Vilnius, Lithuania - Part 2

We enjoyed two day trips during our stay in Vilnius.  The first was to Trakai, a small town west of Vilnius sandwiched between several lakes.  There are a number of small islands in the lakes.  In the 14^th century, a stone castle was built on one such island.  At the time it was one of the main centres of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and held great strategic importance.  For Zoe, it was a castle where one could imagine princes and princesses around every turn.

The Island Castle of Trakai.  We crossed two foot bridges and one other island to reach the castle.

Inside the courtyard of the castle at Trakai.

Located in the courtyard of the castle at Trakai.  We teased Zoe that it was a "child catcher" like in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. 

Everyone got a turn inside the child catcher.

The stocks (well pillory really) was Zoe's favourite.

Especially when she got to insert the lock!

The view from the castle gate.

Our second outing was one Zoe and I (Sara) took alone while Julian was at his conference. We hired a driver to take us to the centre of Europe – which, luckily, was just 20 km north of Vilnius. The geographic centre of the European continent is marked by a 125-acre open-air museum. The beautifully forested park is decorated with over 100 sculptures from around the world. Nature, art, and perfect weather made for a wonderful day! In spite of it being the middle of summer, we only encountered 3 or 4 other parties in the entire park and felt as if we had it all to ourselves.


One of the more famous pieces in the park, LNK Infotree, was included in the Guinness book of World Records as the world’s largest artwork. The sculpture is made of over 3,000 television sets forming a 700-meter maze in the shape of a tree with a toppled statue of Lenin in the centre. It symbolizes television’s power to disseminate propaganda and the eventual regrowth of truth.

LNK Infotree.  Zoe proudly reading the park map (her job!) atop a crumbling Lenin.

This piece had each of the European capitals engraved on the various blocks along with their distance from the park.

This chair with a pool is one of the more popular pieces in the park.



In addition to all of the wonderful sculptures, the park was full of wildlife.  Zoe spotted numerous toads and even got personal with one of them.

The toad was not as thrilled to make Zoe's acquaintance and made a hasty escape.  We were relieved to observe that she appeared unharmed as she hopped away.

We loved this beautiful, peaceful, forested, sculpture museum!! 

Back in the city, our explorations of Vilnius continued.  The photos below show some of the highlights.

Zoe making a beeline to the bakery and sweet shop located across the tiny street from our hotel.

We spend time in playgrounds on our trips.  In doing so we inevitably meet local children, a perk in our eyes!  On this trip we met a young girl (maybe 8 years old) who wanted to practice her English.  We were humbled when she apologized, quite sincerely, that she only spoke four languages.

Julian and Zoe are dwarfed by a cathedral.

A typical street scene in the old part of the city. 

Posing in front of a statue of King Mindaugas, Lithuania's first and only king.  Gediminas Castle is in the background.     

Enjoying an outdoor cafe - with a little attitude.

 

This icon of Mary, located in the chapel of the city's Gate of Dawn, is said to have miraculous powers.  The gate was built in 1503 and is the only one of Vilnius's nine gates remaining.

Another day, another park.

One morning was spent at the Museum of Genocide Victims set up in the former KGB headquarters.  The KGB took over the building from the Gestapo at the close of WW II and occupied it for almost 50 years.  The main part of the museum is the former KGB inner prison (including the interrogation, execution and torture cells) preserved exactly the way the Soviets left it when they were hurriedly forced to vacate the premises in 1991 with the rather sudden fall of the USSR - Lithuania being the first Soviet Republic to regain its indepedence.  The remainder of the museum acquainted us with Lithuania's 20th century loss of independence, Soviet repressions (including Stalin's forced deportations to Kazakhstan), and the long struggle for recovery of independence.

Zoe asked a lot of questions and we answered them honestly, though opting to give only the information she asked for which always lacked the gory details.  On several occasions Zoe remarked that "that was a very bad idea."  Yes, Zoe, it is a museum of very bad ideas.  While we were comfortable taking her to the museum with us, we were also fine (and a little relieved) when she did not seem to grasp the overall concept being portrayed.  In fact, I suspect that in her mind, all of those bad ideas occurred in and were limited to the museum building itself.  If only....

"Soviet Occupation Victims Remembered"

The walkway is lined with children's artistic interpretations of and reactions to events portrayed in the museum. 

The monolithic way that we in the West view the former Eastern Bloc countries is a topic that Julian and I have returned to on many occasions.  It came up once again on this trip after our visit to the genocide museum (and a couple city tours where we gleaned other bits and pieces of Lithuanian history).  One of the wonderful things about travel is that it provides a means for quietly shattering many preconceived notions of the World.  Such as the way all Eastern Bloc countries are portrayed as being essentially carbon copies of one another (with all "Soviet "men and women looking exactly like Leonid Brezhnev, queueing endlessly in bread lines).  Lithuania is the sixth former Eastern Bloc country that Julian and I have visited – and is very different from the other five (as well as all the others, we presume!).  It has its own unique language, culture and a long history that is both rich and individual.  For example, neither of us had any idea that Lithuania once stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea!!  The more we travel, the more we recognize we don’t know (or had been completely misinformed by those amongst us who clearly knew better but proclaimed otherwise).  And we love having those misconceptions corrected!

We found an Uzbek restaurant and had to try it for "old times sake".  We ate at one in Almaty and found the food to be similar to some Kazakh food.

It was a banner day when our picky eater declared she liked chicken shashlyk (kabob)!  In the background are Zoe's new "Lithuanian" Ken and Barbie whose acquisition bought us quieter, longer, and more relaxing restaurant meals once the novelty of flying paper airplanes wore off (and became less appropriate outside our hotel restaurant).

While Uzbek food was a rare treat, we loved the traditional Lithuanian food.  The seafood was good and our unscientific observations revealed that they seem to like potatoes, mushrooms, and sour cream sauces.   Sara's favourite, however, was Lithuanian Cold Beetroot Soup (always served with a side of potatoes).  We were not back in Canada a week before Sara located a recipe and was enjoying it at home.

In front of the Presidential Palace.

On a city bus tour of Vilnius.  This was during the three minutes that Zoe actually listened to the information being shared via headphone.

Another typical street scene in the old city.

We took a river boat tour one evening.

The outdoor cafes that we visited did not have gas heat lamps that are commonly used in North America on cool evenings.  Instead, each restaurant seemed to have a supply of blankets free for patrons to use.  On our last night there the temperature dropped significantly and Zoe found much comfort cuddling up in one of the blankets.  All the while bemoaning the fact that it was our last day there and she did not want to leave.  A sentiment that we wholeheartedly seconded!