As many of my friends and family were digging out of the snow, it made me think back on our traveling days and how little snow we encountered. Other than our German adventure which included 13 straight days of snow, we only experienced snow on two of our other trips: Oslo and Vilnius, Lithuania.
Lithuania was one of the more uncommon places we visited. We stopped there on our 2nd to last trip before moving back to the states in a three city tour with Vienna and Budapest. Most people wonder why on earth we would choose to go to Lithuania over all the other magical places in Europe.
The answer, for me, is easy: my Gran’ma is Lithuanian. Her father was born there as we both of her mother’s parents. To many people it may not seem like a big deal, but after extensive (I’m talking hours upon hours) of research on our family tree, my Gran’ma, sister and I have only been able to piece together 70% of our heritage and that 70% is massively scattered with roots in Germany, England, Ireland, Austria, The Netherlands, France, Scotland and Wales so needless to say, having one grandparent that is 100% SOMETHING makes me feel a kinship with that place.
We went to Lithuania just before Easter when Honeybun was almost 4 and Sugarplum was 21 months. We flew to the capital, Vilnius, arriving late on a Saturday and spent 2 1/2 days there. It began snowing as we were in the taxi on the way to the hotel from the airport (we brought the girls’ car seats on this trip knowing airport to city centre transfers were going to be in taxis). We stayed at the Novotel which had become one of our favorite European hotel chains due to their large rooms, family friendly atmosphere and reasonable rates that often include breakfast (we also stayed at the Novotel in Leipzig, Warsaw and Budapest and enjoyed every night!)
The first day was fraught with two disappointing realizations. The 1st was I forgot to put the memory card back into our camera AND it was Sunday so not much was open! I had also tried to book tickets for the Lituanian National Opera and Ballet’s children’s production of Snow White for that afternoon but because I didn’t have a Lithuanian bank account (and couldn’t read the error message), the tickets were never reserved and the show was sold out.
Being Palm Sunday, there was a large street market where people were selling handmade pottery and other handy crafts as well as traditional “verba” which are dried spruce branches that are then decorated with beautiful dried flowers. I really wanted to get one to take back with us but as we were just at the start of our journey, it wasn’t feasible so we bought a bunch of tiny little pitchers and hand painted eggs instead.
We also visited the National Museum of Lithuania’s exhibit at The New Arsenal. I loved visiting the museum and taking a trip through the history of Lithuania and its people from the royals to the peasants and a large exhibit on traditional crafts. Even the girls enjoyed the museum as there was a ton to look at and talk about.
We took it easy that afternoon, took a nap at the hotel and had an early, leisurely dinner at a wonderful local brew-pub, Bambalyne, and did a little putzing around the shopping center across from our hotel before a huge bath extravaganza (the girls thought the one end of the tub made a great slide) and turning in for the night.
The next morning we woke up to a snow covered city but it didn’t stop us from venturing out! We headed to the photo store, bought some new SD cards (we got a few because they were so cheap!) and headed towards the Art Center of Baltic Amber. The amber exhibit was small, housed below a small amber gift shop but it was a great little museum and we were all fascinated by how amber is formed and the way the exhibit was laid out. There were only a few other people there so we were able to let the girls play and explore more than at other places we’ve taken them.
We also visited the M.K. Ciurlionis House that morning. Ciurlionis was a Lithuanian painter and composer. I had used his music for my senior choreography piece in college and took inspiration from one of his paintings so I was very excited to visit. I found information online that said the house was open Monday to Friday 10 to 5 but when we showed up, it was almost as if they were surprised to see us. I felt really awkward at first since it didn’t seem to really be a place for visiting but I’m so glad hubby convinced me to stay. There was the director who did not speak English, but he had an assistant who spoke English very well and they told us so much about the artist/composer. They were fascinated by my interest in Ciurlionis and how I had created a dance with his music and shared many stories as well as asking about my family history. The director was so kind and gave each of the girls a little angel gift!
We had a nice lunch at a local hotel and by mid-afternoon a lot of the snow had melted from the warm sunshine and we decided to hike up the hill to the Vilnius Castle Complex which houses various historical buildings. It was quite a walk up a gravel road that was nearly impossible to push the buggies on so we were quite exhausted by the time we got to the top but loved visiting. There were a few buildings you can visit and when climbing up to the top, there were gorgeous views over the city.
The last half day before we flew out to Vienna, we went to another amber exhibit that was not as nice as the first and decided to visit the House of the Signatories where Act of Independence of Lithuania was signed in 1918. The visit was free and we partook in a (private) guided tour of the exhibit. While the exhibit was fascinating and added onto what we had seen and learned at The New Arsenal, it was a little hard for the girls who weren’t interested in listening and didn’t have a lot to look at. Luckily the guide was very patient with them and since there were no other visitors with us we were able to steer the tour as we liked and ask lots of questions.
I know that most people would probably never even think of visiting Lithuania when planning a trip around Europe, but I am so glad we were able to go and see where my family came from. Lithuania has such a fascinating history that has shaped it cultural landscape but despite their struggles, it has not affected the hearts of its people.
