ugh. the 7:00am wake up came way too early, although on the positive, there was a dramatic sunrise with lots of clouds. i was so lethargic that i am surprised i was able to shower, pack, eat breakfast and get on the bus before falling asleep again.

today was exploring an area called the curonian spit national park, another unesco world heritage site for being a cultural landscape. the spit is a forested sand dune that stretches from lithuania to the tiny piece of russia on the coast of the baltic sea and creates the curonian lagoon. after exploring several parts of the spit, we would drive to kaunas, lithuania’s second biggest city.

to travel onto the spit, our bus boarded a car ferry that took us a very short distance across the water. along the waterfront was the shipping docks and massive cargo ships. the weather was playing in our favor; still a strong wind, but the sun was breaking through the clouds and we could see the blue skies behind them.

i was so tired that i slept the entire time from the ferry to the hill of witches. i awoke to people getting off the bus next to a forest. we congregated next to an entrance with massive wooden sculptures. i was alittle groggy and couldn’t understand where we were or why, until they said we were at the hill of witches. the idea of walking through a forest perked me up since i could get some energy flowing and finally wake up. adam was the guide today, and basically, he read from a book. to his credit, he added his own flavor to it, which made it enjoyable.

the hill of witches is an outdoor wooden sculpture gallery where the sculptures depict characters from Lithuanian folklore and pagan traditions. i enjoyed walking around the forest and hearing the pagan stories and traditions. some of the sculptures depicted devils and witches fighting each other, and others had the two working together to torture people. some sculptures were symbols of man, such as the lumberjack or a fisherman. the gallery started in 1979 so it wasn’t some ancient sculpture site, but the midsummer night’s festival is held on the hill, which probably made the gallery a perfect spot.

after the journey through the forest, we meandered around a sleepy fishing village. the lagoon was so flat and calm that it made for a nice reflection of the overcast sky. i had a nice peaceful walk along the water and through the town. i saw some men making a fishing net and encountered a rundown old pütt-pütt course.

we climbed back on the bus and headed further down the spit to the Pardinis Dune, which is a huge dune next to another fishing village called Nida. It is the last town on the spit before entering the Russian side. On top of the dune was a massive granite sundial. a large monolith looking stone stood in the center with carvings indicating something. off to the right was another piece of the sundial. i wasn’t able to tell the time from the device.

from the top of the dune, sand stretched far south toward the russian side. on the north side was a forested area and the fishing village of nida. walking down the sand dune was a long climb down some stairs as people coming up were huffing and puffing. the stairs end in a field surrounded by trees. so strange to think that this once was sand and after hundreds, even thousands, of years, plant life evolved and transformed the area into a forest.

we were given plenty of time to have lunch and explore the fishing town of nida. john and i found a place near the waterfront to have lunch. again, my revengeful serfs, bees, buzzed around us as we ate. at this point, i swat them away with barely a flench. the bathroom was another experience. it was covered in spiders. fun stuff.

after lunch, we walked to the end of the pier to see lighthouses and boats, saw some quaint houses, and eventually made it back to the meeting point. the picture below is four of our group members enjoying some food and the sun. we all walk up to the bus and prepare for our long drive to kaunas.

the drive to kaunas involved crossing the water on the boat ferry and driving through the countryside. we stop at a convenience store that was surprising halfway from klaipeda to kaunas. i loaded up with another red bull to push through writing the rest of yesterday’s adventures.

just before reaching kaunas, we stop at the ninth fort. the ninth fort is a dark and depressing place where the Nazis killed tens of thousands of Jews. the memorial was amazing structure jutting out of the ground. the fort itself was depressing and cold with a sign that told how the Nazis had killed Jews against the wall i was photographing.

it was pouring rain when we left the bus to walk up to the memorial. the rain was falling pretty hard and then the wind kicked in and soaked my pants and shoes. as we were about to head back to the bus, the sun broke through the clouds and created something i had never seen before. a complete rainbow, and almost a secondary rainbow, appeared over the memorial. the color was extremely vivid by contrasting with the black clouds behind it. i ran through the field away from the memorial in an attempt to capture the entire rainbow, but it eluded me. i was never able to do it. however, the effect was profound. underneath a dark, depressing location came a beautiful rainbow. the two elements together created a powerful scene and i will never forget it. my rain soaked shoes and pants didn’t matter anymore, and i was thankful that i had witnessed such an amazing event.

we boarded the bus and drove to kaunas. the bus began to smell of sweat due to everyone being soaked. fortunately, the drive didn’t last very long, and as we approached kaunas, we saw the church spires, the old town buildings, and the two rivers that made kaunas’s location a pennisula.

tonight we were staying in a four star hotel called daniela. four star hotel. geez. in fact, all of our hotels have been quite nice. regardless, it was very cushy and a nice place to relax after all the running around we have done in lithuania.

after dropping our stuff off and connecting the laptop to the internet, we walked to the old town, which was quite a walk. we thought we would find a nice place to eat there, but the place was dead. we ended up walking back to the new part of town and eating at pizza jazz. pizza jazz was filled with a bunch of 20 somethings all dressed stylishly. we were shocked. what was going on? pizza jazz is where it’s at? the rest of the town was dead. ok, cool. glad we are part of the “in” crowd.

i tried the lasagna and have to say it tasted like stouffers. nothing special. the beer, svuturys, was adequate. nothing grand. the people watching was fun.

as we were walking back, some drunk kids were walking on the other side of the street. they were being crazy and stupid and tried pushing one of their friends into the fountain, but out of nowhere this other kid just falls into the fountain. it was hilarious. this kid just dropped into the fountain, tried getting up, but fell back down. he finally got up and started splashing his friends who were all laughing at him. it was pretty funny to watch. i would hate to be that guy cause it wasn’t a warm night at all.

we walked back to the daniela and curled up underneath our comforters and went to sleep.

the spit was nothing different than the outer banks, but the hill of witches was intriguing. our time in nida was very relaxing. the weather was great for just lounging around. in contrast, the memory of the ninth fort remains with me and continues to impress me by the two events happening at the same time. tomorrow, we wake up for a tour of kaunas’s old town, head to trakai castle, and then head into vilnius, lithuania’s capital, for a couple of days. fingers crossed on having internet in the room.