Sunday, Adam tried to go to church, but the taxi company couldn't process his credit card, so he couldn't go. The rest of us have all been fighting colds, so it was a stay inside day. That and the fact that it was really cold still. We brought games with us, so those have kept us quite entertained. One of our favorite games is a marble game, but it has a big, heavy board. Jacob and I copied the board onto a piece of poster board, then brought legos as our game pieces. We have nightly tournaments and it gets quite heated.
Our homemade version of the marble game.
Monday is a quiet day in Vilnius. Almost all tourist places are closed. We have decided that will be our cleaning, working, catching up day.
We finally left the house on Tuesday! And the week has been much more interesting since then. Our first task was to take Sarah to the Vilnius Winter Thaw locations. Jacob and I were equally excited to see them again. But first we needed some food. We ended up back at Jacob's favorite place, Charlie's Pizza. However, since Sarah and I discovered the most amazing salad there, it's now one of our favorite places as well.
We love the interior of Charlie's. Red velvet benches, red chandeliers over each booth and then the brown, tufted velvet in each booth. Oh yeah!
His smiles have become more of a smolder lately.
This is after half of the salad has been scooped onto another plate, but it's pears, baked beets, beet greens, pumpkin seeds and the creamiest Feta on the planet topped with an Asian dressing. I'm drooling just looking at the picture!
This is the beautiful Philharmonic building we passed on the way.
This is the entrance to the courtyard where the cobbler shop exterior was shot. It used to be the entrance to a monastery.
The door to the cobbler shop. It looks so bare and lonely without the awning and railing that was built for the shoot.
The street was a sheet of ice from the melting snow of the day.
Jacob at the cobbler shop door. In reality, it's the door to a storage shed.
From the cobbler shop courtyard, we walked through the Gates of Dawn, along the old city wall, to this cute alley:
The alley the cobbler walks down to get to the market street.
The market street looks so sad without stalls of merchandise and lots of extras in amazing Russian outfits moving around.
This is the little Rimi market we usually stop at to shop.
We walk through this archway from Town Hall to enter our courtyard. The dark brown door on the pink building it the one we use to enter our stairwell. There is a 3 button code we have to push to gain access through the door.
This is what our courtyard looks from the archway. There is a park to the right of the trees and a little further on are our garbage dumpsters. We have to stop there almost daily.
This is the produce we brought home from the store. And this is why "organic" bothers me in the States. Real non-chemical grown vegetables are all different shapes and sizes like these. And these carrots have so much flavor that they are truly delicious!
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
After almost 4 hours of work and an hour or so with home school, we made it out the door for an outing with some of the Kendalls. It's fun to take different routes to the same locations. To get to the Vilnius Cathedral today, we passed the Presidential Palace. This sign in front means #freedom.
#freedom
Presidential Palace
The lighting on the Vilnius Cathedral today was stunning. Look at the blue sky!!! We even found an open door, so Sarah was finally able to see the beautiful interior.
The Vilnius Cathedral Bell Tower
Cathedral interior
The Gedimino Castle tower seen just past the Cathedral. Unfortunately, it is closed until April 20th for renovation work. We leave the 17th. Sad...
The exterior of the New Arsenal Museum. This was once a part of the Grand Duke's Palace. It now houses artifacts that have been found around Lithuania. Some of the items were thousands of years old! There was also a display of modern folk art.
Perhaps my most favorite spot in all of old town. I love this shot up Pilies Street (Castle Street). The cobblestone street, the amazing brick building to the left and the church up on the right. It's the perfect European street!
This beautiful side street is just around the corner from our apartment. It is another favorite of mine and was one of the streets of the small Jewish ghetto of WWII.
Thursday, February 16, 2017 - Independence Day!
We were here for this holiday last year, but didn't know it was a holiday until the day was almost over and Jacob and I stumbled on a parade. So today we googled it to find out what events were happening so we wouldn't miss out. There was some activity out in front of Town Hall, but the real events were in the evening.
This little truck and grill were in front of Town Hall this afternoon, then moved to the courtyard next to the Cathedral for the evening events.
Setting up for the evening concert next to the Cathedral.
This is Gedemino Street. The Vilnius Cathedral is at the end of it. The road was blocked off to cars tonight and 16 bonfires were set up all down the street and lit at 6 pm.
Looking up Gedimino Street.
The lights have come on and a guy is dousing each bonfire stack in lighter fluid.
A man with a torch came by to light each fire.
Vilnius Cathedral's Square is ready for the concert to begin. The lights are in the flag colors: green, red and yellow.
Let the concert begin. Unfortunately for us, we couldn't understand a word of it, so we didn't stay long out in the cold.
Today marks Lithuania gaining its independence in 1918, making it a free state from all around it. This independence would soon be interrupted by WWII and the invasion of Russian forces. But it is the state they came back to when Russia finally left in 1992. Now we must pray for beautiful Lithuania to be able to continue to stay out of the hands of the Russians.
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