A little history lesson for those of you that don't know much about Lithuania. Or what continent its on. Or that it even existed. Listen up because this country is lovable.
In 1989 Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined together to form a human chain of about 2 million people from capitol to capitol to capitol known as "the Baltic Way'. They did it as a peaceful political demonstration to the world of their pro-independence desires from the Soviet Union and their unity as the Baltic countries. Powerful. Yep. And today I got to stand where the chain started.
The demonstration wasn't loved by pro-socialists of course. Days after the event, the communist party made this statement:
"Matters have gone far. There is a serious threat to the fate of the Baltic peoples. People should know the abyss into which they are being pushed by their nationalistic leaders. Should they achieve their goals, the possible consequences could be catastrophic to these nations. A question could arise as to their very existence."
But, 6 months later, Lithuania was the first of the Soviet states to declare independence.
These people are so strong and the more that I learn, the more that I love.
The land of many languages.
We walked up Gediminas' Tower that is basically the last thing standing from upper castle in Vilnius.
Yes, I have been wearing the same scarf in every photo so far. Don't worry bout it.
So those Russian dolls are scary in large quantities, yeah?
We sat outside for lunch which is one of the cutest parts about this place. There's always cute little tables for everyone to eat outside. Buuuuut......it was freezing so I ordered some hot chocolate. It came out as literally hot chocolate. Melted chocolate. Only in Europe would life be amazing with a bowl full of melted chocolate. They also brought us out blankets to keep us warm while we ate. Cute cute cute.
Check out this guys' impressive line of crazy cat paintings. I think his inventory was like 90% cats and 10% scenes of Vilnius.
After talking to him for a little bit I got sucked into buying a piece of art that is too big to fit in my suitcase. That'll be fun getting home.
Just to clarify, I got a landscape, NOT a cat painting.
And to sum it all up....I LOVE Vilnius. It's official.
What an awesome place with such a powerful, rich, inspiring history. I had a friend that served a mission in the Baltic States and he raved about how wonderful the people were, just as you do. Sounds like a hidden treasure.
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