The Pregnant Pause: Scarlett, Billy, and Nacho's trip to Vilnius, Lithuania

Monday, May 31, 2010

Scarlett, Billy, and Nacho's trip to Vilnius, Lithuania

Vilnius was really, really nice. The weather was beautiful, the people were super nice to us, the food was more palatable, and the old section of town was really interesting. Why did we go to Lithuania? Basically, out of all the places we researched in mainland Europe, flying to Lithuania was the cheapest. Our friend Tony had served his mission there and loved it, but other than that, it was just, to me, the 3rd of the northern Soviet bloc countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Lithuania has a long history of just being shit on. It seems that it has always been occupied by the Germans or the Russians. During WWII, the Lithuanians were sent to concentration camps like others in Poland and Germany. During the Soviet occupation, they had to accommodate Russian language, culture, and morals and were subjected to KGB activities, like being spied on and tried for false crimes. The Russians occupied Lithuania from 1944 until 1992, so anti-Russian sentiment still runs pretty high for its citizens.

Anyhow, the language and culture are pretty unique and we really enjoyed being there. We stayed in an efficiency apartment owned by an American poet. The location was really nice, as it was only a 5 minute walk form the "Old Town." We actually stayed in an apartment that was part of the Jewish ghetto. We arrived in Vilnius at about 10 pm, so when we pulled up to the apartment, it was dark and all we could see was this run-down building with a scary alleyway leading to the stairs. The stairs themselves looked all crumbly and the place smelled of cat pee and cigarettes. I was NOT happy. I almost cried.

But, the efficiency was clean, nice, and cozy. We were very happy with it.

Drinking chocolate milk at the airport in Copenhagen. Notice the nice wooden floorboards.

Dinner on the sidewalk in Vilnius. I had borsch that night.

Ok, so I never drink coffee partly because I'd rather not drink lots of caffeine as a pregnant lady. Also, I think it's from the many years of smelling it in the morning when I was little (my mom can't function without it). I generally can't stand the smell and if I drink a cup, it'll make my heart beat faster, make my armpits sweat, and makes me have to go poop within an hour of drinking it. But, how could I not want a sip of that? I put some sugar in it and drank almost the whole thing. I am happy to report that the caffeine buzz did give me a lot of energy with only a little bit of the anticipated side effects. Oh, and look at the apple dumpling beauty!