I have had several people ask what we have been doing since arriving in Vilnius - everyone wants a post. But that's just the problem. We haven't done anything. It was 11 degrees when we landed Monday afternoon. We were met at the airport by a driver - I didn't catch his name and he didn't know any English, and unfortunately, I only know 1 word of Lithuanian - and also by Birute (By-root-ah), the assistant production coordinator who takes very good care of us while we're here. You'll see just how well in a minute.
We were lucky to be met because both of them helped us carry our suitcases up the 5 stories of stairs. Each story has 18 steps, plus a few stairs to get to the building. We figure there are over 90 stairs up to our apartment. But it is so worth it when you get up here!
This is the view looking out of our family room window!!!
The black dome is the top of St Casimir Cathedral. The white building with the black roof is Town Hall, the center of Old Town Vilnius. There are 2 more churches in the background. I have yet to identify which ones they are. The dark buildings just behind Town Hall with orange on the top half are where our little market, Rimi, is located. This location is truly amazing!
These bars are just across the bottom of the window, but by looking through them you get a better view of Town Hall.
This is the north view out of a window on Sarah's side of the apartment. You can see more church tops and right under the crane is an orange turret from the Gedimino castle. To the right, just before the tall church steeple, are the three white crosses.
They light up Town Hall all night, so just before bed, we have to close the blinds or it's too bright to sleep. But it's so beautiful and makes a great night light!
This was the view when I opened the blinds this morning!
Sarah and I walked around a little on Monday, wanting to get out and stretch our legs. We walked to the Vilnius Cathedral, only to learn that it is closed on Mondays. So we hurried back as it is just freezing out there! For weeks Jacob has been talking about eating at Charlie's Pizza, just below our flat along the German Street. That's where Sarah and I met Adam and Jacob for dinner. The pizza is pretty good, but their salads are amazing! I ordered a pear and beet salad with feta and a vinaigrette dressing. I shared because it was about the most delicious thing I've ever had!!! Sarah and I are already plotting when to go back and order it again! I LOVE European cheese! And Lithuanian beets are so different from what we get back home.
Family night was spent doing a little shopping at our market, Rimi, and playing some of the card games we thought to bring with us this time.
Unfortunately, there is not much more to report. It is just still SO cold outside! Tuesday we unpacked, did laundry, made a shopping list of supplies we needed and watched a few episodes of The Crown. We reinstated Tuesday night Taco night, which some how they are just better with European cheese on them. Wednesday, we set out to grab a few more groceries, thinking we'd go see a few sights on the way, only to get outside and head straight for the market and straight back home. It's SO COLD! But we got in a few more episodes of The Crown.
Today, we arranged for a driver, our friend from last year, Viktor, to take us females to a bigger grocery store. He took us - Christianne, Maya (her daughter), Sarah and I, to a new market that just opened up in the fall that is right next to the Ikea. Our apartment doesn't have a regular frying pan and spatula, so we stopped there first to grab some cheap kitchen gadgets. It felt like walking into the one at home - only there was no English to be found on any signs. But we still managed.
Ikea looking like Ikea.
It was so much more fun to shop with a girl with me, even if we were mostly just grocery shopping! We could share ideas on what to get and new things we didn't recognize to try. My boys just hate to shop - so much so that we left all of the boys behind to hang out together.
Thankfully, they were around to help us haul everything up our stairs - because I almost didn't make it up this time. My body has decided to get sick. I had a cold in the weeks before we left and it was getting better when we finally left. But is has come back with a vengeance. Birute, our lovely friend who I said takes care of us while we are here, scheduled me a doctor's appointment for tomorrow. I am pretty sure I have an ear infection and maybe the flu. I started getting body aches at the store and had to rest twice coming up the stairs from getting too light headed. The cold medicines I brought are doing little to ease the symptoms, so it seemed time to do something about it before it gets worse. So fun...
In the mean time, I'm hoping to get some anti-biotics tomorrow and let them kick in while the weather is still so miserable. It is supposed to be warmer next week, so then I will be feeling great to go out and play, right? I hope so because I really want to go play! At least Jacob's not complaining. We did no school today and he got to play with friends. I think he hopes I'll be sick the whole time!
We just got to wish Tyson a happy birthday for the first time today - he's just heading off to school. We are going to chat later when it's his tonight and our good morning to get the scoop on how his birthday celebrations went. He has his Eagle Board of Review tonight that my mom is going to with him. He also had his Stake President interview on Sunday, so his mission papers are turned in! And he just got his Patriarchal Blessing right before we left. So there are BIG things happening in this kid's life right now and we are SO proud of him!!!
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