I like riding my bike. I like it a lot. I like the noise, the speed, the fact that I have to concentrate and be involved in the whole process as in the car I just point it in the direction I want to go and that’s about it. I like the danger, I like being close to nature, exposed to the elements, doing something not everyone can do nor dare to do. But after 5 days and nearly 1,700 miles I’m happy to have a day of not riding my bike. No need to get up early so it’s a leisurely breakfast in Vilnius’ very business oriented Raddison Blu Hotel.
— Just starting? View Day 1 post of the roadtrip —
There’s some sort of medical conference going on so there are lots of doctors milling around with name tags on. There’s also some sort of NATO event, outside the hotel on the riverbank is one of those big hashtag things you’re supposed to take instagram photos in front of. #NATO. I try and play Doctor or NATO, a new game I have invented but it’s not very exciting, nor is it easy to confirm if I’m right or not.
So, I turn my attention to a piece of šakotis. I’m told that this is something very dear to Lithuanians, a little piece of home and so I want to like it but it’s not that great.
Sorry Lithuanians.
However it does look great, so there’s that.
The sausages in this hotel are very nice, much better than in Poland and the scrambled eggs are very good too. Kris has to do work things so I laze around until Marius calls me to tell me I can pick up my bike.
I scoot off up the hill to Marius’s place, Restart Moto if you find yourself in need of motorcycle repair services in Lithuania, and notice something unusual. In the UK we cone off the road when there are roadworks. They go quite over the top in many cases, shutting down far more road than is necessary and causing traffic chaos. Not in Vilnius. They just put a cone in the hole and let you sort yourself out. I’m not sure what is best, this way seems rather dangerous but my fellow motorists seem aware that this happens and just drive around it. I make a mental note of this, I don’t want to fall into one of these holes.
Marius has fixed my bike, as I walk into the building I’m dazzled from 50 metres away by my new gold chain. My bike looks like 50 Cent. I’m very pleased. Sadly I have a slightly larger sprocket than standard on the back now as the correct one wasn’t available but that’s ok. I can now accelerate faster but my revs at speed will increase. This will become a pain in Germany on the way back but everywhere else it’s fine. I try and pay Marius but my bank seem to think me making a transaction of a couple of hundred euros in Lithuania with a card I rarely use is somehow suspicious. Luckily I have another card so I use that and ignore the calls and texts from my bank. I’m not happy with them. I will ignore them to teach them a lesson.
We have a nice chat, Marius is a really friendly guy, he tells me he can’t wait to get out of the city for the weekend, I tell him about #NATO and that’s it, he wants me to go so he can lock up and get out of there. I oblige and we say goodbye. I say I’ll come back if I ever need anything in Lithuania and promote him in the Facebook group I help moderate, he seems pleased and we say goodbye. We’re now friends, at least in my eyes we are.
I ride back to the hotel and manage to avoid the holes with cones in them. I consider having a zoom around the city but it’s hot and I’m not really feeling it so I drop it off back at the hotel. I employ what has now become my party piece, I ask if they can let me in their secure car park, they say sure, usually they charge for parking though so I look sad and confused and they let me park for free. This works and I find an out of the way corner so I don’t take up a car space. A young boy stares at me with his mouth and eyes wide open so I stop and signal that he can have a little rev if he wants. His mother pulls him away and he is dragged to the lift with his head turned 90 degrees. I really am bad to the bone.
I lounge around some more before deciding to go and have a look at Vilnius. I cross the river and head to what I hope is the old town. Vilnius is lovely, I decide to walk down the quiet streets and I’m rewarded with the sound of music wafting from a window. I’ve found a music school and I have a little listen to the students play. They’re very good.
I walk further and Kris calls so I go to find her and her friend. We spend the rest of the dy wandering around Vilnius Old Town looking at the buildings, the art and the statues and monuments. I have a zeppelin to eat and some cold beetroot soup, I prefer the soup and as night falls and the city fills up with young people and old men with their younger wives we head off back to the hotel. I’m very tired. It looks like there’s going to be a concert or something down by the river where the hashtag is. I sit near the massive window waiting for it to start but it seems they’re setting up rather than the concert happening.
Just as well because a biblical rainstorm appears. I watch the people crowd into the doorways of the shops and the casino down by the road and hope the rain stops by morning.
Perhaps 2 miles in 10 minutes? I didn’t record it.
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Ta-daa! Part 2 – Kris: my side of it….
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Did you know that the term “funicular railway” stems from the railway being FUN?
Well, it does not 🙂
In any case, Vilnius is the only city in the region to have one – a 65m long ride to gain 39m in height (on a very steep 37 degrees incline), transporting lazy tourists up the Gediminas hill. Ever since Jay showed me one in Wales, I’ve longed to be on one. You know, like a rollercoaster ride for wusses!
So, that’s where we headed. Have you even been to Vilnius if you haven’t visited a Gediminas this or Gediminas that?! Well, Gediminas tower is conveniently and coincidentally located at the Gediminas hill, which is near the bottom of a Gediminas prospect, just around the corner from a …. Gotcha! Cathedral Square 🙂
As someone born without a sense of direction, I am highly dependent on landmarks. This is also why I like places with rivers… cause you’re either on this side or that side, crossed or not crossed yet. Cathedral Square in Vilnius is the centre of my mental map. I know which road to take to get to decent watering holes, great restaurants, shopping centres or the hotel, and while I’ve never experienced Vilnius drunk – I am 100% certain it would require me to pass the cathedral every time I am relocating.
It is also a few hundred metres away from my favourite café that serves my favourite Lithuanian pastries. And during Christmas time, it’s where they put their Big Tree.
Funnily enough, Jay was a lot less impressed with Vilnius than I had expected. Meeh, he said. It’s a cathedral, he said. We’ve got at least one of those in every city, he said. It’s just an empty square, he said. The medieval capitals all look a bit the same, he said. You’ve seen one, you’ve seen it all, he said.
He was far more interested in seeing the castle ruins (“we’ve got one of those in every old town,” I muttered while rolling my eyes) than the streets in the Jewish Quarter.
As a punishment, I refused to take the steps up the Gediminas tower hill when the funicular railway turned out to be funlessicular (by being out of order), and he opted out of going alone. And then I made him eat a zeppelin (have you even been to Lithuania if you have not tried their zeppelini?!?) by stating it’s one of those non-optional cultural conventions – while I munched on crispy potato pancakes under a pile of wild mushrooms…
In case you were not aware, a zeppelin is a BOILED LUMP, and to make one you need to start with decent mashed potatoes, and when you’re finally happy with your mash, start adding flour to it, a spoonful at a time, until it forms a dense putty. Roll it into a fist size ball, flatten to about 1cm thickness, add a spoonful of wet onion and bacon bits to the centre, roll it up again, and then BOIL. Yes, boil what used to be a perfectly good potato puree until it looks slippery and gets a slightly grey hue, and you know it’s done.
And then, to make up for the crimes you’ve just committed, pour some creamy sauce over it (that could have worked as good, if not way better, had it been served with the mash before it got murdered).
I love Lithuania, I love Lithuanians and I love the food there. Zeppelins are a rare exception.
And I am very very excited for the road trip ahead – albeit slightly worried about dealing with the heat in all-black padded gear. Tomorrow, we’ll go see The Hill of Crosses, something I wanted to do for years.
