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Well, I was wrong about our time changes.
| I woke and went out for a run at 7:30. I ran down Laisves al., angled left onto Vilnius gatve and into the Old Town. This is still pedestrian mall. I was (as a canny Yankee) nervous about the underpass at the large road. But it was full of students heading to schools and folks going to work. And a man scrubbing the little graffiti off. I went all the way to the wedding cake of a town hall, then came back and ran past our hotel, passed the Orthodox-looking church, and to the busy main road, then back to the hotel. It feels like about 5k. It was chilly, but lovely. There were older people sweeping the mall - with real besoms - and actually polishing the statues, women walking little dogs, and businesses opening. I love to watch a place wake up. |  |
After I took a nice hot shower - in a cold room (this must be the same sort of municipal heat that Betty dealt with in Kiev), I joined Mom watching TV. And discovered that it was now 7:30. Hmm, maybe Lithuania rechanged back to European (instead of Russian) time. Sadly, I missed the show Mom saw, with several fully nude men and women - one playing violin.
Breakfast was great! A plate full of delicious rye bread that took me back to Lawrence, with slices of ham and cheese - and real butter. Then an omelet with dill, and cole slaw (reminded me of Germany). And strong coffee. We're in a kind of cafe-bar in the hotel. People having pastry and coffee, students on the way to Kaunas Tech (one having a beer - at 9 AM!).
| Despite phone problems (the folks from Nortel should see how these lines are run!), we got our Litinterp driver for our day-long tour of Kaunas. First, we crossed the Nemunas River, drove up past a funicular, and stopped at an overlook with a fantastic view of the main part of Kaunas. |  Mom viewing the Old Town. It was a bit overcast and almost drizzling, so the photo is not as clear as what we saw. |
Then we went back across the Nemunas and parked in the Town Square to visit the Kaunas Cathedral (just a glimpse of the gilt and pant because there was a Mass in progress, with beggars and women selling amber crucifixes outside) and the seminary, which was originally a monastery.
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We then visited Vienybes square, with its eternal flame, wooden shrines, and monuments to those who championed and died for Lithuanian independence. There is also a granite wall with the names of those who kept the flame of Lithuanian identity alive during Czarist and Soviet times, with Juozos Kancleris (Mama's father's name) engraved. He maintained a library of Lithuanian books, and distributed Lithuanian publications, at great personal risk. |  |
Next, we drove past the monument to Darius and Girenas, the pilots who almost made it non-stop from New York to Kaunas in July of 1933 - except that they crashed (some question just why)in Germany and were killed. And on along the banks of the Nemunas to the Kaunas Sea, a huge reservoir east of the city.
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We then visited Ninth Fort, site of Nazi execution of Kaunas Jews, as well as a Soviet prison and execution site. The huge jagged monument was especially moving in the soft mist, on the edge of a promontory. Then, I saw that the jagged bits were faces, hands, feet. And it really grabbed my gut - and my heart. |
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We had a late lunch at Zalias Ratas: dark beer (alus tamsus)and onion soup by a huge, open central fireplace. You sit at large wooden tables and benches in this traditional (but new) Lithuanian building, served by waitresses in traditional costumes. Then a bit more driving around Kaunas. I'm fascinated by the wooden houses - inside the city - with tongue-and-groove siding in various patterns and lots of carved and pierced details. I'll have to find some when I'm walking and can get a few photos. There are a number of places in need of care or finishing: there are two shells of tall buildings near our hotel (viesbutis). The driver says that Lithuania is too poor; that things were better under the Russians, who started those large buildings. I find that hard to believe.
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We ended our tour at Rumsiskes Folk Museum, which it like a large, drive-through Sturbridge Village. It is a set of villages representing the various sections of Lithuania. In the Aukstaitija region, we saw the type of house in which Mama lived, complete with the beautiful wood trim and thatched roof. At one home, we saw a field with beehives, just like Mama's father had. Mom was able to get out and look around the various farmsteads, thanks to her 3-wheeled walker. It was a lovely and quiet place, probably because it was late on a week-day. And it gave us a feel for the kind of villages in which Mom's parents lived. |  |
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One of the houses seemed to be just as my mother remembered her parents describing Mama's home. The formal room had a wooden floor and elaborate furnishings. I was fascinated by the intricate wooden decoration over the table. This room is the whole left side of the downstairs. In the middle is the entry hall and, behind it, the kitchen. The huge fireplace is between the kitchen and the family room, which takes up the whole right of the building. Evidently, children could sleep atop this fireplace, on a special shelf, in the winter. The family slept in the loft. The family room was just that: a gathering and working place. The spinning wheel, loom, and other gadgets for turning flax into linen cloth sure are a change from a TV and VCR. Mom felt like all the stories from her childhood were coming true. |  |
| But she did not get to see the truth of the saddest tales: Jurta, the memorial to the Siberian exiles. I climbed down a path, over a stream, and up a rise to a little opening with a boxcar, a sod house, and a Man-of Sorrows cross. This is how so many Lithuanians, including many of our family, were sent to the wastelands of Russia, and how they built "homes", during Stalin's era. Their crimes? Loving Lithuania, being educated, being related to partisan fighters, owning property.... |  |
Back at Monela, we got a phone call, that we couldn't get. After going down to the lobby and, finally, getting connected to Vytas, to arrange to meet them here tomorrow morning, I hauled a delegation upstairs to verify that, indeed, the phone did not work. So we headed out for dinner, planning to be back in time for the guard (a teen-age boy who sleeps in the lobby) to come at 9PM to fix the phone wire.
We couldn't find the lighted alley to Zalias Ratas, the only near-by kavine looked too dark for Mom's comfort, and we were too tired to go too far. So we settled for a little news-stand/kavina/baras across the mall from our hotel. A large beer and a plate of pork-filled potato rolls (cepelinai) each was under $5! A might greasy, but good.
At our viesbutis, the lad finagled with the phone wire (we finally did get a dial tone)while we watched a political debate - too fast and mumbled for Mom to translate. It's odd not being able to understand a thing. How did our grandparents and great-grandparents survive landing alone in the U.S.? I have more respect than ever for them.
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