Vilnius, villians, missing ghosts, and a high point

A change in plans...

Our original plan was to go to Aland Island for the Aland Marathon, but all of the ferries were canceled due to high winds.

All in all...a great trip...even though we never did find the ghosts.

We thought about hibernating at home for the weekend, but quickly decided to find another adventure.

We got online and found a ghost tour in Vilnius and that sealed the deal!  We booked seats on the Euroline bus from Tallinn to Vilnius via Riga, hotel rooms at the Scandic Neringa, and a ghost tour of Old Town for Saturday night.

Got to the Tallinn bus terminal for the 21:30 bus, and off we went.  Our family of six got split up 4/2 on the bus, but no worries.  The whole trip was scheduled for 9 hours.  We passed first through the "summer capital" of Estonia - Parnu, and then into Latvia.  We stopped at the border crossing while the border guards checked passports, so now we had set foot on Latvian soil...a first for us.

The bus ride continued on through the night, finally arriving  in Vilnius at 07:00.  We got off the bus and hoofed it to the hotel.  It was dawn when we started walking, and it was a beautiful morning...the moon was setting, the muted tones of the beautiful buildings were emerging, and we knew that the statue of Frank Zappa was somewhere to be found.

We arrived at the hotel at about 0800 and were greeted warmly by the front desk attendant.  Even though it was early she eagerly gave us a junior suite that was available to rest in until our rooms were ready later in the day.  Imagine that happening in many places!  After resting for a couple hours it was time to hit the town.

We started with a delightful breakfast at a small cafe in Old Town.  After that we found a delightful artisan's shop where an old babushka weaves beautiful wedding sashes.  We ordered a sash for one of our friend's children who is getting married this summer.  We can't wait for it to arrive.

Then it was time to head to Cathedral Square where we needed to search for the sebuklas (miracle) tile where the human chain that ran from Tallinn to Vilnius ended in 1989 when more than 2 million people held hands and peacefully protested Soviet rule of the Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia, & Lithuania.  This was the very spot where the Singing Revolution took place!  We found the tile, where each of us did the requisite three 360 degree turns with ours eyes closed making a wish.  Wishes do come true in Vilnius!

The fortress on the hill beckoned, so off we went...what a beautiful fall day.  The views were spectacular, the sun was shining, there was a tiny nip in the air...perfect.  We poked around the buildings, battlements, and wall, taking lots of photos, then rode the inclined plane back down.  Be sure to visit the museum in the tower...just don't get in trouble for taking pictures like we did!

Once we were back down we strolled down the main tourist street and poked around a bit.  After some shopping, some eating, and some drinking we wandered to the grounds of the Presidential Palace and Vilnius University - very nice.

The it was back to the hotel for a rest before our much-awaited ghost tour at 2030.  We arrived back at Cathedral Square at 2000 for our scheduled 2030 ghost tour (we're suckers for those!).  The night air was chilly, but it was fun watching all the assignations that occurred there.  Our guide was late, so we had fun asking lots of people if they were our guide.  Finally at 2130 we gave up - it turns out the only ghost was our tour guide...very disappointing.

Luckily we took our disappointed crew into a wonderful restaurant right across the street in the building that houses the Irish Embassy.  The food was outstanding, the presentation delightful, and the service friendly.  Our disappointment turned into a very nice family dinner with great conversation.

We strolled back to our hotel after dinner and retired for the evening.

The next morning it was up and out on the town...too many adventures to sleep in.  After breakfasting at the hotel it was time to visit the highest point in Lithuania - Juozapine which is about 50 minutes away via cab and about 294m tall, and right on the border with Belarus.  We are highpointers - having climbed to the highest point of 38 US states, and several countries.  We had arranged a taxi with the hotel, and our driver promptly took us ...all the way up to the "high point."  The monument stone was cool - with a crown carved into it.  We took lots of fun photos, and then headed back to town.

Once back in town we stopped at a cafe for coffee, and then headed to the

Genocide Museum - housed in the old (not closed until 1991!) KGB building. More than 400,000 Lithuanians died at the hands of the Soviets and the Nazis.  While walking to the museum we suddenly encountered four young men rushing out into the street beating each other...it was three on one, so it wasn't much of a fight.  The violence was scary, and yet made us angry at the same time.  No one on the street made a move to help or stop the fighting, and it was really brutal.  I am ashamed that I did nothing, but I was worried about my family, and about ending up in a Lithuanian jail or hospital.  This really was a downer, so we headed to the Genocide Museum...brilliant.

The facade of the building is covered with stones etched with the names of Lithuanians who died at the hands of the Soviets and Nazis...very moving, then we went into the horror chamber.  The museum is well done, and covers three floors, ending in the cells and death chamber.  It is powerful to remember that this building served its evil purposes up until 1991 - and you can be sure Putin knows everything about it.  EVERYONE should tour this museum and others like it.  The cells, the torture chamber, the death room should be powerful messages to us all to be ever vigilant against this terror.  We still have many places today on this planet where these sorts of things are going on (Guantanemo?? Abu??).  We should all be motivated to ACT to prevent it.  I think it should also make all of us a little less righteous.

It was rainy and cold when we left the museum...and that seemed appropriate.  We decide to amble over to see how Frank Zappa was immortalized in bronze in a local city park...cool statue and neat graffiti.  That lifted our spirits some, so to continue our regeneration we decided to hike over to the Republic of Uzupis - a quirky artist community that has declared its independence from Vilnius and Lithuania - it even has its own constitution....HOW COOL IS THAT?  Look it up online - it was a lighthearted and refreshing relief from the tension of the Genocide Museum.

After wandering one last time through Cathedral Square and doing a little shopping at the many high-quality shops along Gendamis street we headed back to the hotel to rest before our departure.  We rested in the hotel's exec lounge with no problems from the hotel.  FInally it was back to bus station for our overnight trip home.  The bus home was uneventful and problem-free.  Once back in Tallinn we quickly made it back home on its first-class system of public transport.

All in all...a great trip,,,even though we never did find the ghosts.