We’ve arrived in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, unsure of how long we’re staying or where we’re going from here. The question – the answer to which could come at any second – is whether the government of Belarus will give us a tourist visa to travel there for a week; we’ll tell the miserable story of how challenging this process has been when it’s over. Personally, I’m hoping we get in. Not so much because I want to go to Belarus, but because Mark really wants to go to Belarus. And if we go to Belarus, that means we get to do something that I really want to do – like, say, bicycle across France and through a bunch of other countries to the Black Sea next summer!
Either way, Vilnius seems to be a pretty spectacular city. It’s slightly smaller than Riga, but somehow to me at least feels more modern, more vibrant, and more Western. We’ve only spent a few hours wandering around, as a lot of our time has been taken up applying for and checking on the status of our Belarusian visa (see above). What we’ve seen, though, and what we’ve eaten so far, all speak tons for enjoying Vilnius. Here are some of our favorite pics.
Mark, having just entered the Old City through the Gate of Dawn, the only remaining gate through the old wall
A bike in the University
A Baroque church, where someone was playing the organ – it was an amazing sound
Lunch – the police car in back was part of an entourage providing security for some high-ranking military person who was coming
Vilnius, from the top of a bell tower at the University
Still from the top of the bell tower, note what may be the world’s finest balcony in the lower right
Old Town street
Residential architecture outside the Old Town
Churches
Lots of churches
No end of churches – and no end to how quickly the color of the sky changes