Very lovely Vilnius
Trip Start
Jun 02, 2010
1
32
44
Trip End
Aug 02, 2010
Vilnius, Lithuania
Thursday, July 15, 2010
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Okay..so we spoke to soon and tempted fate....At 1:30am the train stopped to let on more passengers, where we got our room mates for our cabin. Then, at 3am we were awoken again to cross the border of Russia to Lithuania, so the officials came round and took our passports...Then immigration came in to quickly check the baggage hold under the beds and the shelves etc....At 3:45am we were woken again to get our passports back.......THEN, about an hour later, we crossed the border to Lithuania, so more officials came knocking to look at our passports etc. During this time, we also had to endure a whole lotta snoring. All in all, a rubbish nights sleep...Gutted! was so excited about a great train sleep again...
We forgot to actually write about the train “procedures” before. The above was the usual practice for when we crossed borders; We were really pleased we did it with the group first, as we knew exactly what was happening last night, otherwise, I (Vicky- easy guess) would have panicked when they took our passports away the first time! Its a very smooth and quick procedure actually, its just a bit tiring cos a couple of times its in the middle of the night. The train attendants will always wake you before your stop or before a border crossing for the officials, so you can get yourselves in gear. The train attendants attitudes did vary between to trains, but they will always help you, even if it is sometimes without a smile.
The actual cabins (4 berth for us) are laid out with two beds either side with a little table in between. The bottom bed lifts up to put your luggage under, so its safely stored all the time and there is also a big open shelf which is as deep as the corridor, so lots of extra storage room if needed. The cabin has little ledges or a mini pull-out ladder to get the top bunk person up to their bed and you always get newly cleaned bed linen in a sealed bag, to use with the provided pillow and blanket. The cabin has a sliding door which locks from the inside (& outside, if you ask the attendant nicely) which usually has a mirror on the back of it. Each carriage has one boiling water machine, sometimes a cold water one (but don’t drink it!) and usually has two loo’s...although, NOTE, you cannot use them whilst approaching/leaving or whilst at a stop...This caused a tricky situation when crossing into Russia as we were in the border station for hours...so a few of us were hopping down the isles at 2am trying not to wet ourselves! so if you take the Trans-Siberian and need to Loo? go while you can...you never know when the next stop might be!
The train pulled into Vilnius at 9am with a perfect cool breeze to greet us. AMAZING! We went straight to Tourist Info and got our free “Vilnius City guide”, to tell us what’s hot and what’s not....It also had the few common phrases we might need too, such as, “thank you” is “Aciu”, which is pronounced “A-Chyoo”..just like a cartoon sneeze! The best phrase ever! and we feel a grin creeping on everytime we say it. We then went to the ticket counter to book our train tickets to Vienna...Booking it was really easy and pretty cheap...The journey is a bit of a faff, but easy enough; We have to take a short 3 hour train to Sestokai, then jump on another 5.5 hr train to Warsaw, THEN jump on the sleeper to get to Vienna the following morning. It costs us about £100 each, for 3 trains and a sleeper, so really good value.
Back to today....We are in the capital of Lithuania! How random! and how pretty is this place?! We hopped in a cab where we wound up and around these cobbled streets to get to our Hotel “ Rudinku Vartai”. Really great place, £29 a night and we have our own room and bathroom etc No AC unfortunately, which is tricky in this heat-but we have a huge lovely skylight. The Internet is £1 for 24hours..not free..but still cheap.
After the greatest coldest showers ever, we went to explore. This was the perfect slow easy day, because there are no huge massive sights we “Must see” so we just wandered around casually and stumbled across things along the way. This is a lovely lazy town, with pretty buildings and pretty streets. The shops are great too and everyone is really well dressed. We had breakfast on one of the main cobbled streets called “Pilies”, and all the restaurants have outside seating with umbrellas, really “holiday” like. The streets are also lined with markets selling the local stuff; Vilnius is apparently rich in Amber and Linen Products!
After our late breakfast (cheap too!) we just strolled around the Old Town. We saw the Cathedral Square and all types of monuments too. The main shopping street is called “Gedimino Pr” it has a couple of malls and just millions of shops! including a very cheap Zara and a Marks & Sparks!
It was bloody hot here so before heading up to the “Upper Castle” (or Gediminas Castle Tower”) we grabbed an icecream. This was a wise decision as the walk up to the castle was on a steep cobbled street and in the blazing heat, so it was even easier whilst holding a thickly dripping icecream..doh!...The walk was well worth it though,as the view was insane.
Wandering back from the Castle, through streets and gardens, we headed to a market we saw advertised called “Hales Turgus”, which was brill. It was an inside market with food and clothing and all kinds of Tat. It had the kind of atmosphere that we expected Kutenchsky in St Pete’s to have, really bustling and packed full of stuff. We didn’t buy anything this time, because unfortunately they didn’t sell a product that could stop our flesh melting under the molten sun.
Our lack of sleep got the better of us by late afternoon, so we headed back to our lovely room to sink into a Lithuanian Sleep Coma.
That power nap did us the world of good, as we woke up hungry and ready to encounter the best meal of all time! ( I know we keep saying that, but, holy macaroni this was a meaty-carb delight like no other) In our handy “Vilnius City Guide”, Jake found a place called “Zemaiciu Smukle” It was a leisurely walk away, through all the other outside eaters and happy sun-kissed people. We sat outside in the pub garden, with a young lass knocking out some tunes on a saxophone; of which included Stevie Wonder, Glenn Miller and some fab cheesy hits too. The Menu was a massive newspaper and Jake eyes immediately bugged out when he saw the “Farmers Platter” which was advised for 2-3 people...THIS was the meal of a lifetime...out came a big skillet overflowing with mashed potato and every kind of meat that comes from a Pig. We had two big cups of mustard and horseradish and beers that cost £1each and we ate like kings....like 4 massive carnivorous kings actually... aaaaammmmmaazzzziinnngg. Go to Vilnius, if only to eat this dinner.
Great Great day.....
Comments
The words 'Farmer's platter' made me actually swallow....