It is definitely warming up. Even when the temperature is in the 40s, it still feels warmer than the 40s from the beginning of the month. March came "in like a lion" and we are now gratefully feeling the "out like a lamb."
Tuesday, the boys were both wanting a quiet day at home. Sarah and I were wanting an outing in the sunshine - I am so grateful she is here! I had found a restaurant online I wanted to try, but hadn't felt brave enough to take the boys there since they are both so picky about where they'll eat. They always choose the same 3-4 restaurants and complain over trying new things, so we were ready to leave them home to peanut butter and cold cereal. We headed towards the Vilnius Cathedral to the restaurant Senatorai. It had a neat atrium ceiling full of vines and was filled with locals. The menu had some English, but they were not very thorough translations and our waitress spoke about as much English as we do Lithuanian. My dish was called pork under cheese and mushrooms. And that's exactly what it was. However, the menu failed to mention everything else that came on the plate with it - beet salad, cabbage salad/cole slaw, french fries, cucumber and tomato slices, and horseradish sauce for the meat. It was delicious! And cheap! Sarah had ham, cheese and spinach crepes with a sauce and we both ordered juice and bottled water. With all of that, our meal was still under 10 euros total!
Senatorai Restaurant
We headed up the street from there on a back road route back to the mall. Here's what we saw along the way:
Beautiful old buildings
Stranger newer-ish building
One of the many buses that runs on these cable lines
We made it to the mall and found these bizarre mannequins in the main entrance. They were highlighting work from a local up and coming designer.
There was an H&M which seems to always be busy, but the rest of the mall - not so much. Some of the stores had what looked like a total of about 10 different items for sale. It was very strange. Sometimes we're not sure how things stay open here. We stopped in lots of little shops on our way home. As we get closer to leaving, we are trying to make decisions about what souvenirs we want to take home - and what we can fit in our suitcases, which has eliminated some very fun things that we just can't possibly get home.
We passed Sopranos on the way home and noticed the giant ice cream cone is finally back. We resisted the temptation to go in and have a treat. Now that spring is in the air, many of the shops are setting up outdoor tables and chairs and props. We can't wait for a day warm enough to eat outside. It will feel so European!
My favorite place to get some R and R after a long walk
It was too gorgeous outside to stay in for the night, so once we were done with dinner we headed back out for an evening stroll.
Looking down Vokeciu (German) Street
A lovely little French restaurant - I just love the red table cloths
The most iconic street in Vilnius with it's archway
Looking through the arch
On the other side of the arch looking back
A close up of the pattern of the street
We were on this street and an older man started chatting away at us in Lithuanian. We kept telling him we only spoke English, but he wouldn't stop talking. A young couple walked by, so Sarah asked them if they could translate for us. The guy listened for about 2 seconds and said to just keep walking. I'm sure the guy was pestering us Americans for money. We just kept walking and he eventually left us alone. It was interesting how both of the boys became instantly protective, standing on either side of me and Sarah. When did the roles reverse?
We spent some time walking around the Large Ghetto streets:
They are working on creating a new Jewish Museum where the ghetto gymnasium once was, but it's not yet open. However, there was a picture of a page out of a book listing Jews held in the ghetto. Then along the wall of the building are pictures that were found left behind in the ghetto. They are photographs of families and loved ones - memories to those in the ghetto left behind when they were finally taken off to Paneriai for their executions. I hate these realities of our world, but am thankful that they boys are gaining an understanding of what has happened in our history.
We ended our evening tour by walking down our old street - which is still such a cute little road.
Wednesday Jacob, Sarah and I (Tyson had to stay behind to work) went to the Jewish Tolerance Museum. It was in a building that was once used to feed hungry Jews after the war. It was later renovated into a music hall. Today it houses art from various Jewish artists and contains a room which tells dozens of stories of children who both survived and were murdered. It wasn't possible to read every story, but we were inspired and haunted by what we read. Jacob even took the time to read and couldn't believe what kids younger than him had to endure. I am so thankful he is getting this education! We spent the afternoon on set.
We had to eat before all of that walking and touring, so why not hit our favorite donut shop and grab a delicious tomato, cheese and pesto on a bagel sandwich. And maybe Sarah and I shared one of their amazing donuts... Carbo-licious!
Sometimes you have to take pictures of funny graffiti you see along the way
We woke up to a beautiful, but still cool, spring day on Thursday and knew it would be perfect skies for visiting the TV Tower. It is basically the Russian version of the Space Needle. So it could have been pretty. But it does have spectacular views if you have a clear day. There is a restaurant on the 19th floor where the tables are on a track. In about an hour, you make a 360 degree trip around the city. The food isn't great there, so we opted for just a snack. The boys had waffles with ice cream and the girls had fries and cokes. Healthy...
I took pictures of most of the views. It gives a pretty clear picture of just how Soviet-dominated this city once was. There are just miles and miles of cinder block apartment buildings with little else besides grocery stores in between. Again I am sickened by what these people have endured under cruel hands.
The architect of this neighborhood won the Lenin award. Is that a prize you want?
This view shows old town. Right in the middle is the hill with Gedimino Castle on it and the 3 Crosses right above it. Old town is to the right of the castle.
This is a forested park in the middle of the city. At least it was allowed to stay beautiful.
This is actually a picture of a picture, but I loved the aerial shot of Town Hall. We are the pink with orange roof building to the immediate right of town hall.
And this is a great aerial of Trakai - our destination this coming Saturday.
We had the taxi driver drop us off at the Vilnius Cathedral so we could look in some shops going down Pilies Street. We are still trying to make decisions about Souvenirs and wanted to check things out. The boys soon got bored and headed back home. As we worked our way up the street, Sarah and I decided to stop in a restaurant we have seen called Ti'ana. It's expensive, but we wanted to try their pumpkin with shrimp soup. It seemed the thing to warm us up - and it seemed healthier than fries. It was simply delicious. And of course the view as we ate...
We spent the evening and all of the next day prepping for our visitors! We cleaned, worked, got caught up and even a little ahead on homework and did some grocery shopping. Allison and Andrew (my sister and her youngest son) were due to arrive at 3:45 pm and we wanted to be ready to show them the town.
Around 3:20 I called for a taxi. They usually take about 10 minutes to come. I didn't think to account for Friday night traffic. I guess it's a thing even here because our taxi took 25 minutes to get to us! The company called to apologize, but there was really nothing to be done about it. Then it took us longer than normal to get to the airport - typical is about 15 minutes. It was 25 this time. So about 4:15 we finally pulled up to the airport. Andrew was able to text us after getting logged in to the airport WiFi, so I was at least able to let him know we were coming. It just wasn't the exact welcome I had in mind for them.
But we are all so happy to have them here! It is a nice change in pace and great to have new people to talk to. The boys have been getting along really well, but can still get on each other's nerves so they were ready to welcome Andrew here.
We wanted to start them out with a splash, so we took them to Charlie's Pizza for dinner so Allison could try the Beet and Pear Salad. I'm telling you, it's the stuff dreams are made of! It's that good! To complete the splash, we took them to Holy Donut to get the best donut known to mankind. Yes, it's that good! And they agreed that everything was SO good! Adam met us at Holy Donut and grabbed a sandwich. Then we took a little walk and just introduced them to our neighborhood.
Our apartment comfortably accommodated our new arrivals. Jacob was nice enough to move to the hide-a-bed, giving Andrew his bed upstairs and Allison the guest bedroom. We are all cosy and settled and looking forward to our week together.
No comments:
Post a Comment