but crosses continued to appear on the hill. by the 1990s, the hill of crosses comprised 40,000 crosses. in 1993, Pope John Paul II celebrated mass here and planted a papal cross with his own message.

Thank you, Lithuanians, for this Hill of Crosses which testifies to the nations of Europe and to the whole world the faith of the people of this land.

we parked next to an old soviet bunker that was used to spy on the hill. it had been remodeled with vendor stands and information center. john and i bought crosses for 1 lit and began walking toward the hill. the sky was dramatic with low hanging clouds and the wind was blowing incredibly hard, which is obvious by the shape of the tree in the picture to the right.

it is hard to describe the effect on walking up to the hill of crosses. the hill has overflowed into the surrounding areas and stretched far in both ways. the pope’s cross stood alone in front of the hill of crosses. the hill wasn’t very tall at all but the amount of crosses was just incredible. the wind whipped through the crosses causing them to rattle and the effect was even more sobering. the hill had alleyways of crosses, which reminded me of a cemetery. big crosses were adorned with smaller crosses. one massive cross had fallen, which was understandable given the current wind speed. most of the crosses were wooden so no striking a match in this area, even if you could with the wind.

the climax of the hill was at the top with a statue of the virgin mary surrounded by piles of crosses. it looked like a junkyard of crosses. flowers were laid in front of her. this was where john fastened the cross with his deceased mother’s name in memory of her. i fastened my cross to a bigger cross somewhere in the mix. i didn’t apply much importance to where it went as long as it went somewhere on the hill.

the atmosphere around the hill of crosses had a heavy symbolic feeling. the rattling of the crosses added to the profound sensation. after witnessing john’s memorial to his mother, i began to see other crosses with names on them. the effect was somewhat depressing but in contrast uplifting by displaying a memorial for the deceased loved one.

the hill of crosses is fascinating and amazing. the setting, in the middle of large field, and powerful wind blowing across the field was nothing short of incredible. a definite highlight on the trip. not to dilute the experience but it is also a UNESCO world heritage site.

palanga

we left the hill of crosses and headed southwest toward the coast of lithuania to visit a beach resort town called palanga. on the way, adam told us about how the lithuanians despise the russians. in an effort to reduce the dependence on the russian energy supply, they have started setting up wind generators in their fields. after feeling the power of the wind at the hill of crosses, i would say that’s not a bad idea. also, it is good for the environment.

i fell asleep in the bus and woke up surrounded by trees with everyone getting ready to visit the town. palanga has a massive botanical garden with an amber museum in the middle of it. we decided to not explore plant life and check out the town and beach.

i hate visiting a beach town when it is cold. it’s depressing. nothing is really open. the sun and heat take the vibe away, and since the town is centered around the summer, there’s not much to do. the ocean was fierce and the wind was so strong that i wouldn’t have been surprised if a hurricane was approaching. palanga has a very long pier with nothing on it. as we walked on a small part of it, a polar bear man was playing in the surf.

we walked on the main drag and the place reminded me of myrtle beach. it had a small amusement park, video games on the side of the road, restaurants, bars, and souvenir shops; all the elements for a tacky boardwalk. we walked to the end and back looking for a restaurant, and finally we decided to eat at the cilli pica. adam, the tour leader, was there reading his book, and he joined us.

it was fun sitting with adam and hearing the stories from the different tours he has led. he has been a tour guide for quite some time. he lived in egypt and jordan for 2 years before heading to india to work with another tour company. he went back to school to work on his phd in tourism and is now leading tours to collect data for his thesis. at least, that’s what i think he is doing after putting everything together from various conversations. he is a well-read, witty irish lad who is fun to talk to.

at cilli pica, which looks like a chilis, i had a pizza and a local brew called svyturys, can’t pronounce it, but it was ok. like having a bud, but much stronger.

after a while, we headed back to the meeting point to catch the bus and travelled down to klaipeda. we stayed at a reval hotel chain outside of klaipeda. the location was the closest to the port to cross over into the curonian spit, which we were going to visit the next day.

the hotel was decked out in ikea looking furniture and the bedroom lights were red, white and green. very strange. however, they had free wireless. hell yea! i skipped the idea of exploring klaipeda and worked on the site until bedtime.

this day was filled with a bunch of moving around. the palace was enjoyable to visit, the hill of crosses was powerful, and the seaside beach town was nice to experience. tomorrow, we head into the curonican spit, which is a huge sand strip jutting into the baltic sea (think outer banks) where we will visit the hill of witches, a huge sand dune, and a fishing village before heading inland to Kaunas.