Lithuania
Trip Start
Feb 21, 2007
1
5
39
Trip End
May 19, 2007
Vilnius, Lithuania
Saturday, February 24, 2007
We then had to change trains in Sestokai where we met our first Lithuanians. Three drunk blokes with one big knfie and a big lump of pork! They used our coats to hide their vodka while they went off for a joint outside the toilets, not that we were going to argue with them! They sooned downed the vodka and we willingly swapped seats so all three could sit together! We managed to stop them from taking us out for the night in Vilnius and helping us find our hostel!
Our hostel was a building site and we were shoved into a room across the court yard with no windows except for a small one covered with a blind, ice around the door and icicles in the shower!! We were looking forward to cooking some food ourselves but noticed the kitchen had no facilties apart from a kettle and one knife. We managed to find somewhere to eat on the first night but after that noodles, bread, ham and cheese was our only option!
We went to the Genocide Museum which was fascinating but more than a bit depressing. It was housed in the old KGB offices and still contained the listening devices, torture instruments, padded cells and execution chamber. Still in use up to 1991 when we were studying for our GCSEs. So after a cheery afternoon we needed a beer!
We thought we were in luck, Lonley Planet (yet again big fat liars!) assured us this was hip and happening city, the best in fact in the Baltic! So we fought through the -15 temperatures and went in search of the wacky, the odd and the downright weird as we'd been promised!! Unfortunately this consisted of us in a pub with 8 other people none of which were any of the above! The beer was a mere one pound a pint so we couldn't grumble.
Our patience however paid off, as we gatecrashed a firework display and presentation of a shiny new buick to an ex-soviet rally driver. We were stuck in the middle of the crowd who looked more than a bit like ex-KGB maffia men and their wives dressed head to toe in fur! We said goodbye to Vilnius this morning and are heading for Riga by bus.
