Lithuania Highlights
A very important Virgin Mary, whose canvas allegedly healed a boy who had fallen out of a window. Displayed in a cathedral in Vilnius. 
People are said to have been planting crosses on
the Hill of the Crosses, near the city of Siauliai, since the 13th century. The Soviets bulldozed the crosses down, but every night people would sneak up and put new crosses up for martyrs, mosly victims fo the Soviet Occupation - those families sent to Siberia, political prisoners etc. People come here now from all over the world to add their crosses and to hang little crosses on the big crosses.
Me in front of Trakai Castle, from the time of the Teutonic Knights. It must have looked very different before its restoration in the 1950s. I'm not sure since the museum was on weekend the day we came, but I feel like only that bottom part survived.
We didn't get off at the right stop at Trakai and had to find out way back using this dandy hand written and obviously outdated posted bus schedule.
On the right is Nathan, my travel buddy for Lithuania (met him on the bus to Vilnius and he dragged me along to the coast since we were both eventually heading to Riga in a few days). Here we are in Juadkrante, a little fishing town on the Curonian Spit. We bought this freshly smoked fish out of someone's kitchen and she sat and ate it with us on her porch. She told me I spoke Russian like a gypsy. By that I think she meant I was obnoxious and spicy.
These are the dunes I biked to today on the Curonian Spit, from the town of Nida, on the border with Kaliningrad. the Curonian Spit is a thin peice of land off of the Baltic coast of Lithuania. The northern half belongs to Lithuania and the Southern to Russia as part of Kaliningrad. The body of water here is called the Curonian Lagoon.
People are said to have been planting crosses on
the Hill of the Crosses, near the city of Siauliai, since the 13th century. The Soviets bulldozed the crosses down, but every night people would sneak up and put new crosses up for martyrs, mosly victims fo the Soviet Occupation - those families sent to Siberia, political prisoners etc. People come here now from all over the world to add their crosses and to hang little crosses on the big crosses.
Me in front of Trakai Castle, from the time of the Teutonic Knights. It must have looked very different before its restoration in the 1950s. I'm not sure since the museum was on weekend the day we came, but I feel like only that bottom part survived.
We didn't get off at the right stop at Trakai and had to find out way back using this dandy hand written and obviously outdated posted bus schedule.
On the right is Nathan, my travel buddy for Lithuania (met him on the bus to Vilnius and he dragged me along to the coast since we were both eventually heading to Riga in a few days). Here we are in Juadkrante, a little fishing town on the Curonian Spit. We bought this freshly smoked fish out of someone's kitchen and she sat and ate it with us on her porch. She told me I spoke Russian like a gypsy. By that I think she meant I was obnoxious and spicy.
These are the dunes I biked to today on the Curonian Spit, from the town of Nida, on the border with Kaliningrad. the Curonian Spit is a thin peice of land off of the Baltic coast of Lithuania. The northern half belongs to Lithuania and the Southern to Russia as part of Kaliningrad. The body of water here is called the Curonian Lagoon.
posted by duckie at 6:10 PM
3 comments
Remote controls to your heart's desire at the super shady (and I don't mean there are lots of trres) and very large "Russian Market" on the other bank of the Vistula River in Warsaw.
2. The Jewish quarter: deserted synogogues and yuppy cafes by day, hipster (loosely defined) hang out by night. The terrace pubs in the first photo face the old Jewish market square where you could pick up your freshly killed chickens and such items in the 1930s (the museum in one of the 5 or so synogogues in the neghborhood has a lot of awesome documentary footage). 
Below: Three pubs in a row facing what's probably the most beautiful synagogue in Poland (after renovations were completed in 2001), the Tempel synogogue.
Below: The gate to the Old Synagogue. There's only 100 Jews left living in the district, which was clearly one of the largest communities in Eastern Europe before the war.
3. Ballgames court in the Royal Gardens where important people apparently played tennis and the like in Prague's Golden age.
4. View of West side of Prague across Vlata river taken from Manesov Most bridge.
6. My favorite Prague bar. The orange woman is blowing bubbles to those entereing the pub. Quite pleasant. She is wearing a shirt by the way. An orange fishnet type thing. Anna and Steve are having fun with Czech coasters.
