We have been waiting for the arrival of our guests to make the trek to Trakai (Tra-ky - as in the y in sky) Castle. Adam was supposed to have the day off, which was another reason to wait, but they ended up using it as another work day to do some catch up - so we had to go a second year without him.
We got up early enough to catch a train to Paneriai (Pan-er-ay) at 10:00 - no small feat with 6 of us and 2 bathrooms.
The Vilnius Train Station
We hadn't meant to go to Paneriai twice so close together, but the earliest train to the castle wasn't until 12:40, so we knew if we went to Paneriai first, we would have time to show them around and still catch the same train from there to Trakai. Maybe we should have just waited and only done the Trakai leg because it was a cold morning! We had looked at the weather and knew it was going to be a nice day, but it was raining as we pulled out of the station and, although it stopped by the time we got there, it was still cloudy and cold. But regardless, it is still such an amazing experience to be there. This time when we arrived, there was a tour group who had just started. They were English speaking and wore Kippahs, the Jewish head covering for men, and se we eavesdropped a little on what their guide was saying. However, we decided that probably wasn't the right thing to do, so we ventured off on our own. The forest felt even more hallowed being there when it was colder, trying to imagine what it would have been like for those being brought there in a train under very different circumstances.
Allison later read a story of an older man who came to Paneriai in 2005 with a guide - only this was his second time there at the rim of one particular pit. The first time he stood there was with his family when he was a young boy. When the guns fired, he, for some reason, wasn't hit. Instinctively, he fell back into the pit and allowed himself to be covered by the dead bodies of his family. When nightfall hit, he escaped into the woods where he lived in caves and dugouts for 2 years alone, only leaving the forest at night to steal food from the local farmers. He stood in the freezing cold in 2005 and removed his shoes and coat, adorned himself with the phylacteries of the Jewish prayers and prayed for an hour. Once he was finished and had his coat back on, his guide asked him how he could stand the cold. His answer was that you only get cold when you know there is a heater or blanket that will soon warm you. He hadn't been cold since those 2 years as a 12-14 year old.
We walked around for about an hour to different pits and monuments. The small visitor center was still closed, but we did read the outdoor sign they had and learned that the trench we had seen was where they lined the Jews up after they marched them there from the train while they waited their turn to be shot. Mankind can be so inhumane!!!
Memorial to Jews shot at Paneriai
Allison and Andrew overlooking one of the pit sites
and walking along the forested path.
The horrifying trench
On our previous visit, Jacob really needed a bathroom. With the visitor's center closed, there just wasn't one. But back behind the center was this old outhouse. Jacob refuses to ever use a porta potty and most public bathrooms, so I was shocked by his willingness to use this place - a wooden seat over a hole that was beyond disgusting. But he was brave... and desperate.
The bathroom entrance. I refused to take a picture inside. Gross...
This station is small and we noticed last time that the locals don't bother to use the stairs and bridge, but just walk over the tracks. When in Rome...
Waiting for our train to Trakai and trying to stay warm.
After eating our the picnic lunch we brought with us, we caught our train. We happened to sit behind a group of college kids. They were being loud and silly and we didn't pay much attention until English started creeping into the conversation. It seemed that one member of the group was a visitor and they spoke to him in English, and then one guy started a commentary that had us all laughing. From our eavesdropping, we learned that the national bird is the stork and saw a huge nest on top of a pole. But one sad commentary was, "And here we have muddy ponds, fields and poverty all around." Sometimes, the lack of a budding economy does seem to drive the youth away from this country. We have learned that many immigrate to England, willing to work in fields or any form of manual labor just to get away. The average yearly income here is 7000 euros. How do you live off of that???
Here are a few shots from the train:
When we arrived in Trakai, we decided to take the route through town to the castle just to get a feel for the town. The walk is about a mile from the station to the castle, and with only 2 taxis in town, a walking we went. We passed this church along the way and Tyson wanted to see inside. We were not expecting to see a full service going on. There was a band with singers and, I know I shouldn't have taken the picture, but I was so fascinated by the priest at the confessional, which I have never actually seen live before. Father, forgive me...
The band on the right center
I remembered this split in the road from last year and knew we were about 3/4 the way there.
Just before crossing the bridges to the castle on the island
Trakai Castle - the new brick shows where the reconstruction took place
On the castle grounds
POW
Guilty
He almost got a bulls-eye
Having recently seen Beauty and the Beast, we all wanted to sing about the draw-bridge of the castle.
Model of what the pre-renovated castle looked like
Ceiling
Courtyard
View from the castle
In the throne room, some of the tourists were dressed in costumes and learning to dance medieval dance steps
Tyson walking the moat
The lake view from the castle grounds - we need to be here in the summer!
Looking back at the castle from along the lake
We chose to take the lake path back to the train station. It had warmed into a very pleasant day and it was so lovely to stroll along the water away from traffic and surrounded by others enjoying the lake. However, it was a longer walk than we expected and we ended up missing our train by about 10 minutes. By this time we had already walked over 6 miles and we were tired, but the next train wasn't for 2 hours! We couldn't just sit at the station and we were hungry. However, the restaurants are mostly up by the castle - almost a mile away and we were still on foot. So we trekked back up. The restaurant we chose had a patio to sit on where we could enjoy the lake and castle and rest our feet. They had a good menu we were excited about and ordered quickly. And then our food took forever to come. We knew we needed about 40 minutes to guarantee we'd make the 8 pm train. If we missed it the next train wasn't until 11pm, so we couldn't miss it. But our food wasn't coming! We set a time that we would just get up and walk away if our food didn't come. It came about 4 minutes before that time. It looked good and was really delicious, but we all inhaled our food in about 5 minutes. We even asked for our check as she was laying our food on the table and we paid before we were done eating - it was that fast! And then we high-tailed it back down to the station and got on the train with about 8 minutes to spare.
View from the restaurant - it was getting dark, but the edge of the castle is behind the boat.
I stopped long enough on our rush back to the station to catch this glorious sunset.
We're exhausted, but we made it! It was a good day!
As we left the station to start our walk home, we ran into our college friends from the train ride earlier. We chatted for a second before heading in our different directions. Sarah's app logged our miles for the day. It was over 10 miles in total! We all slept well that night.
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