I had researched over the two days previous pretty much everything
that I would need to get around Vilnius. I had maps, a GPS phone that
worked, money, a place to stay by the river. I had check out the bus
maps, figured out which bus would take me from the train station to
where I was staying and which one I would need to get to the airport the
next evening to get back to Stockholm.
I had decided
that I didn't want to get up at 4 am to make it to the airport by 5 for a
6 am flight only to fly the rest of the day home once I got back to
Stockholm. So as an alternative I decided to head back to Stockholm the
night before. That way I could simply get up at a reasonable hour and
make it to the airport refreshed to meet Igor, as promised with a cup of
coffee. That lead in didn't mean anything, I just thought I would
explain. I did decided to walk to where I was staying in Vilnius though.
The
guy I was renting the apartment from did say it was too far to walk but
i took that as a challenge and google maps said that it would only be
40 minutes which is nothing for me and my backpack. It took more like an
hour and 15 minutes because I got lost in old town. i took a couple
wrong turns because I was having trouble reading/finding the street
signs. But I did eventually make it. It was cool to get to explore a bit
while walking.
I
got into the place I was staying charged up my phone and laptop a bit,
checked out the maps so more. After looking at the maps I decided the
most logical way to explore the city was to walk to the east half of the
city that day and then the next day I would walk the West half which
would ultimately drop me right where I needed to be to pick up the bus
to the airport that evening.
I wont lie, I was a little
nervous to go out on my own, walk around a city that I had never been
before, where I was pretty sure very few people spoke English but I also
found it kind of exciting. Phone in hand, with map loaded and ready I
set out.
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| View from my apartment |
Vilnius
is fairly similar to almost all other large cities. I walked up to the
more residential area of Vilnius first, across the river from where I
was staying. Followed the road and weaved in and out of the houses and
apartment complexes. Eventually I found a foot bridge where I learned
that "Rap is not dead" (see picture as proof) that took me back across
the river to where there was suppose to be an archaeology site and
castle on a large hill. I did see it but only from the base of the hill
on which it was perched. They had closed by the time that I got there
and so instead of marching up to the top and getting what I imagine is a
really good view of the city I walked through a rather large park where
I located some fun Christmas lighting and a huge chess board.
 |
| Look across the river at the castle |
 |
| See, proof. |
 |
| Getting to the castley park |
 |
| cool statue before the park |
 |
| triangle of churches and monuments before the park |
Not
wanting to stay in any one place too long, due to cold and lack of
overall time to see the city, I only spent minimal time in the Park. I
found a secret stairwell that is not every secret as it looked very well
trod probably by the students that live on the top of the hill coming
down into the university. There are some parts of Vilnius, I read later that were very much the
scene of beatniks and hippies, not surprisingly near the university were
I saw the most art studios, craft shops and cafés. This path took me
into the aforementioned beatnik area where I stopped at a local shop and
got a snake of Kefir, banana and some sort of pastry roll. I wound my
way through the streets until I was dropped down to where I had walked
earlier in the day on the way from the train station.
 |
| aww the Meat Lovers Pub |
I
got to the main street and walked into a small shopping mall. I found
something to buy but the lady didn't speak English so I was actually
able to use my minimal Russian skills to ask how much the item was and
to understand when she told me the price. This sounds much more advanced
than it actually is. Its seriously less impressive when you understand
that I only know numbers up to 6 (questionably) and have just become
really good at mime.
Out of the shop, I continued
around and crossed back over the river via a pretty cool foot bridge
complete with bar and music at the other end. It was empty but I can
imagine that it is quite a fun place during the summer as there were
soccer fields and basketball courts just below. Once across I saw a very
strange artistic walk way (which I found out the next day leads up to
the theatre building) and decided to have a stroll up it.
 |
| Crossing back over the River |
 |
| Artsy trail on from the opposite side |
Honestly
it was getting late and I was more than a little cold. My legs had
stared to hurt quite badly from the icey are that had picked up and so I
sought refuge inside a rather large shopping mall. Nothing glamorous to
tell you here except that I was also hoping to find you all some rather
cool gifts but as is the case many times there was nothing there that
you couldn't get at any mall in the US.
Once warm
enough to walk back outside I decided that I had probably walked enough
and knowing that I was pretty close to my apartment I took a quick stop
at the super market, grabbed some yummy food for dinner, breakfast and
something delicious to take with me on the plane the next day. I went
home had an early night, ate dinner and watched The Big Bang Theory
before falling quickly asleep.
 |
| Path around the east side |
The
next morning I was off pretty early. I walked the opposite direction
that I had the day before. I had scoped out everything that night and
knew about where I needed to be. I didn't want to over use my phone for
fear that it might die before I made it to my hostel in Stockholm that
evening and I knew that I would needed it to find the place, so I made
pretty sure that I knew the path I needed to take. It made the adventure
a little less fun but not by much as I still managed to lose my way a
bunch of times (the street aren't well labelled and I said earlier).
 |
| Looking down across at my apartment |
 |
| Vilnius |
Most
of the first 30 minutes to hour were spent in the "richest" area of
Vilnius where all the embassy's are and many very large beautiful
houses. Once through this portion I found a little foot bridge that
cross the river into the very large park on the West side of the city
and was off. The really cool thing about this park that I read was that
it houses all manner of sports. There was a rock climbing gym in the
middle, there were on and off trail cross country ski paths, runners,
mom's with babies, jungle gyms, outdoor exercise areas all secluded and
surrounded by tall forest. It was fantastic. you didn't even know you
were in a city any more.
 |
| Crossing into the Park |
I
spent quite a bit of time in this park and still only explored half of
it. Then on my way out I checked out this old cemetery and found what
google says is the best coffee shop in Vilnius, called "The Taste Map."
It was pretty good but not sure I could say the best I have ever had
(Igor's home roasted Coffee still takes that prize). There was another
perk of this café which was that it was at the exact spot that I needed
to catch the bus to the airport. I had a bunch of extra time after
having some coffee and croissant at Taste Map so I found a local shop
and bought home souvenirs.
 |
| Cemetery at end of the park |
I caught the bus, made it to the airport and was on my way to Stockholm in no time.
 |
| Path day 2 |
Back
in Stockholm I was able to find my hostel (after some searching). It
was dark and cold and took me some time to find but I got there and
checked in alright. When I walked up to the hard dorm I was staying in
it was full and all the girls were already tucking in for the night. I
looked at my watch and it was only 8:30pm, so I was rather surprised to
say the least. I still needed to eat though so I dropped some of my
stuff there and then went off in search of food.
I of
course got lost trying to find the supermarket where Igor and I had been
a month earlier. It seemed so distant and yet like it just happened and
i couldn't for the life of me figure out why i couldn't find it. It
wasn't like it was a small building that you could easily walk past, it
was huge and in the middle of the major shopping street. I saw the store
that ran into to ask if the had an adaptor. I saw the store that we
sprinted to when the first store said that they didn't have it but the
one down the way did and that they were closing in 5 minutes. And
finally I found the shop that I was looking for. I ran down the stairs
and got in about 3 minutes before close I grabbed whatever looked good
and didn't require cooking as well as something that looked interesting
and I wanted to try.
Then it was back out to feel my
way around back to my hostel. I got in ate dinner, had to do a bit of
work as well. Then when I finally was ready to get into bed, I felt a
bit bad since all the other girls were long asleep and I disrupted them a
bit. I forgot that in hostels you have to make your bed, and there was
no where on my bunk to plug things in so I had to feel around the room
for an outlet to make sure all my gear was charged and ready for the 11
hour flight home the next day.
As I was laying down to
sleep a thought occurred to me. Way back when we bought our tickets I
remembered suddenly my name change hadn't come through yet, so we booked
my flight home under the last name of Malone. Problem is that I didn't
have a single ID on me that had that last name any more. Not a passport,
not a drivers license not a credit...oh wait! I still had my British
Credit card and it was still under the name of Malone! By the time I had
come to this realization though I had already woken Igor up 2 hours
ahead of me) freaking out that we didn't ever change my last name on my
ticket home and how was I going to be able to get through security and
passport control, etc. etc, etc. Well then I remembered that I had a
digital copy of our marriage certificate on my phone (don't ask, long
story). So I finally did get some sleep still a bit nervous and worried
that I might not be going home after all.
I met Igor in
the morning at the airport and we went straight to the airline desk to
figure out if I could still go home. Of course these tickets we bought
through a third party company and not the airline itself so that was a
bit of a challenge but in the end they issued me the ticket and we were
able to go back check point one (check in). Then we headed to to the
security line, no problem there, didn't check anything. Then it was
through to passport control which wasn't so bad, then we got to the gate
and there was another round of passport and ticket checks where we went
through the same issues as when we checked in of me having to prove
that I was Kathryn Malone and Kathryn Kuplevich (thank god for the
marriage certificate copy!!! oh and I am pretty sure that having Igor
there was also the only reason that they let me through).
And
that's pretty much it folks. We did get on the plane, we did get home, I
didn't need to wake Igor up early in the morning freaking out after all
(sorry Igor).
I hope that you have enjoyed reading
about our trip. It has taken a long time to document and I am sure that I
left out some things, but for the most part you have it.
love, KK
