woke up ok, had breakfast, and the old town tour guide met us in the lobby of the hotel. that’s when i heard about the no alcohol day, which was taking place on sept. 1 (tomorrow). we learned later in the day that lithuania imposed this rule to dissuade kids from parties after the first day of school. the school kids would sneak out of the house and drive to these parties, and when they attempt to return intoxicated, they would wreck the car. restaurants and bars had already found a workaround. the workaround is basically it is illegal to sell alcohol, but not if you give it away. so, either they will double the cost of your food or just maintain a tab, which would be paid at a later date. very clever, these lithuanians are.

in addition, we were informed to pick up a picnic lunch from the grocery store for the next leg of our trip in a national park. i added beer to the grocery list for good measure.

today was an old town tour and then free time to explore vilnius.

the tour guide was the best so far. she led us around the old town, had interesting stories, and a pleasant attitude. she pointed out a surprising number of chocolate and pastry stores in vilnius as well as amber stores. the baltics are known for their amber.

she pointed out a rock in the cathedral square and told a story about how the people of lithuania wanted to celebrate the 650 anniversary of vilnius in 1973. the soviets occupied lithuania at the time, and they would not allow them to celebrate the anniversary. as a substitute, they gave the city a rock engraved with the name of the city in lithuanian, the dates 1323-1973, and vilnius written in russian. very russian indeed! in the years since, lithuania gained their independence, and the people physically carved out the russian out of the rock as a sign of asserting their independence and dislike for the russians. go lithuania!

another special marker in the cathedral square was the miracle square. it marks the spot where the human chain, between tallinn and vilnius by 2 million estonians, latvians, and lithuanians to protest against the soviet occupation in 1989, ended. the word, stebuklas (miracle in lithuanian) is written around the marker, and to make a wish, one does a clockwise 360 turn while standing on the square. the guide said that when she made a wish on the square it came true. i made my wish on the marker, and we will know if it comes true by the time we visit the estonian islands, which is sept. 4th and 5th. ooo, the anticipation.

the tour concluded in the cathedral square, and john and i went to find the funicular to take us to the top of gediminas hill and the upper castle, which had a great lookout point of the city. we circled the entire hill looking for the elusive funicular. we finally found it behind a museum. the funicular was much more modern than the one in kaunas. after riding the funicular, we had to climb a tall spiral staircase to reach the top of the upper castle tower. the top of the tower proved to be a great lookout point, and john thought of a candid photo with the lithuanian flag.

afterwards, we were reviewing the list, and i insisted that i had to stop by the amber shops to buy some cheap amber before they closed. i had been advised that haggling is customary when dealing with amber vendors, and i had some practice while in thailand, but none of my tricks worked. the only discount i would receive is if i spent above my budget in the first place. regardless, i found a nice amber piece at a reasonable price after visiting several stores. amber is very light and can easily look like plastic. the guide offered some practical advice on how to detect fake amber. if you rub the amber, it will smell of pine resin. also, you can place amber in a cup of saltwater and it will float. fake amber sinks. i was visiting some reputable shops so i didn’t “test” the amber before buying.

since we were on pilies gatve and close to forto dvarus, we had lunch on the terrace of the restaurant, again. yesterday, i had the pixies fry, so today was something different. the page of zepplins was flagged with best in house, so i had to try whatever the zepplins were. they looked like football shaped potatoes. indeed they were football shaped, but the texture was soft and a bit gummy. inside, it was filled with sausage or something and they were smothered in some crackling sour cream sauce. despite the look and initial texture, they were quite tasty.

during lunch, we discussed the remainder of the things to see in vilnius. the tv tower and the uzupis republic were the top priority items.

after lunch, we headed to the uzupis republic. the uzupis republic is located in a bohemian section of town where the lithuanians exercise their rebellious hearts by creating a “breakaway” state. the republic was officially, unofficially really, founded in 1998, and they have a president, anthem, flag and constitution. the constitution gives the inhabitants the right to hot water, heating during the winter, the right to be unique, to love, to be happy (or unhappy), and to be a dog. the constitution ends with “don’t conquer, don’t defend, don’t surrender.” the entire constitution is on the left.

every april fool’s day, the citizens celebrate their unofficial state. there are border guards dressed in comical outfits that stamp passports at the main bridge and the president gives speeches underneath their mascot, the Angel of Uzupis. i wish we had been there to witness such events.

a debate between john and one of his travel buddies is whether or not to consider the uzupis republic an actual country or not (meaning, what constitutes a country), so he had to go there to show he had been to the uzupis republic. upon crossing the bridge, there was hippy art painted on the houses and colorful sculptures hanging above the river and stationed around the houses. the whole place had a bohemian feel to it. people were lounging in the sun and hanging out. a few tours were being led through the “republic”, and it took forever to take a picture of the constitution, which was a reflective surface with black lettering (had to do some fancy angling to successfully capture it).

so, the tv tower was last on the list. we headed in the direction of the closest known bus stop where we could grab a bus to take us to the edge of vilnius. we were told it was the closest known bus stop but it wasn’t. we were a bit confused on the system and after consulting several maps and making some assumptions, we boarded a bus that would take us “close” to the tv tower. the whole experience was something like the amazing race. neither of us were going to walk away defeated by not going to the tv tower, however we had to deal with each other’s frustration on how to locate the best bus stop and which bus to take.

after boarding the bus, we knew we had to validate the bus ticket we received from the driver. we couldn’t figure it out, and a couple of americans happened to be next to us to show us the antiquated system of hole punching that was attached to the wall of the bus. a brother and sister couldn’t have been older than 14 and 16. they had been in lithuania for 7 years because their father was a pastor at a church in vilnius. since they said pastor, we figured it had to be baptist and some outreach program. the idea of moving to a foreign country when you are so young was something that baffled me as to what it was like to move and how to adjust to the new language and culture. they were very nice and spoke very good english.

the bus dropped us off near the tv tower. in order to get to it, we had to wander through an old soviet housing complex. the place looked like the ghetto with decaying buildings and crumbing sidewalks. fortunately, it wasn’t the ghetto, just an aging housing complex.

after stumbling through neighborhoods and crossing streets while maintaining a constant view of the tv tower, we made it. at the entrance, there were crosses and a memorial dedicated to the 12 lithuanians who continued to broadcast as the soviet special forces invaded and killed them on Jan. 13, 1991.

the tv tower is 326 meters high and the observation deck is at 165 meters offering the best views of the city. the view from the top was outstanding. we could see until the edge of the earth. we began walking around the tower looking out the windows. we stopped for a moment and realized either we were moving or the tables and chairs on a raised platform next to us were moving. for a second, i felt unbalanced and alittle nausea trying to figure out what was going on. quickly, we realized the tables were moving and we were stationary. then the nausea past.

after realizing the tables were moving, there was no sense in walking, so we sat down at the nearest table and ordered some drinks. now there are signs saying no photography, but of course, i got a few photos of the view. i wanted to show how flat the country was. in all directions, the country was flat as a board.

after making a rotation and finishing our drinks, we decided to head back into town. taking the bus was easy since we knew the system and which line to grab. on the bus was a russian who kept talking on his phone and talking to the hideous girl next to him. he was very loud and the lithuanians on the bus were giving him the evil eye. for me, it was another sign of the lithuanian’s despise toward russians.

we got off at the bus station and went to the grocery store to pick up some supplies for the next day. in addition to the fruit and trail mix, i picked up some danish beer and a souvenir of lithuanian mead; six tiny bottles from all over lithuania. looked pretty cool.

as i was paying for the groceries, i went to the end of the counter looking for bags to put the groceries in. i asked for a bag, making the sign of holding something, and then she did the strangest thing, she wanted me to pay for the bag. i was shocked. what! i have to pay? luckily john was at the next register and said i could put my stuff in his bag. i told the lady, ne (no in lithuanian) and walked away flabberghasted. apparently, it is common to pay for bags in europe, and john commented that it is starting in the states. after getting over my initial shock, i understood the environmental impact and agreed it was a good idea. next time, i will bring my own bag.

we came back to the hotel and i laid on the bed and went right to sleep. i was so exhausted. i woke up to my blackberry buzzing and john saying he was headed to the sauna. i couldn’t figure out how long i was out for but decided i should wake up so i wouldn’t be up all night. i took panda to the top floor of the hotel for a panoramic view of vilnius. i sat up there on the couch and wrote while the sun set over vilnius. the sunset was pretty and i would have taken some pics but huge cranes made the photo ugly so i decided against it. after the sun set, it was too dark to continue writing so i went downstairs to the lobby to continue working.

john showed up, and we went to the old town for dinner. it was pretty cold outside and i wouldn’t have been surprised if i saw my breath. i was hoping we would be able to have dinner at the place adam recommended, but it was closed. so, we continued walking around looking for a place to eat, and at each place we saw either it was closed or no one was inside. it was quite strange how dead the city was at 10pm on sunday. i’m sure it had something to do with tomorrow being the first day of school.

so, after walking around a bit, john suggested eating at the forto dvarus again. i could get another litre of beer, so off we went to the only restaurant we ate at the entire time in vilnius. it was probably the best place to eat since it was reasonable and had all different kinds of lithuanian cuisine. this time i had turkey bombs with mashed potatoes, pees, beets and a litre of kalnipis grand (actually two half litres cause the waitress didn’t understand me properly, but whose counting). turkey bombs was basically balled up, fried ground turkey meat topped with mushroom gravy. it was quite good.

well, that concluded the vilnius experience. we walked back to the hotel. on the way, we entertained ourselves by coming up with three letter combinations that we could find on the lithuanian license plates. the lithuanian license plate sequence is 3 letters, 4 numbers. OMG, LOL, CIA, SOL, HDD, LCD, and a slew of others were not to be found. however, we did find CON and another that was AHA.

vilnius turned out to be a beautiful town. all the buildings were charming and the streets were surprisingly clean given the amount of traffic that passes through the town. it is a rather large place, and i wished we had more time to explore the town. this trip is a marathon of sightseeing. after 1 week and change, we have visited 4 countries and seen so much that it is quite exhausting.

tomorrow, we are given a break from the cities, and we will hike around a national park to explore the rustic side of lithuanian and latvian life. as of writing this, i am sitting in bed at the rustic hotel in the middle of nowhere, latvia. the nature walks were very relaxing. i will write more in the next post.