I spent the weekend in Lithuania. I made the decision to go on Friday, taking a night-bus (I couldn’t find one that runs during the day) from Warsaw, and arriving in Vilnius early Saturday morning. I managed to find my way to the hotel where I’d made reservations. Being more than a few hours early (it was before 8:00am, and check-in is listed as starting at 2:00pm), I asked if they could store my luggage while I explored the town. Instead, I was told that my room was available, and I could take my luggage there. Thus, I managed a few hours of sleep – not enough to make up for the long sleepless bus ride, but a significant improvement over my previously incredibly-tired state. The weather on Saturday was a sort of drizzly rain, which, fortunately was never heavy enough to truly require an umbrella. The following days remained cloudy, but without rain. So compared with recent times in Poland, I’d say the weather was fantastic!
After waking up, I walked around a bit, exploring the buildings and monuments in the old town.
Here is Grand Duke Gediminas. He founded Vilnius, and moved Lithuania’s capitol there. I thought he looked a bit like some kind of royal zombie in this pose, but I’ve been told he’s actually welcoming people into the city of Vilnius. He is holding his sword out, by the blade as a gesture of peace.
After a bit of walking, I registered to run the half-marathon that was taking place on Sunday.
That was part of my motivation in going to Vilnius. My blood is 50% Lithuanian, so since coming to Europe, Lithuania has been on my list of countries to see, but I’ve somehow never managed to get there. So the marathon was a good final push. There were both full, and half marathons being run. I chose the half for two reasons. First, I hadn’t been seriously training, and am not at all confident that I’d have been able to manage 42km, but 21km is a much more reasonable distance. Also, the course was somewhat uninteresting – a repetition of four laps for the full marathon. Two laps for the half wasn’t bad, but four laps would seem to defeat the purpose of seeing some interesting place by running.
I did my best to take it easy on Saturday, and not tire myself out. Sunday morning, I ran, finishing after an hour and 54 minutes. It was a good race. I didn’t push myself too hard, but neither did I have to slow down at any point. For perhaps the last 100 meters, I was running about the same pace as one other guy. Thus, we speed up to see who could finish first. By the finish line, we were both running at top speed. I think I beat him by a few centimeters, but it’s hard to say. The important thing is it was fun.
After the race, I had an hour free time, during which I walked back to my hotel and took a shower. Then I walked back to the city center in time to pick up a 2 hour walking tour of Vilnius. I learned a little more about the city, and saw lots of churches and other landmarks. Actually, I’d already seen quite a lot from randomly walking the previous day. Most important buildings have plaques printed nearby (in Lithuanian and English) describing what the place is, and perhaps its historical significance.
I also learned about the stebuklas (miracle) tile, located in front of the cathedral.
It is said, if you stand on the tile, and spin around clockwise three times, your wish will be granted. I imagine were the WJF were ever to come to Vilnius, they could make surely use of it.
As I said, I saw some impressive churches. For example, St. Anne’s.
Also, there was the Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit.
And The Church of St. Casimir, which interestingly enough, during communist times was converted into a Museum of Atheism. In 1991, it was returned to the Jesuits.
I think that’s enough for now. I’ll write another post to mention a few more things, and also to show off the Lithuanian food I ate.
