Baltic Trip 2010 (Day 2)

Today began our real adventure in the Baltic (well, in Vilnius) in what was the coldest winter in Europe in the last 30 years.

A good start for the day depends on a good breakfast. Staying in an apartment we had to take care of breakfast ourselves.

At around 9.00 we went out into the cold to have breakfast. Fortunately when we walked back to the apartment last night, we walked by a Čili Pica restaurant. It was not too far from our apartment, it served breakfast and it was on the way where we wanted to go today. So our decision was made.
Gloves off, winter hat off, coat off... finally we could settle down by the window. We both ordered pancake. The Lithuanians seem to like pancake a lot they even serve it for breakfast.

1 hour later we were out in the cold again walking down Pilies gatvė (Castle street), a cobbled street, towards the Vilniaus Šv. Stanislovo ir Šv. Vladislovo arkikatedra bazilika (the Cathedral) and Vilniaus pilys (Vilnius Castle complex). In search of some warmth we went into the cathedral. We were the only visitors.

Vilnius' Cathedral:

Originally we planned to go up the Gedimino pilies bokštas (Gediminas Tower) - the only remaining part of the upper castle, weather permitting. But today the weather was not very good, as you can see in my pictures. Particularly the picture of the cathedral. So we walked on to the riverside and walked to the middle of the Mindaugo tiltas (Mindaugo Bridge). From there we decided to walk along the river on Žygimantų gatvė and make our way to the main street (Gedimino prospektas) via Vilniaus gatvė.

Neris River:

Once we reached the main street, we stopped by Double Coffee, a very cozy café. The interior is dominated by brown colour. We sat there for a while hoping the sky would clear up. Well, while we were sipping our drinks and making use of the free internet, the sky cleared up a bit. So we decided to get out of our comfort and head back to the Gediminas Tower.

View from Gediminas hill:

As it was cloudy again, we decided against going in and climbing the Gediminas Tower. Instead we walked down the Gedimino Prospektas again to visit the Genocido Aukų Muziejus (The Museum of Genocide Victims) located on Aukų gatvė in the former KGB headquarters where plans for deportations and the arrests of peaceful inhabitants, the persecution of opponents and the suppression of the resistance were devised and carried out by Soviet institutions between 1940 and 1991. Unfortunately the museum was not open today. So we continued down the road until we reached the river. Then we walked back to the apartment taking the J. Jasinskio gatvė route.

Wanting to take pictures of Vilnius just before the sky got dark we went out again at around 4 pm. The first place we headed for was Rotušės aikšte where the town hall is. And then we ventured a bit further before finding a place to eat near the station (we ended up by another Čili Pica restaurant) and calling it a day.

Vilnius' Town Hall (the white dots are the falling snow captured because I flashed):

Map of Vilnius

Baltic Trip 2010 (Day 1)

A and I decided once again to go to a cold place this winter. We did a similar trip last year at around the same time. For some reasons we like to go somewhere cold in the winter. Well... at least I do, especially when it's snowing.
This year we decided to go to the Baltics (Lithuania & Latvia). Our route is depicted in this map:

We got a good deal with Ryanair. The downside was that we had to fly from Bremen, which was 2h 30m drive. The good thing was that the flight was in the afternoon so we did not have to wake up awfully early.

On the 25th of January 2010 at just 10 minutes before 9.00 we started the drive to Bremen. It was a pretty long drive (2h 30m) and we made a couple of stops on the way. Even though we did a similar trip last year, I was both excited and curious as I did not know what to expect except that it would be very cold. Much colder than what we experienced last year for sure.
Our flight, due to leave at 14.05, left on time. The flight only took 1h 15m and we arrived in our destination airport, Kaunas, at 15.45 local time. There is a 1h time difference between Kaunas, Lithuania and the Netherlands.

Kaunas airport:

Once we got our suitcase we headed to the tourist information desk. The airport was quite small so as soon as we walked out of the door of the arrival area, I spotted the tourist information desk. We had booked a transfer to Vilnius because we decided for practical reasons to do Kaunas last. The girl at the information desk told us where we could find the minibus that would take us to Vilnius.

So, out into the cold Lithuanian winter (and this year the winter in Europe was and still is very cold compared to the last few years) and on into the minibus to Vilnius. The minibus was scheduled to leave at 17.30 but in fact it left at 17.00. The journey to Vilnius took about 1h 30m.

We arrived in Vilnius 30 minutes earlier than expected so our ride to the apartment we booked was not there yet. Fortunately we had a phone number. So we phoned the owner and waited in the cold to be picked up. I knew it was cold but did not really realize how cold it was until we were standing on the pavement outside the Panorama hotel waiting to be picked up. Later I found out that it was -24 centigrade.

We could have waited at the McDonald's across the street but somehow A and the person who was going to pick us up agreed on waiting in front of the Panorama hotel (men!!!). It was only 10 minutes before we were picked up by a young boy but in the cold, it felt like eternity. In our luggages went to the baggage of his car and we were shortly on our way to the apartment.

10 minutes, a courtyard and a couple of stairs later we arrived at the apartment, located on the second floor (no lift). Within 15 minutes after arriving we were done with checking-in and settling the payment and we were ready to go out to find something to eat.

The apartment was located within the Old Town and close to the main street. So we walked down Didžioji gatvė towards Pilies gatvė and somewhere along the way we stumbled upon a Chinese restaurant on Pilies gatvė 16 called Trys Klevai (Three Maples). Although this restaurant was not on my list (I always make a list of things to see and do, places to visit and places to eat whenever I go travelling), we were so hungry that we decided to give it a try. We did not really want to walk around in the snow and cold any longer. It was a good choice. The food was adequate for our taste (and hunger).
And then we called it a night. We walked back to the apartment only stopping by the RIMI supermarket near the town hall to buy some water.

Boy was it cold when we got the apartment. The young boy had earlier asked if we would need a heater and A had said no. I did hear something about the heating system was controlled centrally but I was not worried then. We should have accepted the offer. The apartment was so cold and there was no way we could set the temperature of the heater higher. The warmest room in the apartment was the bathroom because it was the smallest room there.
So sitting in the bedroom I typed an e-mail to the boy asking if he could bring the heater the next day.

Our apartment in Vilnius:


What a long day... we spent almost 12 hours before we could finally rest and realize how cold it was.
Tomorrow our adventure would begin but now... now we had to get some rest.