November 1-4, 2013
An hour before I had to head to the bus station, I started feeling cold and dizzy. I repeated a dozen times to myself "please don't be sick!" as in "please don't have a cold or the flu or some other kind of illness", but I should have meant it as in "please don't let your dinner come back up out of your mouth". Five minutes later, my dinner came back up. Without going into too much detail, after cleaning up the bathroom sink, I had the urge to crawl into bed and wake up after the weekend was over. This feeling was so sudden, I didn't know what hit me. How was I going to survive an 8 hour overnight bus ride to Vilnius (Lithuania) in this condition? I waited about 30 minutes to decide whether or not I should stay home, and luckily I started feeling a little less like death. I decided to make my way to the bus station, and get on only if I thought I could hold it together. The cold, brisk air was very refreshing, and I started feeling better. So I got on the bus and hoped for the best.
I was able to pass the first few hours by napping and listening the music, and everything was holding down well. Then about half way through, I woke up and had to run to the toilet. Throwing up on a moving bus on Polish roads (which are very bumpy) isn't an easy task. And at about this time I really wished I was back in my bed. Luckily there was nobody sitting next to me on the bus, so I wasn't bothering anyone with my frequent trips down the aisle. After every bit of food was out of my stomach, and a lot of teeth brushing, I got really hungry, but didn't dare risk eating the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I brought. I didn't want to see it again 5 minutes later. I mean, that would be a big waste of valuable peanut butter! A couple more hours passed, and everything was fine. And for the rest of the trip, you wouldn't know that this even happened. Especially since I didn't tell anyone. Whew.
I went to Vilnius in early 2012 for a weekend with Conway, which ended with Conway in a situation similar to how my trip started this time. She was so sick she couldn't get on the plane home. We met Ugne and Simona on that trip, so my plan was to meet them again for the long weekend. Thanks to the pub crawl that they took us on last time, we didn't see as much as we wanted to outside of Vilnius. So that was the first priority on this trip (primarily Trakai). You can read about the last trip here.
Trakai is perfect for an easy and relaxing day trip from Vilnius. It didn't take too long, but it also depends on if you like walking around lakes, enjoying the sound of wild silence, as birds and ducks pass by. You could spend many peaceful hours doing just that. The weather was perfect (for early November), and after exploring some trails and a floating bridge across the lake, we walked to the castle. The castle is as picturesque as they come, the bright orange walls standing out among the greenery of the trees, and the blue of the lake. It's 600 years old and sits on an island in the middle of the lake.
After a tour on the inside, we sat for lunch at one of the many restaurants along the lake shore. When I say many, I mean about 5. It's a small place. We picked the restaurant that had a sign that said 1 lita (Lithuanian currency) to use the toilet, 2 to take a shower, and 3 to watch someone else take a shower. You just knew it was a good place. Within 3 minutes, we were already served food. They only had 2 items on the menu - soup and kibinai, or you could get the lunch special including both. And this changed my life. The soup was a thick and chunky tomato and corn soup that I could eat every day, forever. The owner boasted about it being home made, with 14 ingredients, and no added water. But he didn't bother to tell me those 14 ingredients. I will spend the rest of my life trying to figure it out. And the kibinai? Wow. It's super delicious, something like a cornish pasty, but better (more about that later). Somehow the name "kibinai" sounds much more appetizing that "pasty". Pasty sounds like a sticker you put over your nipple. Oh wait, a pasty IS a sticker you put over your nipple, so why would you call something you eat by the same name? The kibinai were so good that I've spent the last couple weeks begging Simona for a recipe. She finally found one in English for me, and the first thing on the list of ingredients is butter. A pound of it. No wonder it's so good. But really, if you ever go to Trakai, stop by the Home Lunch Cafe. You should order 8,000 soups and 10,000 kibinai. You won't regret it.
We headed back to Vilnius, getting to the bus station 10 minutes before the scheduled departure. Luckily we got on the bus, because it took off immediately when we got on. I guess they don't wait for anyone! Generally the buses were pretty frequent (every hour or so) and cheap. It only took 25 minutes to get back to the city, even though it took 80 minutes to get there due to traffic. I was getting really tired at that point, after the overnight bus from Warsaw. But 8-9 hours on the overnight bus was actually only about 2 hours longer than a door to door trip flying from Warsaw to Vilnius through Riga...and it was less than $50 round trip. So overnight bus was the best option.
That night I went out to dinner with Simona and one of her friends from her home town, and her friend's friend from Germany. We were at a place called Charlie Pizza, so naturally I ordered Lithuanian food. The name of the place made it sound a little hokey, but the food was really good. The interesting part about this dinner is that nobody was able to talk with everyone else at the table. I was only able to talk to Simona, because she was the only one who spoke English. Irida and Simona could speak Lithuanian together, but the German guy could only speak German (which Irida could also). So if I wanted to talk to the German guy, for example, I would say it to Simona, who would say it in Lithuanian to Irida, who would say it in German to the guy. Then his response would take another 15 minutes to get back to me. It was like playing a game of "Telephone" where stuff literally gets lost in translation. And I'm actually still waiting for someone to finally tell me his name! I wouldn't call it the most efficient conversation, but it was still interesting to observe the power of languages and the benefit of speaking multiple of them. Just imagine the awkward silence every time the girls went to the toilet together.
I didn't spend much time visiting places in Vilnius we saw on the last trip, but there were a couple other nice highlights.
In Vilnius there is a money museum, which explains the history of money around the world, as well as in Lithuania. The first "money" was some form of grain and other commodities. The grains were called shekels, like Israel's money today. There was also amber, wax, shells, and rocks, and they had metal coins on display from 2500 years ago. It's interesting to think how money started. How did they control who got the money, and who was allowed to produce it? It makes sense in a barter system, where the goods themselves have value, but who decided a handful of flat metal loops would be worth X number of chickens? And what stopped people from making billions of their own coins and convincing others that it was worth a lot? Well, I guess some places still do that today.
Another really interesting place is the Hill of Crosses, a couple hours from Vilnius. The concept of the crosses on the hill began back in the 19th century when Lithuania/Poland were uprising against Russia. Upon the failures, and the deaths of many, mourners could not identify or find the bodies of their loved ones. So they started putting crosses on the hill of an old fort to pay their respects. Over time, it became a place to pray for peace, and the number of crosses started growing. Current estimates say there are hundreds of thousands of crosses there, but after walking through it, there could be beeeeeeellions (insert Dr. Evil muhhuhahahahaha laugh here). Actually I have no idea what 100,000 crosses looks like compared to 1,000,000. But there might be at least a million. I mean, look at the pictures. A lot of the crosses were wooden, which makes me think they will deteriorate very quickly in the harsh winters. There were also many languages written on the crosses - English, Lithuanian, Polish, German, Russian, even Japanese and Korean. I was pleased to not notice any vandalism there, but maybe that just says something about my cynicism towards idiots who like to damage things just because they can.
Simona also took some time to be a guide of her own home town - Telsiai. It's a small town, sitting on a nice lake, that must be great in the summers. We had a nice stroll around the lake and parks, just like the locals (she is a local, after all). It was a bit cold, but there were still some die-hards going for late afternoon runs or bike rides. It made me feel lazy, especially considering all the buttery kibinai I had been eating. I also tried some pig ears, which is apparently a popular pub food to have with beer, but after one bite, I had enough. It was a mixture of boiled, rubbery, crispy, and fatty parts. There were too many textures and differences in consistency and taste in each layer. I can't describe it, but you should definitely try it so I can see your face when you bite into it.
I stayed in a hotel where I was the only other person sleeping there besides the older lady that worked at the front desk. She was very friendly, always smiling at me and talking to me, but not in any language I understood. I think she mixed a bit of Lithuanian and German. And she kept repeating things and saying them louder, just like we do when someone doesn't understand English. I mean, that doesn't make someone understand those languages. It was kind of funny, but she was super nice about it. She cooked me breakfast in the morning, and was basically my private host. The other great thing about the hotel is that they had Polish TV stations, including a music station where I first heard this song. I've watched thevideo at least 20 times since then. That night I stayed up up til 3 am watching the Seahawks barely beat Tampa Bay, after being down by 21, then passed out.
The next morning I got on the train to head back to Vilnius, but it was so cold outside, and steamy inside, that my glasses fogged up right when I got on. I walked up and down the aisle unable to see the seat numbers, or anything at all for that matter, so I kept walking back and forth until my glasses defogged (a good 5 minutes). I would have wiped my glasses with my hand, but I was carrying all my bags and didn't want to stop to put them down since there was a crowd behind me. It's kind of embarrassing to have to wipe your glasses to be able to see.
Back in Vilnius, I was on a mission to find more kibinai before my bus back to Warsaw. I found great ratings for a place called Pinavija on Trip Advisor, so I walked the 20 minutes from the train station, just to give it a try. And it was perfect - a buttery and savory crust with juicy meat inside, some juices dripping down my fingers as I quickly devoured it. I especially love when the inner part of the crust is a bit soggy from the broth on the inside. It's like a soup dumpling inside a pie crust. How can you not eat a million of these? It's definitely great with soup in the cold weather (and I still missed the tomato soup from Trakai). I had one chicken and one lamb kibinai, and was tempted to get another. So I did. They aren't that big, but after eating two, you feel a bit full because it's so rich and buttery. And of course, outside there was another place across the street serving them, and I had to get another. As I adjusted my belt and felt the butter clogging up my veins, the only thing I could think was "its gonna be a long 9 hour bus ride home".
Before getting on the bus, I stopped at a shop to pick up some "healthy" foods for a snack later. I needed to balance out some of the butter with some fruits and veggies and lean meats. I don't know about you, but after I eat really fatty foods, I actually feel better if I put some fresh, lean foods in my body. Almost as if it cancels out the bad foods. Let's just say it does. On the way to Trakai, I mocked a girl on the bus for eating a jar of pickles on the bus. Who does that? Then I proceeded to buy a jar of pickles myself for the bus ride home. Between the pickles, deli meats, and smelly hard cheese (which was lactose free), I'm sure everyone around me on the bus loved the smell coming from seat 11. At least everything stayed down this time (and suddenly I just got worried that the smell coming from my seat on the way TO Lithuania was also bad...yikes).
At least time, the trip had a happy ending.
An hour before I had to head to the bus station, I started feeling cold and dizzy. I repeated a dozen times to myself "please don't be sick!" as in "please don't have a cold or the flu or some other kind of illness", but I should have meant it as in "please don't let your dinner come back up out of your mouth". Five minutes later, my dinner came back up. Without going into too much detail, after cleaning up the bathroom sink, I had the urge to crawl into bed and wake up after the weekend was over. This feeling was so sudden, I didn't know what hit me. How was I going to survive an 8 hour overnight bus ride to Vilnius (Lithuania) in this condition? I waited about 30 minutes to decide whether or not I should stay home, and luckily I started feeling a little less like death. I decided to make my way to the bus station, and get on only if I thought I could hold it together. The cold, brisk air was very refreshing, and I started feeling better. So I got on the bus and hoped for the best.
I was able to pass the first few hours by napping and listening the music, and everything was holding down well. Then about half way through, I woke up and had to run to the toilet. Throwing up on a moving bus on Polish roads (which are very bumpy) isn't an easy task. And at about this time I really wished I was back in my bed. Luckily there was nobody sitting next to me on the bus, so I wasn't bothering anyone with my frequent trips down the aisle. After every bit of food was out of my stomach, and a lot of teeth brushing, I got really hungry, but didn't dare risk eating the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I brought. I didn't want to see it again 5 minutes later. I mean, that would be a big waste of valuable peanut butter! A couple more hours passed, and everything was fine. And for the rest of the trip, you wouldn't know that this even happened. Especially since I didn't tell anyone. Whew.
I went to Vilnius in early 2012 for a weekend with Conway, which ended with Conway in a situation similar to how my trip started this time. She was so sick she couldn't get on the plane home. We met Ugne and Simona on that trip, so my plan was to meet them again for the long weekend. Thanks to the pub crawl that they took us on last time, we didn't see as much as we wanted to outside of Vilnius. So that was the first priority on this trip (primarily Trakai). You can read about the last trip here.
Trakai is perfect for an easy and relaxing day trip from Vilnius. It didn't take too long, but it also depends on if you like walking around lakes, enjoying the sound of wild silence, as birds and ducks pass by. You could spend many peaceful hours doing just that. The weather was perfect (for early November), and after exploring some trails and a floating bridge across the lake, we walked to the castle. The castle is as picturesque as they come, the bright orange walls standing out among the greenery of the trees, and the blue of the lake. It's 600 years old and sits on an island in the middle of the lake.
Trakai castle is fairy tale-ish
After a tour on the inside, we sat for lunch at one of the many restaurants along the lake shore. When I say many, I mean about 5. It's a small place. We picked the restaurant that had a sign that said 1 lita (Lithuanian currency) to use the toilet, 2 to take a shower, and 3 to watch someone else take a shower. You just knew it was a good place. Within 3 minutes, we were already served food. They only had 2 items on the menu - soup and kibinai, or you could get the lunch special including both. And this changed my life. The soup was a thick and chunky tomato and corn soup that I could eat every day, forever. The owner boasted about it being home made, with 14 ingredients, and no added water. But he didn't bother to tell me those 14 ingredients. I will spend the rest of my life trying to figure it out. And the kibinai? Wow. It's super delicious, something like a cornish pasty, but better (more about that later). Somehow the name "kibinai" sounds much more appetizing that "pasty". Pasty sounds like a sticker you put over your nipple. Oh wait, a pasty IS a sticker you put over your nipple, so why would you call something you eat by the same name? The kibinai were so good that I've spent the last couple weeks begging Simona for a recipe. She finally found one in English for me, and the first thing on the list of ingredients is butter. A pound of it. No wonder it's so good. But really, if you ever go to Trakai, stop by the Home Lunch Cafe. You should order 8,000 soups and 10,000 kibinai. You won't regret it.
I've been dreaming about this ever since
We headed back to Vilnius, getting to the bus station 10 minutes before the scheduled departure. Luckily we got on the bus, because it took off immediately when we got on. I guess they don't wait for anyone! Generally the buses were pretty frequent (every hour or so) and cheap. It only took 25 minutes to get back to the city, even though it took 80 minutes to get there due to traffic. I was getting really tired at that point, after the overnight bus from Warsaw. But 8-9 hours on the overnight bus was actually only about 2 hours longer than a door to door trip flying from Warsaw to Vilnius through Riga...and it was less than $50 round trip. So overnight bus was the best option.
That night I went out to dinner with Simona and one of her friends from her home town, and her friend's friend from Germany. We were at a place called Charlie Pizza, so naturally I ordered Lithuanian food. The name of the place made it sound a little hokey, but the food was really good. The interesting part about this dinner is that nobody was able to talk with everyone else at the table. I was only able to talk to Simona, because she was the only one who spoke English. Irida and Simona could speak Lithuanian together, but the German guy could only speak German (which Irida could also). So if I wanted to talk to the German guy, for example, I would say it to Simona, who would say it in Lithuanian to Irida, who would say it in German to the guy. Then his response would take another 15 minutes to get back to me. It was like playing a game of "Telephone" where stuff literally gets lost in translation. And I'm actually still waiting for someone to finally tell me his name! I wouldn't call it the most efficient conversation, but it was still interesting to observe the power of languages and the benefit of speaking multiple of them. Just imagine the awkward silence every time the girls went to the toilet together.
I didn't spend much time visiting places in Vilnius we saw on the last trip, but there were a couple other nice highlights.
In Vilnius there is a money museum, which explains the history of money around the world, as well as in Lithuania. The first "money" was some form of grain and other commodities. The grains were called shekels, like Israel's money today. There was also amber, wax, shells, and rocks, and they had metal coins on display from 2500 years ago. It's interesting to think how money started. How did they control who got the money, and who was allowed to produce it? It makes sense in a barter system, where the goods themselves have value, but who decided a handful of flat metal loops would be worth X number of chickens? And what stopped people from making billions of their own coins and convincing others that it was worth a lot? Well, I guess some places still do that today.
Another really interesting place is the Hill of Crosses, a couple hours from Vilnius. The concept of the crosses on the hill began back in the 19th century when Lithuania/Poland were uprising against Russia. Upon the failures, and the deaths of many, mourners could not identify or find the bodies of their loved ones. So they started putting crosses on the hill of an old fort to pay their respects. Over time, it became a place to pray for peace, and the number of crosses started growing. Current estimates say there are hundreds of thousands of crosses there, but after walking through it, there could be beeeeeeellions (insert Dr. Evil muhhuhahahahaha laugh here). Actually I have no idea what 100,000 crosses looks like compared to 1,000,000. But there might be at least a million. I mean, look at the pictures. A lot of the crosses were wooden, which makes me think they will deteriorate very quickly in the harsh winters. There were also many languages written on the crosses - English, Lithuanian, Polish, German, Russian, even Japanese and Korean. I was pleased to not notice any vandalism there, but maybe that just says something about my cynicism towards idiots who like to damage things just because they can.
Maybe billions of crosses? (or at least thousands)
Some strong guys brought the big statues
Simona also took some time to be a guide of her own home town - Telsiai. It's a small town, sitting on a nice lake, that must be great in the summers. We had a nice stroll around the lake and parks, just like the locals (she is a local, after all). It was a bit cold, but there were still some die-hards going for late afternoon runs or bike rides. It made me feel lazy, especially considering all the buttery kibinai I had been eating. I also tried some pig ears, which is apparently a popular pub food to have with beer, but after one bite, I had enough. It was a mixture of boiled, rubbery, crispy, and fatty parts. There were too many textures and differences in consistency and taste in each layer. I can't describe it, but you should definitely try it so I can see your face when you bite into it.
No pig ears for me, thanks!
The outdoor amphitheater along the lake in Telsiai
I stayed in a hotel where I was the only other person sleeping there besides the older lady that worked at the front desk. She was very friendly, always smiling at me and talking to me, but not in any language I understood. I think she mixed a bit of Lithuanian and German. And she kept repeating things and saying them louder, just like we do when someone doesn't understand English. I mean, that doesn't make someone understand those languages. It was kind of funny, but she was super nice about it. She cooked me breakfast in the morning, and was basically my private host. The other great thing about the hotel is that they had Polish TV stations, including a music station where I first heard this song. I've watched thevideo at least 20 times since then. That night I stayed up up til 3 am watching the Seahawks barely beat Tampa Bay, after being down by 21, then passed out.
The next morning I got on the train to head back to Vilnius, but it was so cold outside, and steamy inside, that my glasses fogged up right when I got on. I walked up and down the aisle unable to see the seat numbers, or anything at all for that matter, so I kept walking back and forth until my glasses defogged (a good 5 minutes). I would have wiped my glasses with my hand, but I was carrying all my bags and didn't want to stop to put them down since there was a crowd behind me. It's kind of embarrassing to have to wipe your glasses to be able to see.
Back in Vilnius, I was on a mission to find more kibinai before my bus back to Warsaw. I found great ratings for a place called Pinavija on Trip Advisor, so I walked the 20 minutes from the train station, just to give it a try. And it was perfect - a buttery and savory crust with juicy meat inside, some juices dripping down my fingers as I quickly devoured it. I especially love when the inner part of the crust is a bit soggy from the broth on the inside. It's like a soup dumpling inside a pie crust. How can you not eat a million of these? It's definitely great with soup in the cold weather (and I still missed the tomato soup from Trakai). I had one chicken and one lamb kibinai, and was tempted to get another. So I did. They aren't that big, but after eating two, you feel a bit full because it's so rich and buttery. And of course, outside there was another place across the street serving them, and I had to get another. As I adjusted my belt and felt the butter clogging up my veins, the only thing I could think was "its gonna be a long 9 hour bus ride home".
Before getting on the bus, I stopped at a shop to pick up some "healthy" foods for a snack later. I needed to balance out some of the butter with some fruits and veggies and lean meats. I don't know about you, but after I eat really fatty foods, I actually feel better if I put some fresh, lean foods in my body. Almost as if it cancels out the bad foods. Let's just say it does. On the way to Trakai, I mocked a girl on the bus for eating a jar of pickles on the bus. Who does that? Then I proceeded to buy a jar of pickles myself for the bus ride home. Between the pickles, deli meats, and smelly hard cheese (which was lactose free), I'm sure everyone around me on the bus loved the smell coming from seat 11. At least everything stayed down this time (and suddenly I just got worried that the smell coming from my seat on the way TO Lithuania was also bad...yikes).
At least time, the trip had a happy ending.
