Baltic Trip 2010 (Day 4)

Our fourth day in the Baltic. Well... in Vilnius to be exact.
We started the day at 8.30 by walking to Vilnius' Bastion and City Wall at Bokšto/Subačiaus. It was closed for repair so we did not go in.

After taking a few photo's we continued to a pancake house called Gusto Blynine at Aušros Vartų gatvė 6 we saw yesterday on the way to the Aušros Vartai (Gates of Dawn) to have a very unhealthy breakfast. But hey... in this cold weather, we needed all the energy we could get. Plus, it was cheap and tasty.

The pancake house:

Full and satisfied, we felt ready to face the cold again. Next stop: Užupis.

My first reason for wanting to see Užupis was that I was curious about this place - with being called a republic and being compared to Montmartre. I mean, we are talking about Lithuania here... and one of its sights is being compared to the famous Montmarte in the famous Paris? Would you not be a tiny bit curious?
My second reason was that we were suggested to go to Tores - a restaurant with a (supposedly) nice view.

Užupis is a neighborhood in Vilnius considered as one of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Užupis means "beyond the river" in the Lithuanian language. The district is known to be popular with artists for some time (or at least used to be), and has been compared to Montmartre in Paris. On 1 April 1997, the district declared itself an independent republic (The Republic of Užupis), with its own flag, currency, president, constitution, and an army of about 17 men.
Užupis was also bold enough to hold the first Lithuanian gay pride festival in 2007.

Along the Užupis Bridge lovers hang padlocks with their names engraved on them. The padlock is believed to tie and strengthen the hearts of two young people in love.

Padlocks along Uzupis Bridge:

Sadly after climbing up the hill, we came into a what-looked-like-a-restaurant-that-had-a-fire-accident. The restaurant was closed and the top floor looked like it was burned down.

On the way back to town, it snowed again. We managed to capture some of the snow crystal. This was my first time seeing a real snow crystal, which I would normally see only on Christmas cards.

Beautiful snow crystal:

It was not even 11.00. We wondered what to do and in the end we ended up visiting the Lithuanian Energy and Technology Museum at Rinktinės gatve 2 by the river. We were among the very first few visitors there. Definitely not more than 5 visitors were there at that time.

The museum was founded in the building of Vilnius Central Power Plant. The Power Plant was still in use until 1998 (though for the last 20 years the Power Plant supplied only heat to some Vilnius districts). The Museum takes the entire building of the plant. Being the most complete surviving example of early Power Station, the Museum represents one of the most interesting monuments of Lithuania's industrial culture. In the year that the Power Station was built, it was one of the most modern stations of Russian Empire.

I must say that this was one of the good/nice museums I have ever visited in my life and the front desk lady was very friendly although she did not speak much English. And when we were done, she gave us a small calendar, which now decorates our fridge.

After the museum we decided that we have seen and done enough in Vilnius and that it was not time to just wander around without any cultural or sightseeing schedule. So we went for lunch and after lunch we went to Gedimino 9 Shopping Mall.
Now, I'm not exactly a fan of J.Lo but nevertheless my eyes caught sight of her shop there. I did not even know J.Lo had a shop (or shops). This was the first time I saw her shop.

Jennifer Lopez' shop inside Gedimino 9 Shopping Mall:

I did not visit the shop though. My main reason to go to the mall was to visit Marks & Spencer shop for their delicious cookies. Haven't had their cookies for years and now I had a chance to buy their cookies.

And for the rest of the day we kind of just went where our feet (and heart) took us. It was our last day in Vilnius. So, no hurry. No must-see things anymore. Just trying to enjoy it because we did not know when we could be back here again.

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