1/7 Day 20 More Relaxing in Riga
My cell phone alarm went off at 9:30 am. I went downstairs and enjoyed a nice breakfast. I was tired and went back to sleep for a couple of hours.

RUSSIAN RESTAURANT

At 12:30 pm, I was out the door and headed to the Russian restaurant that was across from the bus stop. I was the only person in the place, which was actually kind of nice.

A far TV blared some Russian pop hits on their version of MTV. Not bad stuff, seriously. I might look for a CD at the market tomorrow.

The man handed me a menu in English which wasn’t very useful as it said “blah blah blah style chicken,” for example. I picked a soup that was more expensive than the others. Then a mid-to-high priced main dish, a surprise dish with beef…

The mystery meal consisted of a delicious cabbage soup and a main entrée of breaded beef covered with ham, mushrooms and cheese. It was served with fried potatoes, a carrot salad and a red cabbage salad. Very, very good. All of it.

It’s traditional to have vodka after a meal in Russia. (Actually, I think it’s traditional to have vodka throughout the entire day, in Russia, but that doesn’t matter.)

The waiter asked me if I wanted a 50 cl or 100 cl glad of vodka. Small, please. (Foolish me.)

Dang, the vodka was smooth. I sipped it. I ordered another and wrote some more postcards, enjoying the Russian rock. Then I had another another before paying. “Spasiba,” I said smiling and leaving him a hefty tip. Cheapest meal in Riga and perhaps the best.

RIGA

I headed into Riga using the infamous “19” bus, which I calculated arrives every 4 minutes or so. Efficient and cheap. SORTA (of Cincinnati) are you hearing this?

I walked around and stumbled into a Russian orthadox church that was breathtaking. The ornament in the church was breathtaking.

In the entranceway, was a framed picture of Jesus. People stopped and crossed their chests in front of the picture. Several even kissed the ornate golden frame.

I get the impression that these are truly people of faith. I really respect that. I have no doubt that they live a life of God and are not hypocritical, as some of the bible thumpers of the US South are.

I managed to find my favorite café (“coffee nation”) and ordered a large cappuccino, in Latvian and took a seat, enjoying true high speed access.

I kind of wandered around the town for the next couple of hours taking pictures at a slow pace. Some poses I took several times, to ensure the proper exposure and content.

On accident, I found a post office and bought some postcard stamps. As I placed the stamps on the postcards, I realized that I had too many. I did the calculations and I had more than Ls. 4.90, so I went back to the kind woman (who had deeply died blonde hair and gaping, grimy teeth.) I told her “too many” and gave them back to her. She counted my postcards and realized the mistake.

She flashed her pearly yellows at me and said “thank you,” in English.

BAD NEWS: A TRAGIC PASSING

I’m sorry to inform you of a tragic passing. It will not affect the rest of my trip and I will not fly back, but I thought I would let you know.

At approximately 6:05 pm Riga time, “little inexpensive Wal*Mat alarm clock” was run over by a tram. It was dark and I did not see the exact event, however, I did hear the “pop,” and I cringed as the tramcar passed by.

The local police are investigating the death and they believe that there may be foul play involved as “little inexpensive Wal*Mat alarm clocks” do not just appear on tram tracks.

“Little inexpensive Wal*Mat alarm clock” will surely be missed.

(By the way, when I took this picture, “little inexpensive Wal*Mat alarm clock” was blinking, for no apparent reason. He wasn’t playing with a full deck of cards.)

Before I got on to the bus, I spotted two men walk out of the restaurant/bar across the street. They were holding hands. And waving their attached arms back and forth. Brothers in arms, perhaps.

BUS RIDE AND A GOOD DEED

Tram bus “19” was very, very crowded as I got on. I made my place and hung on tight.

The very next station, a mid-twenties guy hopped on, just as the door closed. (I thought for sure his back foot would be caught in the door. I saw that happen once in France.)

He caught me looking concerned as he was drunk or perhaps drugged out. His eyes were bloodshot.

I guess I was pretty believable as a local, as he started talking to me in Russian. He was telling me about a lot of stuff. At one point he asked me a question. I nodded, not knowing what I was nodding for.

Inevitably, the bus kontoller woman approached him, asking him for the 20 sentimas (or $.40.) He didn’t have it. She got kind of mad and there were some words. He gave some excuses. She was about to throw him out.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the 20 sentimas and I gave it to the woman.

She didn’t like it very much as I was interfering with her job. She tore off a ticket and abruptly gave it to me, glaring in my direction.

The guy smiled and continued to talk and talk. I tried to focus on something else on the bus, like the interesting signs up above, in Latvian. He felt obliged to give me something, so he gave me a tiny tangerine. “spasiba,” I said, as he rambled on more.

Fortunately, he didn’t ask me too much. At one point he said something, which, made a couple of the people kind of blush/smile. God only knows what it was. Reading the group, I smiled and laughed. Remember the Chris Farley skit where he was on the Japanese Quiz show? Was kind of like that.

I think at one point, he asked me if I smoked. He had some matches, so I figured he does.

I think I hear he and another guy questioning if I “razieme” or understood what was going on. I could be wrong, there’s something similar in Polish. It didn’t matter to the guy who continued to tell me of his baggage, I assume.

Right before my stop, I pulled out my cigarettes and offered him one (you have one stick out from the rest.) He grabbed it in gratitude, asked me something as I got off the bus. Before returning to my hotel, I bought a couple of Russian beers to go, from my favorite Russian restaurant. (I tipped the guy again. I don’t tip to show off. I ship to show thanks. I hope people understand that. I probably accounted for a good percentage of his tips for the day.)
- posted by Matt @ 1:45 PM 1 comments

 
Day 19 Relaxing in Riga
OK. I left the hotel at 9:00 am. Hehe. 9:00 am EST or 4:00 PM Latvian time! I’m on vacation and it’s up to me to set the rules. And if I wanted to sleep in until 11:30 (missing the breakfast) and read a bit, drank a beer (the only food I had in my room) then take another nap; THAT'S MY RIGHT. I was shaved, showered and out the door by 4:00 pm. (Understand, I'm also just getting over a cold!)

I went directly to get some food as I hadn’t eaten the entire day. I settled upon “Alus Séta,” a Latvian restaurant that was in the Lonely Planet Guide. It was buffet style for the salad bar and a professional chef made your main entrée which you paid together at a rude cashier station. I grabbed a cabbage/pork soup, which I later found to be scrumptious. Oh my God, the salad bar was cold salads and different types of cold fish: smoked salmon, another kind of salmon, herring and two other smoked fish which I could not name. Oh dear, this was so good.

I had a beer, savoring the taste. I was in freaking heaven. Then I had another beer. I hung out a while and talked with a couple of Brits at the next table over.

Then I couldn’t resist. I had another plate full of cold fish and a bit of potato salad. Normally, they expect you to get past the salad bar and get a main entrée… I didn’t. And I have a very good mind to go back there tomorrow! (3 Beers, 2 full plates of fish and salads, $20 USD. Not cheap, but considering the quality of each, and my utter satisfaction…)

I went to a boring bar and hung out a while. Nobody appeared. I wrote in my travel journal. I doodled a bit. I got even more bored. I left and took the 19 bus home. No problems this time.

I got back to the hotel and had the munchies. I drank some water, listened to some music and went to bed, hoping the next day I’d get up earlier and see more.
- posted by Matt @ 5:39 PM 0 comments

 
01/05 DAY 18: Vilnius -> Riga, Misadventures in Riga
I awoke at 5:30 am and I called Kevin to see what the progress was on my house. He had spent 3 hours that evening moving things, investigating, etc. It’s still hard to say just how much damage there is. The biggest concern is the floors in the kitchen. Another concern is my new washer and drier.. Time will tell.

I hurried to pack and prepare my breakfast for the bus (as it turns out, this was a very smart idea. I could tell others on the bus were jealous of my forethought!)

My initial hope was to walk the “short 10 minute walk.” With all of my luggage. I got about 5 minutes and realized it was going to be a lot longer then 10 minutes. So I walked in hopes of finding a cab.

I had a religious moment. I prayed for a taxi and one appeared. I mumbled something like “autobusy stashon” and the driver wizzed off in the exact route I would have walked.

As I got out of the cab, it began to rain. That sure worked out well, I thought. I had scoped out the previous night exactly where platform “26” was. Additionally, I had also double checked the time. “7:00” am. I arrived at the platform at 6:45. Plenty of time to catch the bus.

Well. 7:00 came. At 7:15 on my watch, I began to get kind of worried as nobody else was waiting for this particular bus. Sure, some things run late, but it just didn’t feel right.

I walked back toward the modern bus station (serious, it was surprisingly modern and clean!) debated asking someone, then turned around. As I did, I looked up.

OMFG, I thought. It can’t be. The clock said 8:25 am. Naw, it’s too dark and my watch said 7:25 am.

After a couple of discussions with security, we came to the conclusion it was indeed 8:25 am.

OK. The intelligence of the entire Polish people just went down a couple of notches. When the plane arrived in Lithuania, I asked the stewardess what time it was in Vilnius as I thought it was one timezone East of Poland. She assured me that they were the same. Remember how I say you should trust people, they are local? Here’s an example where a local person was full of it.

So, I missed my bus.

I knew there was another at 10:00 am, so I went, with all of my luggage, back to the Eurobus office.

I explained to the polite woman what had happened. Unfortunately, my tickets were not transferable and I lost the $14.

OK. I’ll buy new ones. I think she felt a bit bad for me. She asked if I were a student. Sure.

It wasn’t so much that I wanted the $2 discount, it was that I liked the compliment. I handed her a color copy of my passport, which she took for my “student ID.”

I waited around for another hour or so, boarded, the bus. Besides the loud mouth Italians that were laughing incessantly, the trip was pretty easy. Well, I had noise reducing earphones and I slept most of the way through the Lithuanian countryside while listening to classical music.

I woke up and opened a beer and ate my sandwich that I had prepared. We, as Americans, need to have picnics more.

At the border, they stamped my passport and we were off into a new country. Soon enough, a huge block sculpture announced “RIGA.” I opened my remaining beer and enjoyed the ride.

RIGA

We arrived at the main bus station, which is not the prettiest part of town. Some nearby buildings were literally in rubles. It just wasn’t nice and tidy like Vilnius.

I hailed a taxi who raced toward my hotel. Oh yeah. This was the hotel that was farther away from downtown. It was across the river and through the woods, kinda. A bit farther than walking distance.

The hotel was nice. I was eager to see to test the internet connection in my room (which didn’t work because of a bad router, most likely) and I was also wanting to see the town.

The kind woman at the reception desk had told me which bus to take, 19 or 24 and pointed where to pick it up.

I found the bus stop. No places anywhere to buy a ticket. Next time, I thought, thinking back to my crazy days living on the edge, in France.

Then it happened, a bus “controller” was in front of me mumbling something about “billet.”

Busted. I imagined a $20 or $30 fine, which is normal in cities, such as Prague.

I played it cool. And fetched a 1 Lat coin out of my change purse and gave it to the old man. He gave me back some change and gave ripped me off a ticket from the roll. Hmm k. Now how do I stamp it. I asked him. He motioned that that was all I needed. Hmm k. I played it cool as the bus took us across the river to Riga.

Since the internet connection at my hotel was not working, I decided that I would go ahead and try to find a wifi hotspot downtown, as some previous queries had yielded 3 dozen or so such places.

CENTRAL RIGA: SEEDY MARKET

The woman at the reception desk of the hotel had specifically said to get off at the central station. Now, I’m not sure if you’ve ever been to the Russian Market in Warsaw, but this whole NEIGHBORHOOD was one big seedy “bazaar.” People selling everything from clothes, to illegal CDs to produce. You name it.

I was not comfortable with the surroundings and I was not comfortable with the fact that I had my laptop with me.

I reached into my bag for my trusted “Lonely Planet: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.” But it was gone. Had I left it in the hotel?

I had to pick a direction. And, as it turns out, I picked the wrong one, going further into the market, then backtracking through it again. I saw a church steeple and headed in a new direction through a private alley. I was so uncomfortable. Probably the most uncomfortable I’ve been in a very long time. But I had to keep my cool, keep my head up and just “go” and not look lost.

I eventually found a modern movie theater. Good sign, I thought. I moved into what became the old city. I was a bit tired and was hungry.

DINNER AT TGI FRIDAY’S and LESSONS OF RIGA

When I saw the sign for TGI Fridays, I jumped on it. Something that I recognized sounded really dang good. So, I sat and had some soup and a burger. Ula served me. I had asked her if she had a “Riga this week” and she offered to get me a copy of the complementary magazine. It had maps and so I tried to get my bearings while eating my soup.

She asked if I needed to find something. I told her that I needed help finding “bus route 19” on the map. She grabbed a seat and sat beside me and showed me, assuring me that the route through a plaza near a park was ok. (It’s well lit and there are many police, as I later saw.)

She also told me that you don’t have to buy bus tickets, it’s not like the “European system,” as she called it. You can pay the 20 santimus (or $.39 USD) on the train. In fact, just take a seat and the controller will come to you to ask you for the coin. Ah, so I WASN’T breaking the law after all.

While I felt bad keeping her from yet another cluster of obnoxious Italian tourists at the next table, I was glad she talked. We had a really nice conversation. As it turns out, her first language is Russian as that what her parents speak. She’s pretty much fluent in Latvian, though, which is not the case of her parents, who speak little Latvian.

She also tipped me off on where to find wifi. I paid, bid farewell and went to the wifi place. OK. I’ll admit I got turned around a bit, but I was easily in the “tourist areas” and I did enjoy the beautiful architecture. You’re not in Vilnius anymore, Toto.

It seemed like my whole impression of the city changed after the meal. I had food in my stomach, a brief orientation, a map and I could enjoy it a bit more. Indeed, the city has an amazing charm and sophistication that rivals Prague and her overly promiscuous prom queen cousin, Paris…

Anyway, I found the wifi café and I was as giddy as a little girl. I thought of Chris as I typed away and drank my overly delicious cappuccino. I was the only one in the place with a laptop.

I had no problems finding the bus and before I know it, I was heading back over the river. I got off three stops early and so I had another opportunity to see more of this mostly residential area-by foot.

Back at the hotel, they realized that the problem with the internet was not with my Powerbook (of course!!!) but rather with the connection in the room. They gave me a new room with free high speed access that goes up and down about every minute. I’ll take it. Better than nothing.

I put on jammies, blogged and went to bed early. Tired after a long day of misadventures.
- posted by Matt @ 12:23 PM 1 comments

 
01/04 DAY 17: Vilnius
I slept in until 10:00. Then I went to a café, got a cappuccino and a bit to eat. I had ordered a baguette with cheese to go. But I can have that anywhere in Europe. I asked the woman if I could change to a greek wrap. Delicious.

BEING A TOURIST AND SHOPPING

I relaxed and really didn’t leave my room until noon, which felt kind of nice. I spent the next couple of hours doing the sight seeing thing, going up the hill to the castle, then shopping.

I bought a couple of shirts from a Lithuanian clothes company. I bought one shirt, then another. My guess was that the woman who sold me the shirts was on commission because she whispered something to the other female clerk as she left. Perhaps it had been a slow day.

On accident, I found the Eurolines (bus service) office and bought the bus ticket to Riga. I asked a couple of people here and they had said that bus was the only way to go as there were no express trains and flights are astronomically high. Work colleagues and other friends may remember me stressing out about this. So far, it’s been no issue.

For lunch, I went to a supermarket and got some staples, bread, cheese and chicken to make sandwiches. My idea was to eat half for lunch and half for breakfast the following morning, on the bus to Riga as a sort of picnic.

My idea was to walk to the bus station. Figure out where my bus was leaving from, then grab my laundry.

It took a minute to find the bus station. It’s a feasible “15 minute” walk from here. I’m not going to bother with a taxi as it’s a good work out and I need to work off some of this herring/sour cream & onion/warm potato stuff.

I hoofed it a couple of miles to pick up my laundry. I found the place without any problem. But when I got there, the lights were on by nobody was there. I cussed. No bell. I cussed again.

So, what else do you do? You knock! I did and an elderly woman came out mumbling something incomprehensible, which she believed to be comprehensible. I gave her the receipt from the day before. She put a bag on the service window. I thanked her and left.

Only the bag seemed smaller and lighter. I mean, I HAD half thought about ridding myself of some of my clothes to lighten my suitcase. Had these people helped me out by pre-selecting some clothes that I need not bring back to the ‘States?

I did a little inventory of my own when I got back; everything was present and accounted for. Thank you kind folks.

I’ll be a bit sad to leave Vilnius. It’s a great city and I really like my accommodations, despite the fact that I got a bad splinter from the coarse door. I like the fact that these people have been no nonsense and have basically left me alone (sometimes hotels can be kind of annoying as you never really feel at home.)
- posted by Matt @ 12:22 PM 0 comments

 
01/03 DAY 16: Vilnius
LAUNDRY ADVENTURE

So, the next morning, I needed to decide whether to do laundry or not. And if so, should I do it in Vilnius or Riga?

I was feeling a bit sick so sitting in a Laundromat sounded ok. I found the address of a place in the Lonely Planet guide. The street was on the mapr provided in the book.

My first plan was to wal the 2-3 miles by foot, with the 10 lb Target bag of clothes. (I looked a bit like a homeless person.) I soon realized that this distance would not be a practical idea, so I found a taxi, who was reading a book whose title was in Russian. Not a good sign.

The conversation was light driving to the Laundromat, as neither my Lithuanian or Russian matched his.

The taxi driver stopped. No Laundromat in sight. The address was Savanoriy prospektas 11A. I gave the driver the equivalent of $5 and told the him “OK.” I’ll find it, thanks comrade.

The tricky part of the address was the “A” in 11A. The store fronts on Savanoriy prospektas were upscale salons and a cool clothes boutique, which I might drop by and check out at a later time.

I walked behind the building. It was dark and grimy. I walked back to the main street and showed the woman as the convenience-kiosk. She would surely know. She did. She pointed behind me, from the darkness from where I had just been. I learned this trip, in Warsaw, to trust people when they give directions.

I saw a lit room that had linens, but no signs and definitely no signs of washers.

I asked an old man in the darkness “A?” He pointed to the linens place. OK.

A customer arrived before me and was sorting out linens, bedsheets, etc. This might work, I thought.

I tried to ask the twenties something woman with dark hair if there were machines for me to do my clothes myself. Same Russian/Lithuanian mix.

Instead of being insistant, I waited for the man to finish sorting his stuff. When he left, the young woman smiled at me and started in gibberish. I had thought about leaving and just wearing dirty clothes, but I didn’t come this far for nothing.

She weighed my laundry. 5KG. She muttered something else, still smiling. She looked a bit uncomfortable about it.

I looked at the form she was filling out. Maybe she needed me to take inventory, like the guy in front of me. I tested the idea. I rummaged through all of the clothing and counted 8 shirts. Eight fingers. She wrote down “8” on a space on her form. Bingo.

Inventory Results

8 Vryiski apatinian marskiniai
10 Vyriskas apatines kelnos (troueiples)
2 Dzinsai kelnes
7 Krokines
1 Kelnes silos
Total 28 pieces

It was a lot of fun counting my undies in front of her. She smiled a bit.

After inventory, she asked me something else. No idea. She tried again. “Normal,” I said thinking she was asking HOW I wanted the items laundered. She paused and pointed to the register. Ah, sure. I’ll pay now, honey. I paid the 24.54 Litas (or $8)

With another exchange, I learned that I could pick up the laundry the following day AFTER 5:00 pm. (I had a clever way of asking this, but I won’t bore you with the little game we played.)

“Ah CHoo!” I said, thanking the woman.

Savanoriy prospektas is a main throughfare which leads back to the old town. For grins, I got into the bus market “centrum” that was heading in the direction I need to go in. The bus turned. Turning bad. I got off and hoofed it. Tomorrow I’ll probably find a map of the cities bus system and take it to and from. Tomorrow, I’ll even pay.

SNACK AT COLLEGE HANGOUT

I found a place called “P” Zona that made me thing of Dave. It appeared to be a popular hangout with the college crowd. In Lithuanian, it said that if you drink Three .5 liter drafts of “Svyturio,” that the price would go down from 3.69 Litas to 1.99 Litas. This sounded like a challenge to me!

I ordered my first beer and a pizza. Since I didn’t know what was on which for language problems, I just went with the traditional one. Good think that I like eggplant!

The interior of the place was totally modern. Yellow walls with abstract shapes painted over the yellow, in a very classy way. The ceiling was a light blue with clouds painted on them. Metailc ropes went at different angles on the ceiling, holding well, placed triangular white “sails.” Lithuanians really have a flair for design, but a bit over the top. Serious. I’ll try to get some more examples with my camera.

I spend a hour or two at “P” Zone, writing in my new leather notebook, reading about the history of Vilnius and drinking Svyturios and watching the attractive collegiate crowd interact.

As it turns out, even with three ,5 liters of Svyturios, I didn’t get my special deal of 1.99 Litas. Oh, well, the total bill for the three beers and one pizza was just over $4.00. I tipped the slender, friendly, English speaking female waitress 20%.

WATER LEAK!

At 3:00 am, I got a call from Kevin. He had checked my house. Casually, he asked me how to turn off the water. Half asleep, I told him.

Apparently, there had been a pipe burst at my house, in Cincinnati..
- posted by Matt @ 12:18 PM 0 comments

 
01/02 DAY 15: Warsaw -> Vilnius
I woke up and realized that, even though I had got 9 hours of sleep, that I was really worn out. I have been going full throttle for days and I really would have liked to have slept longer.

As they say, there is no place like Vilnius to recharge your batteries. I’m planning on being very lazy tonight. Perhaps watch a movie on my laptop.

AIRPORT & PASSPORT PROBLEMS

I arrived at the airport a couple of hours early. Not because I had to but, since a lot of the stores appeared to be closed, I thought I’d be there a bit early. Just in case.

It was a good thing that I got there early because I had passport problems. No. I didn’t lose my passport. It’s that when I entered Poland from the Czech Republic, via train, they did not stamp my passport.

I was escorted to an office. The late 30s man was pleasant enough. He asked me what papers I had to prove the day I entered Poland. I had in my bag my plane tickets to and from Europe as well as my receipt from my hotel in Kraków.

The uniformed security man flipped through my passport and the procedures manual. He made several calls.

I hope I don’t have to have a strip search, I thought.

I had plenty of time and so I patiently sat. He made photocopies of my passport, tickets, etc. then finally allowed me to go. He apologized for the delay. Apparently effective January 1, they have new procedures and he wasn’t sure what to do. Not a biggy, I thought and went to the gate.

VILNIUS, LITHUANIA

One cool thing about traveling plane, is that, if you’re on the correct side of the plane, you can see some interesting things. At the end of the brief flight from Warsaw to Vlinius, I got a nice overview of the city. Oh, Lot Airlines has wide, leather seats and pleasant stewardesses. Well worth it.

From the air, Vilnius looks like a sprawl of high rises with an area of low setting, two story buildings, which I figured would be the old town. Not ugly, but not pretty and tidy.

The airport was modern and comfortable. The ATM spit out some pretty bills and I jumped into a taxi. The taxi driver spoke broken English, with a fury. Nice man. I just wished that he had spent more time looking at the road then looking back at me and trying to construct sentences in English.

I tipped him generously in front of “Liniterp” accommodations where I had reservations. The taxi driver was on it. He realized that windows to Liniterp were shut. I rang the bell. Nothing. I found the number to the place and attempted to call it. We tried several times from my cell phone. It didn’t work, as I think that I needed the country and city code and the taxi driver didn’t know it.

I eyed another bed & breakfast nearby, down the street. The taxi driver saw this and walked over. He rang the bell. A younger man appeared and they spoke fast paced Lithuanian, which could be Chinese.

The taxi driver shook my hand, smiling and told me to enjoy the city.

The young B&B worker strolled casually into the inner courtyard as we negotiated a price. 100 Litas for a room. $35 USD a night. He showed me the room, which I liked.


My room (note door with rough wood. I would later get a bad splinter from it.)

Vilnius is really unique, individualistic. I have to say.



I grabbed a beer at local pub and had smoked salmon appetizer and a really great cabbage soup. There is nothing better on a cold day.

I was really tired so I retired to my room and took a nap. So quiet. I kid you not when I say that the most noise I could hear was my watch, which I placed on the floor to silence it. It was so dark and uncannily quiet. I slept 3 hours. Like a baby, But a baby who had just had a couple of tall beers.

Upon waking, I told myself that I would spend the night in the room and not out and about. But it was 7:00 pm and I thought I’d like some food.

I walked the streets. I had read someplace that Vilnius is Europe’s best kept secret. Everyone knows that Prague is drop dead gorgeous, but who would have thought that Vilnius would be so nice? Especially when one guidebook practically compared Vilnius to Warsaw’s main train station. Youch.

I splurged and bought a handmade diary. The outside is hand stitched in a rich leather. The woman explained that it was locally made and hand crafted. It was made from environmentally friendly “vegetal” sources. She was kind and I was glad to give her the $20. The book is very individualistic, like Vilnius.

The thing that I like so much about the city is the abundance of small cafés, bars and restaurants, many of which are tastefully, somewhat flamboyantly decorated. A lot of thought went into renovating these places and they are very wild and fun. These joints are classy, rich in style; definitely not cookie cutter European chain restaurant.

Vilnius sparkles. High end shops. At every corner a pretty church. Christmas lights everywhere. There are tiny, winding streets with a new surprise at every corner.

SCENES FROM A LITHUANIAN RESTAURANT

I settled on a touristy restaurant which had an interesting menu. Thank you Mrs. Restaurant owner for translating your menu. I hug you.

First came my herring. Oh dear, it was succulent and I contemplated asking for 3 more plates full. Seriously.

Next course: mushroom stew with beef and carrots with a side of fried potatoes. Deliciouso.

Per my request, she brought a local schnapps. I sipped it as I people watched and took pictures of scene from a Lithuanian restaurant.

A man and woman sat in front of me. They seriously needed a room. PDA to the extreme. So I took a picture of them with my flash. They got the idea and left after just 20 minutes of exchanging saliva.

Verdict: this meal was the best I had had in Europe, besides Maritas/Oma’s cooking, of course.

Later, the waitress picked up my tab, in cash. The bill was like 39 Litas, so I left 50 Litas. A generous tip. Tip included, it was $17 USD. I told her, in English, “It was delicious. Thank you.” She smiled. I don’t think people compliment often.

The group of young people beside me in the restaurant spoke Russian. I knew this as I understood “spasiba” and “pivo” as being Slavic-like—and not the normal gibberish that Lithuanians speak. Understand that a good portion of the Baltic people are bi-lingual. While nothing is written in Russian in public, it’s ok to speak it and it is more comfortable for some people to do so. Well, the Soviets insisted on it for like 50 years.

From this group, one Russian speaking “lady” (term used very loosely) was a bit obnoxious. I knew she was talking about me as I caught her glance and she laughed harder, said something to her uppity group who in turn, laughed.

My whole thing is, if you’re going to laugh about me, at least make it be something that is really funny. Give me a chance. Perhaps a good profane joke or a story of some misadventure or embarrassing situation. Come on, “lady.”

Swallowing the last of my schnapps, I ventured off back into the wet streets, which were empty and still at 8:00 pm.

I retired to my quiet room and listened to music. I turned up the heat and blogged and relaxed. This felt very, very good to rest.
- posted by Matt @ 4:48 AM 0 comments

 
01/01 Day 14 NEW YEAR’S DAY
I set my Wal*Mart alarm clock for 8:45 am and naturally, it did not go off. Head hurting, I woke up on my own at 10:00. Darn. I need some food. I threw on some smoky clothes and went to the breakfast buffet downstairs. Management, thank you for extending the hours for me.

I shoved all my stuff into my suitcases. And because “train station anly shart 10 minute walk,” I opted to hoof it the ½ mile stretch.

On the train to Warsaw, I met two friendly, attractive Dutch people. We gabbed, although I got the impression that they wanted to rest and not talk, so I tried to be non-intrusive.

WARSAW

Ah, Warsaw’s main train station. I have such fond memories of it. Later that night, a Warsavite had the following to say about it:

“We have in Warsaw special treasure, special award. Our ‘Warsawa Centralna’ train station is getting every yar the prize for the most agly train station in Europe. With exception of Asia, it is probably the most agly train station in warld. Not pratty.”

The taxi driver dropped me at the door of my hotel. The guy at the reception desk was in his late 30s. He looked tired and thoroughly bored. It was very quiet.

After some discussion, he told me that he had been up all night then reported to work this morning after partying. He was tired. I told him that he needed a beer to get over his hangover (or his ‘head harting,’ as he put it.) To make things worse, he also has a cold.

Sometimes I just get these ideas… I decided to go on a mission to buy him a shot of hard alcohol and something for his cold. I walked from central Warsaw all the way to the old town. Most shops were closed, being new year’s day.

I laid the Halls on the desk and I told him that I had brought him something for his cold. He thanked me. I then laid the bottle of vodka on the table, which was conceiled in paper. The form was obvious and he smiled. I mentioned that that would help to get over last night and his cold. He said he could not drink it now. But, well, with Halls and vodka, one never knows what he did…


Warsaw’s Old Town


More of Warsaw’s Old Town

Oh, during my walk around Warsaw, I managed to get lost. I mean, the towering Science & Technology building makes it hard to be really lost as it is an obvious landmark. Still, I didn’t know which way back. So I asked directions. And, in every case, people stopped and helped me. In two cases, the people spoke to me in English and smiled. I give Warsavites a hard time. They really are nice people. Polish people, in general, are educated, nice, down to earth people.


Science and Technology Building, Warsaw (It's a bit obnoxious, but I like this building!)

You got to love people who have “bitch” (well, technically “byc”) meaning the verb “to be.”

I ate at Café San Marzano, a Spanish owned pizzeria. The pizza was simply delicious.

Although I was totally tired, I decided to go out for a couple of beers. I was in bed by 11:00. I set my alarm on my cell phone as this way works. As mentioned, the Wal*Mart alarm clock is just hours away from meeting its maker. Well, not the Chinese, I mean. Well. You know what I mean.
- posted by Matt @ 4:46 AM 0 comments