Baltic Adventures: Trakai

Yesterday was the first snow of the year in Vilnius; winter is coming my friends, and I for one could not be happier. So that was the first highlight of the day. Other excellent features included sunshine and getting out of the city, smelling fall and wood smoke.

Behold- snow on the city hall.

And snow on some Lithuania countryside.

Just 30 km southwest-ish of Vilnius lies the lake district of Lithuania. The best known town in this area is Trakai, which is an absolutely beautiful place. Most of it is on an island in the middle of a lake, with outskirts on surrounding islands and peninsulas, which are connected to it by foot bridges. Also in this town is a painstakingly reconstructed castle, perched on its own little island. Apparently it’s a UNESCO sight, which I can easily believe. But rather than waxing poetic about how beautiful this area was (which I could easily do, believe me), I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

Colorful boats. This seems to be a trend here.

And a picturesque dock.

Suddenly, a castle.

And there it is again.

Inside the courtyard.

Have you ever seen a duck with an itch? Because I have.

More bridges, and more lake.

Sunset in Vilnius.

Yarn-Bombing Lithuania

For those of you who have been waiting with bated breath, I finally found another instance of yarn-bombing over here on the Continent. And it was every bit as snazzy as I would have expected. So without further ado, here it is:

Bold use of colors and patterns I must say.

 I would have gotten closer to take this, but there was some odd and intense looking Lituaniana speaker orating in front of it. Not something to get involved in as a casual tourist here.

Baltic Adventures: Vilnius

My trusty backpack and I, ready to go collect some new patches.

Where am I today? Funny you should ask. Today I'm in Vilnius, the capitol of Lithuania, because why not. And let me tell you, I am just brimming with wisdom and insight for you about this place.
First off, do not, under any circumstances arrive at the Vilnius airport before the buses start running (at 5:15am). Sure, it's a nice building- oddly nice- but casual napping is simply not possible. This morning I experienced the second coldest and most uncomfortable sleeping conditions of my life, and they were second only to that one night I spent on Mt. Marcy...

Seriously, this does not look like an airport. Also, those metal seats actually seem to defy physics and get colder the longer you lay on them. Avoid at all costs.

However, after the bus came, it was very easy to get to my hostel- a mere 15 minute bus ride and brisk 2 minute walk. But since I was already up and moving, I figured I may as well keep moving and explore the city a bit. And I'm glad I did; I got the unique experience of watching a city wake up, something a casual tourist rarely gets to see.

And let me tell you, it was beautiful. Damp, but beautiful.

Hey look- I found a Lutheran church.

After wandering to the respectable hour of 7:00, I grabbed some breakfast, and was pleasantly surprised at how cheap everything is here. Coffee and a croissant for 8.25 litai? Why yes thank you. (A dollar is about 2.26 litai.)
Given the incredible cheapness, eating lunch out seemed like a reasonable ide, and I was not disappointed. Lithuanian fare seems to focus on beets and meat scraps. Dumplings are a very popular menu item, as are chicken giblets, and neck cuts of pork, whatever those are.

And that was just fine with me. Dumplings, bacon and awesome sauce. And beer. The lunch of champions as far as I'm concerned.

But that's enough fun for one day. Stay tuned for more later!

Don't Count On It

On Tuesday, we played Bingo (or as it's called in here, 'Banko') in Danish class. I also received the highest praise I've gotten since arriving here in the land of the Danes; I was told me my counting and pronunciation of numbers was excellent. Since this obviously makes me an expert on the subject, I'm going to attempt to teach you to count, Danish style.
 
Up to 20 things are pretty simple:
 
1: en (ain)
2: to (toe)
3: tre (tray)
4: fire (feeyuh)
5: fem (fem)
6: seks (seks)
7: syv (soo)
8: otte (oh-deh)
9: ni (nee)
10: ti (tee)
11: eleve (elv-eh)
12: tolv (tull)
13: tretten (tratten)
14: fjorten (fyawten)
15: femten (femten)
16: seksten (seksten)
17: sytten (sooden)
18: atten (atten)
19: nitten (
20: tyve (too OR tooveh)

That's all for now folks- wouldn't want to overload you. Now go out and get counting!

And now, a completely gratuitous picture of the Tuborg Brewery.

Tallinn. Ja Tak



Tallinn is one of my new favorite European cities. Granted, my list of favorites changes every time I travel, but we can overlook that for now. The inner, old section of the city is absolutely beautiful, with twisting cobblestone streets and slouching plaster buildings. And when I say old, I don’t just mean that relatively speaking. It is in fact the oldest preserved medieval city in Europe, surrounded by its original castle walls and defense towers. You can only enter it through arches and openings where gates once were. The beauty of the old city is thrown into even more relief by its surroundings; the city outside the walls is dominated by stark eastern-block architecture- a lot of concrete.

 

The feeling of walking around a medieval city was amplified by our dinner there. We ate at a restaurant called Olde Hansa, which was essentially the Medieval Times of Europe, or at least of Estonia. We were encouraged by costumed servers to eat with our hands, and all the food tasted as if it had really been cooked over an open fire. We also got to sample their old-style beer, flavored with herbs, honey, or cinnamon. It was interesting, but far from my favorite. Far too sweet for my taste, but still a good experience.

I'm a little bummed we only got to spend slightly more than 24 hours in Tallinn, but luckily the old part of the city is small enough to thoroughly explore in that time. And amazingly, I didn't get lost once. No small feat since as soon as I get into a city my directional sense goes out the window. But enough of that; it's picture time.

A door in the side of a watch tower.

The water dispensing mechanism in the bathroom at dinner was a copper kettle. Pretty cool.

City Hall square. The building with the tower is the city hall.

One of the walking streets.

The view from one of the overlooks.

The Alexander Nevsky church. I was very excited to finally see a church with this type of roof.



Old meets new-ish.



Freedom Square.

In case you couldn't tell, this is a tower.

Sunset over the city as we cruised off to Stockholm.

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Word of the Day:

Je kigger bare: I'm just looking. Pronounced 'yai kaygeh bare'. This is particularly useful in stores, at markets, or really anywhere. This is one of our favorite phrases.

Getting Down in Stockholm

I’d like to start out with an apology for not updating this earlier. I’ve just returned from a week’s frolicking around northern Europe with a group of students. And by that I mean that I was leading a study tour to Tallinn (Estonia) and Stockholm (Sweden). And lucky for you, I have plenty of stories. Hopefully this will make up for my extended silence. Be forewarned that I will be skipping around a bit and not necessarily writing about everything I did/saw in chronological order.

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That being said, I’m going to start out with what was one of the highlights of the trip for me. This way all of you can get your seething jealousy out of the way early.

Yesterday an exhibit opened at the Hallywyl Museum in Stockholm. Big deal you say? FALSE. It was an exhibit of the real live costumes from Downton Abbey. I was in heaven, even though there were only 20 or so of them on display. I’m not going to detract from the effect of this post by prattling on incessantly, so here are some pictures:

Mrs. Patmore and a maid.

Lady Mary and the Dowager Countess.

Carson.

Lady Mary and the Countess again. Things that would greatly improve my life include a life-sized cutout of Lord Grantham.

Sibyl's nurse outfit.

Lady Grantham and two other dinner gowns. I forget whose they are.

Mrs. Hughes.

Two Lady Marys and a black dress.

And one more Lady Mary for good measure.

 
 In the interest of time, there will be no Word of the Day for the next few posts. Apologies.