A monumental walk

Saturday, June 22

One of the brochures Jim brought to Ardith when she was ill described a walking tour to statues and monuments,  That's what we picked for today.  Our path led us down a street that had a great deal of charm, even though buildings were a bit run down.  After Jim took the first picture below, he paid attention to the posters filling windows of the building on the left.  A less than stunning model is wearing less than stunning clothes in each of them.  The posters are photos taken in front of the most fashionable shops, showing their brand names.

We also passed a reminder of when milk was delivered to our doorsteps (for people our age).

A man was walking his large dog on the railing of a bridge to our first destination, the Republic of Uzupis.  The dog seemed quite happy to be doing its balancing act, just like some kids enjoy doing similar things.

What?  The Republic of Uzupis?  Aren't we in Lithuania?  We need some background here.  In the 1930s, Vilnius was 40% Jewish.  Uzupis, which means "Behind the River" is separated from the old town of Vilnius by the Vilna River.  It was a Jewish ghetto before World War 2.  Between the Nazis and the Soviets, the Jewish population was driven out or killed.

Uzupis became run down and attracted the undesirables of society.  After Lithuanian independence, artists were attracted to the area, due to low rents.  It grew and began to thrive. In 1997 they declared independence.  This reminded us of The Maritime Republic of Eastport in Annapolis. In 1998, the bridge separating the Eastport section of Annapolis from downtown was closed for several months for extensive repairs.  A group of locals declared their independence and the tradition of rivalry has persisted.  Each year there is a .05K race across the bridge and a tug of war across the water.  Uzupis outdoes Eastport by having a constitution that is displayed in multiple languages on metal mirrors.  The constitution has some sensible stuff and a fair amount of wackiness.  Here are a few articles:

• Everyone has the right to hot water, heating in winter and a tiled roof. 
  Everyone has the right to die, but it is not a duty.
  A cat is not obliged to love its master, but it must help him in difficult times. 
  Everyone has the right to be happy.
  Everyone has the right to be unhappy.

The symbol of Uzupis is an angel (Gabriel) high on a pillar above the Republic's main open space.

 

There are lots of examples of nuttiness evident here.  There were almost no people, though.  We suspect that was due to very late partying celebrating midsummer last night.

Heading down the hill to the other bridge connecting Uzupis with the mainland, we could see our next destination peering over the rooftops.

The Bernardine complex consists of two Catholic churches, a monastery and offices for some organizations.  St. Anne's Church was finished in 1500.  It is an amazing brick structure.  One group of scholars said there are 33 different shapes of bricks there.  We are surprised that the number isn't bigger.

The larger church in the complex is Saints Bernardine and Francis of Assisi. It is 25 years newer than St. Anne's.  At one time, its walls were part of the city's defenses.  During Soviet times, it was used as an art students' studio.  Many parts of the interior were incorporated into student works.  The interior is slowly being restored.

A statue on the grounds is of Adam Manciewicz, a poet whose 19th century writings inspired Lithuanians in the 1980s to push for their freedom.

Every time we were near a church today, we saw babies in baptismal gowns.  This was especially concentrated here.  We saw about a dozen in the half hour we were here.  We saw that people who wanted to have their child baptized went into the church office and signed up for a time.  Saturday is a the usual day for baptisms.  Tomorrow is St. John the Baptist Sunday, so that is probably regarded as a special day to have your baby brought into the church.

We saw a tree all dressed in its finest knitwear.  This reminded us of Hobbywool in Riga, but Hobbywool was more tasteful.

As we approached the main tourist street, we saw a teacup sticking out of a wall, then more.  This was the wall of a shop featuring tea.

While we were on the main tourist street, we poked our heads into shops selling amber.  Amber and honey were the main export goods in Lithuania at the time of its large empire.  The Baltic countries are still the largest source of amber in the world.  Ardith ended up buying a pair of earrings.

We went down to Cathedral Square and hydrated ourselves while enjoying a small snack.  While we were sitting and enjoying, we heard what sounded like bugle calls, except they didn't sound like they were coming from a bugle.  Soon a guy came into view playing a long straight horn.  He was followed by people with an Olympic torch, an Olympic flag and 2 other flags with Lithuanian colors and Olympic symbols.

We came to Cathedral Square because we wanted to experience the next "monument".  This is actually a tile in the plaza floor.  It marks the spot where the human chain from Vilnius to Riga to Tallinn demanding freedom for the Baltics was intended to start. (Due to overwhelming turnout, it went farther). The letters on the tile spell "miracle" in Lithuanian (Stebuklas).  Legend says that if you stand on it, close your eyes and make a 360 degree clockwise spine, your wish will come true.  Jim suspects that Ardith wished that he didn't start walking more slowly or straying away to take excessive numbers of pictures.

Not far from there we got some surprises.  These were good ones.  The main street closes for a time on Saturdays for a special market.  There are lots of things for locals and tourists.

The meat seller had a boar's head at his booth and a woman had a unique delivery vehicle for caffeine.

We wished we hadn't snacked because there were a lot of great looking edibles, but we passed everything by.

As we neared the end of the market area, the sounds of a busking accordion player were replaced by the wail of a siren.  Police cars came into the main street then continues on.  They were followed by perhaps a thousand bicycles, pedaling furiously.  A great sight, too bad it didn't last longer.

Next, we hunted down the statue of Romain Gary.  He was a French writer, diplomat, pilot, etc who spent his boyhood living in the house adjacent to the statue. The statue recreates a scene from his autobiography when he was trying to win the attention of a girl named Valentina by cutting up and eating what the descriptions call a gumshoe.  When we were kids, we called them rubbers.  We haven't seen kids or adults wear them for ages.

 

Next on the agenda was something quite odd for Lithuania - a statue of Frank Zappa. This was commissioned by the local Frank Zappa fan club shortly after independence and replaced a bust of Lenin.  He has no connection to Lithuania, but represented a type of freedom.

The final monument on our tour was the giant Easter Egg.  Supposedly a symbol of revitalization of its neighborhood, its paint is peeling, thus in need of revitalization itself.

Along the way, Ardith did a double take.  She thought she saw her name on a wall.  There was a company in a small office building called Ardita.

 

We also passed the synagog where the Karaite sect mentioned in yesterday's blog worships.  They managed to escape most of the ravages of Nazis and Soviets because they weren't "real Jews", but most of the remaining Karites are living in Israel.

As we neared our hotel, we passed through the Gates of Dawn.  This was one of the gates in the old defensive walls of the city.  The "outside" of the gate is plain, with a few bullet holes to help recall bad times.  Above the opening on the inside is a chapel with a famous image of the Virgin Mary.  There was a worship service happening as we passed through.  Jim recorded some of the singing.  Hes especially liked the fact that the woman next to us began singing something that was very familiar to her, softly at first, then full voice.

Jim recognized that Ardith was quite tired from the day's activities and suggested a place to eat that was very near the hotel.  Its outdoor eating area was in an alley-like area off the main street.  It was totally charming farther back in there.  We were the first to come for dinner, thus had full attention of the wait staff.  We had a fry bread that was shaped like large French fries.  If we didn't share, that amazing dish would have filled one of us.  Ardith recalled how her grandmother made fry bread that was quite different than this, but was one of her favorites.  Jim was enchanted by the idea of a poached pear tower, and that swayed his decision to have the duck breast in a berry-wine reduction with polenta and spinach.  All was wonderful, especially the pear.  Ardith was quite happy with her chicken croquettes, fried potatoes and warm cucumber and tomato slices.

Here are just a few buildings or features we especially liked today.

Caution:History Lessons inside

Friday, June 13

Despite the title, this isn't all about history.  Breakfasts at our hotel are quite decent, but don't begin to compare with those in Riga. However, the setting is much nicer.

When Jim brought home brochures yesterday, Ardith zeroed in on one of them.  She had been reading in our tour book about Trakai Island and its castle and wanted to go there.  Taking public transportation would leave you with a nearly mile long walk to the castle.  Ardith's ankle had improved after yesterday's rest, but she didn't want to push things.  The brochure described a tour to there and even though Jim doesn't particularly like tours, he realized that was the most practical thing to do.  That would be our main goal for the day.

The brochure listed a web site and a phone number.  The website reverted to Lithuanian after the front page and we didn't have a phone.  It was supposed to leave at 9:30, so we went to the tourist information office and had them call.  She didn't get through, but suggested a different company that departed at 11 and we made a reservation for that one. 

  With some time to kill, we decided to explore the innards of the cathedral.

There are a lot of subtle connections to Poland in here.  The main side chapel is devoted to St. Casimir and there were a lot of other Polish sounding names throughout.  History lesson 1: Poland and Lithuania were united in a commonwealth from the late 1500s to the late 1700s. Casimir was Polish, ruled the commonwealth for a time, and is the patron saint of both Poland and Lithuania.

 While we were walking along a side aisle, we saw what looked like a pulpit facing backwards. (Insert Polish joke here?), but seen from the main part of the church, it appears to be a platform for special dignitaries and is open to the front, back and center.

The confessionals were all open - not a chance for private sinning. Their woodwork was great, though.

We walked over to the Presidential Palace while we were waiting for our tour.  Yesterday, when Jim passed by, there were several people down on their knees chalking in squares on the pavement.  He thought it was an art project of some sort.  Today, we saw that they were coloring in letters that faced the Palace.  With some inquiry, we found out that it can be translated as "Listen To Us".  It is an ongoing protest by folks who believe that the government is unresponsive to the people.  It's good to see that the government tolerates at least some forms of dissent. One problem with doing 5 countries in just over 3 weeks is that you don't get a chance to wrap your head around political realities, other than a bit about Russia.

As we passed through the university area, we saw an interesting stack of books in a window.

 

Ardith sat on a bench along the side of Cathedral Square where we were supposed to meet the bus for our trip.  Jim was wandering, looking for more pictures.  She chatted for a while with the person that did reservations.  When Jim came back, he asked where to pay by credit card.  She said they didn't take credit cards, but told Jim just to go down the main street and he would see lots of banks that could change dollars.  We didn't bring an ATM card on the trip, partly to guard against possible loss, but mostly because Jim is a cheapskate and avoids as many bank fees as possible. After 3 long banks, he found a bank, went in and saw that there were about 30 people sitting on benches waiting for their number to come up.  This wouldn't do, as it was 15 minutes before we were supposed to depart.  Jim decided to go back to the place where he had changed money the day before.  As he was zooming by near Ardith, she yelled to him.  She had been talking with a woman from Finland who said there was a bank close by.  At a near run, she escorted Jim to a place where she could point to the bank he had missed.  He went in, changed enough money for the trip, and made it back to the bus with almost 5 minutes to spare!

Our guide was Julia, like Julia Roberts, she said.  She was attractive, pleasant and very well informed.  She also asked that we didn't take pictures of her. On the 40 minute ride to Trakai, she told us bits of Lithuanian customs and language, but mostly told us the history surrounding the place we were going.  

Mindaugus monument

History lesson 2: Mindaugas was the Duke who effectively created Lithuanian by uniting all the subtribes with the same ethnicity. He also was baptized and brought Christianity to the Lithuanians. This occurred in the mid-1200s.  Legend says that he selected the site for a castle at Trakai because of its defensive position, being on an island.  After he was murdered, the people reverted to paganism.  This made them the target of Crusaders of the Teutonic Order.  In the early middle 1300s, Gediminas transitioned Lithuania into a multi-ethnic state and began building an empire that would eventually become the largest in Europe, strecthing from the Black Sea to the Baltic.  He initiated construction of two castles in Trakai, one on a peninsula and the other on an island.   His grandson, Vytautus, brought an end to the wars with the Teutonic and Livonian Knights, both by battle and diplomacy.  One of his great victories was here at Trakai.

The peninsula castle has been reduced to mostly just its foundations.  The island castle had gotten into a state of major disrepair, but has been restored and can be explored.

Site of former moat

The Ducal Palace (the rulers had the title Grand Duke) now contains a museum.  Julia showed us where coals were heated and said that for the first floor, warm air was distributed through tunnels to heat rooms.  Jim had a fuzzy picture of this until an illustration in an exhibit showed how these "tunnels" were created.

There was much more history explained in the museum.  It was hard to grasp some of it because we Americans are taught almost nothing about eastern European history and there is an amazing amount of complexity.  History lesson 3: Gediminas brought a lot of men from the Caucasus of the Tatar and Karaite ethnic groups to be his bodyguards and defenders of the castle.  We had never heard of the Karaites before.  Their religion is sort of Jewish, but they only accept the Torah as holy and reject the teachings of the Talmud.  They also follow many Turkic practices.  Their numbers have dwindled.  There are just over 200 in Lithuania, with 80 residing in the town of Trakai.  The museum showed their traditional dress.  Later, we passed by their synagog in Vilnius.

They also had hordes of coins from just after the time of Vytautus that had been dug up, as well as cigar-shaped sticks of silver that were cut to make into smaller currency when needed.

Jim took a picture of a suit of armor.  It took 3 men to dress another in one of these 100 pound suits. When he took the picture, he didn't notice the face.  In the piture it looks like a live human female in the armor.  Spooky?

A painting showed Vytautus' victory at Trakai

Ardith's ankle told her not to go to the 3rd floor, so she went down to the courtyard until Jim finished.  She saw him taking picture and they ended up with dueling shots.

Trakai is not just a castle.  It is a functioning town and a major resort area.  Today had a record high temperature, about 85F.  Normal for this date is 70F.  This attracted lots of people to the water.  One of the swans seemed to enjoy people watching.  Jim needed to cool his heels, so to speak.  Julia saw what he was doing and said that she had done the same.

We had a wonderful time chatting with the woman from Finland on the bus ride back.  We wished that we would have taken her contact information.  She was really interesting and interested.

We went looking for a nice outdoor place to eat this evening and found a place with one outdoor table left.  A person sitting at one of the tables said that we really should look at the downstairs.  Ardith's ankle bravely made it down a narrow spiral staircase into a totally charming room.  She was hooked.  This won out over outdoors.

Ardith had a terrible time getting to sleep tonight.  Jim rarely does, but stays up much later than most folks.  Tonight is midsummer - the longest daytime of the year.  There were a lot of celebrations taking place.  She fell asleep just a few minutes before midnight.  There were really loud fireworks that went off at midnight, but Ardith snored on.  She said that she was wakened by later ones, but Jim was sound asleep then and hadn't a clue.