A Baroque Beauty and a Fairytale Castle

I have spent the past two days exploring Lithuania.  I am currently staying in the capital, Vilnius, which has a population of about 600,000 give or take.  It's a fairly small capital for a European Country as capitals go, but it has lots of character.  The entire heart of the capital is Old Town which is filled with old Baroque style architecture buildings that are beautiful.  As it was built in the days before cars, the entire city is very walkable without much difficulty.  Some of the streets are pedestrian only, while others have cars that manage to snake down the winding, often cobbled streets.  It really reminds me of some of the cities I was in when I went through Nicaragua.  I set off yesterday to do a tour of the entire city on foot and followed a recommended route by one of my guidebooks.  I saw tons of amazing old churches, climbed up to the old castle where I was rewarded with a stunning view looking out over the entire city, checked out the entire Old Town, and then headed down to the farther end of town to check out the Museum of Genocide Victims.  The city is built right next to a river as most old cities are, with several hills of green surrounding it.  There are parks and trees around here that make it very pretty. 

The museum was very interesting as it gives a very good overview of the history of Lithuania, it's occupation by Russia, some of the attrocities that occured during the Holocaust and even continued to happend up until about the 1980's.  Lithuania has only been independent of Russia again since the early 1990's with the last Russian troops leaving here in 1993, so we are talking less than 20 years ago.  The museum is housed in what was used by the KGB from the 1930's through 1990's as a jail and offices.  It really gave me a better understanding of the country and what occured.  It also made me think about the fact that while I was living my cozy little life in sunny Southern California, people over here were being displaced, arrested for simple things such as political views, and living without the same freedoms I have.  It is easy to forget these things still continue to occur in our world, even today in many places, because in my normal everyday life, I am for the most part so far removed from this.  I know this type of thing goes on, but often it is out of sight, out of mind.  I don't want that to be the case.  I need to make myself more aware of these types of things, do my homework and know what is happening to others out there, if not for the simple fact of knowing how to pray more for those that do not have the same freedoms I enjoy. 

I have been struck while here about how faithful this country is.  The majority of the country is Catholic and there are beautiful old churches everywhere you turn.  I was in several of them yesterday in awe of their glory.  I have noticed that anytime a church is passed, most of the people will make the sign of the cross to show respect.  As I was in many of the churches, I also noticed that there always seems to be at least a handful of people who have stopped in just to pray and spend some queit time there before moving on.  These are people of all ages, who have things to do, are walking through and just stop.  Many have their purse, shopping bags, or brief cases.  Church here seems to be a part of everyday life.  They seem to always be open during the day, welcoming anyone and everyone in.  It made me question why it's not like this more at home.  I am at church exactly 1x per week, on Sundays for service.  I may attend a meeting here or a special event there, but that's it.  I have never once in my entire life, just stopped at my home church because I was passing by it in the middle of the day to sit and pray.  When I am travelling, I always usually sit for a few minutes and spend a quick time in prayer.  If I am with others and don't have that luxury, then I will send up a quick prayer while walking through.  Why do I do that here, yet not at home?  Now, I realize that I do not need to be in a church to pray, it can be done anywhere, but it challenges me to think about how I spend my time.  Am I carving out that time each day to pray or I am making excuses that I am too busy?  It is the idea behind what I observe here that I think is truly a good one.  I see people taking the time out of their day to pray, to observe their creator, to be with him instead of just bustling around in a burst of business. 

Today, I headed out by bus on a small day trip to the nearby town of Trakai.  It is this small penninsula of land snuggled between 2 lakes with some islands dotting the lakes.  On one of the larger islands it an old castle that was restored over a period of about 50 years and finally finishing in the late 1980's.  It looked like something straight out of a movie, set on a small island, green trees surrounding the castle and the land with small fishing boats tied up all by the lake.  It was great!  I also stopped in to see the remains of another old castle in the town and checked out the Kariamites (I may have spelled that wrong) Ethnographic Museum.  The small community of the Kariamites is the smallest ethnic group living in Lithuania with only about 280 people in the country.  They are of Turkish decent and speak a very specific dialect.  It was facinating to see how this small community continues to survive with so few.  I also grabbed a Kapalai for lunch, which is one of their common foods.  It was like an empanada, stuffed with some type of pork, onions, and other spices.  I am not exactly sure what all was in there, but it was delicious, although I am sure my arteries are not super thrilled with me as I bit into it and grease just poured out.  As I was heading back toward the bus stop, I attempted to stop in the main church in town for a look, however upon arriving, it sounded as though perhaps something was going on in there.  I decided to walk around the grounds first to try and scope it out before proceeding inside.  Good thing that I did as a few minutes later, it appeared as though a wedding party was coming out.  Crashing a wedding here, probably isn't the best idea ever.  After that, it was back to Old Town Vilnius to explore some more, wander through shops and take in the city before I am heading out tomorrow. 

Weather has not been the greatest here.  Yesterday, it was sunny when I left, but by about noon, it had started raining.  I pressed on throughout the day as I had a city to explore and rain or shine, I wanted to see it.  I got a brief reprieve from the rain while in the museum, but by the time I got back last night, I was soaked after spending 5 hours in the rain, wet and cold.  Probably not the best thing on my part as I have had a stuffy nose and been coughing for about a week, but what can I do?  Today was supposed to have thunder storms and I groaned when I heard that.  I woke up to the sun streaming in through my window and immediately jumped up and headed out the door, hoping to arrive at the bus station before the rain.  Luckily, I got no rain while I was in Trakai, but it was freezing as the town is situated between two lakes with!  I was better prepared today and had on a tank top, long sleeve top, fleece zip up, and my rain jacket, so that helped.  My hands were ice cold and I didn't bring gloves with me.  I got back to town and the clouds started rolling in.  I got a few hours to look around before it started raining.  I was able to make it back to my hostel though with only some wetness, not dripping as the day before.  Thank goodness for that. 

I have been surprised at the number of tourists that I have seen here.  There are not a ton, but there were more than I was expecting.  Most of them seem to be European, although there have been some tourists from I think China, and very few others.  I have seen only a few tourists who speak English as their first language.  When I have heard tourists speaking English, it has been because it is the only common language with a store keeper.  I was in the store today buying some food and the check out girl rattled off something to me related to the apples I was attempting to purchase.  I looked at her and smiled, saying sorry in English, with a clueless look on my face.  She smiled back, said "It Ok" and continued ringing me up.  I have absoultely no idea what she was trying to ask me or tell me, but I finished my transaction and thanked her at the end.  She gave me a big smile as I headed out the door.  I love being in places like this where there are really no other people who are from the States.  It puts me completely out of my comfort zone and I have to figure things out.  Now, I realize that most people don't get travel opportunities like I have had over my life time.  When most travel, they want to see the major sites in Europe such as London, Paris, Rome, etc... and I am not saying that people shouldn't see those.  Believe me, they are amazing.  However, I think that we should try and travel to places like this as well where we are truly the minority.  There is so much culture and history here.  So many things to see that most are not going to get the opportunity to see, but they are truly amazing. 

Tomorrow, I am out of here and off to my next town and I can't wait!