lithuania: vilnius

I don't know when we first talked about it, but during some conversation or another ken and I decided it would be fun to meet up in vilnius...I was excited to see my second baltic capital, the first was Riga, three years ago...
My flight was 30 minutes late arriving in vilnius, Lithuania, but Ken's flight arrived around the same time, so it didn't matter...we took a taxi to our hotel, the ride wasn't long...
We checked in, but instead of going to the room we left our bags at the front desk and went next door to get pizza...traveling makes us hungry...
When we got back to the hotel we asked a couple questions of the front desk lady, including how to say thank you in Lithuanian...it sounds like achoo...(accented to be A-choo)...how fun is that?

The next morning we enjoyed the hotel breakfast, a big buffet...I probably ate too much, but isn't that the whole point of buffets? There was a variety of food, from fresh produce to oatmeal to fried eggs, etc...
Eventually we left the hotel, and made our way down the street to the KGB museum...it used to be a KGB prison...the building in which it was located was very nondescript, which was probably the whole point...bCk in the day I'm sure everyone who lived around there knew who/what was in that building, but there is/was no visual way to know...
We paid our entry fees (only two euro each!) and collected a couple brochures...the ground/first floor had rooms on each side of the hall dedicated to various aspects of life during the years in which the KGB operated...the people who were deported and where they went, 'normal' life in Lithuania, numbers of people deported, etc...a lot of information was presented in a small area, it would've been overwhelming if I'd read everything...it's intense, and you can't help but think 'I'm so lucky I never had to live through that'...one of the rooms was set up to look like a listening station, as that happened to all sorts of regular people...during those days you could never be too sure...you had to be careful, all the time, about what you said and who you said it to...

The basement floor had cells that had been redone to look as they did in the  days of the functioning prison...you can go into the intake cell, where people were put before processing was complete...ken went in, I closed the door behind him...the door doesn't let in any light, and the space is very small; people were in there for three to four hours...it did not look like fun...ken came out after 10 seconds max...
We got to see a water cell, where a prisoner stood in waist deep water for I don't know how long...you couldn't sleep in there (obviously) and standing in cold water like that brings on hypothermia and madness after a while, especially when it's dark...we got to peer into the padded cell, into which went sane people, out of which came crazy people...the padding provided soundproofing and it was dark, leading to disorientation and craziness...'regular' cells didn't look too bad, but I'm sure they were no cakewalk...

We saw the exercise yards, they were very small...there was a boardwalk of sorts up high, so the guard (and dog) would patrol the prisoners in the yards from above...ugh...I'm glad I saw the museum, and I'm glad I never experienced it for real...
We walked back down the street in the opposite direction, toward the old city...at the end of the street we saw vilnius Cathdral...it's big, you can't miss it...we walked around to the side and found an entrance...the inside was big and airy, neither super decorated nor plain...
From there we walked into the old city...it's not a big area, filled with small streets, and smaller alleys...it's a pretty area...very picturesque...now it's totally touristy, filled with souvenir/amber shops, cafes and restaurants...

After a little bit of wandering ken was 'hangry' (hungry + angry from being hungry) so we asked a storelady where we should go for Lithuanian food...she showed us a place not too far down the street...the menu was big, both of us had plenty of options...we both ordered what I thought of as giant dumplings filled with meat and boiled...different sauces for each of us...I had soup as an appetizer, he had pickled fish...as soon as I finished the soup I realized I didn't need any more food, but it was too late to cancel by then...so I ate, I stuffed myself...
We kept walking after eating, going around more of the old city...got out Google maps a couple times to figure out where we were and where we wanted to go...we had dessert in a random cafe, and in yet another cafe a bit later I had a chai latte (steamed milk and flavoring powder...definitely not the 'right' way)...we made our way out of the old city, and at the bottom of a hill found a church...it was quite picturesque lit mostly by street light...

from there we went back to the hotel, we both fell asleep early...
In the middle of the night I woke up not feeling well at all...an hour later I raced to the bathroom (the one closest to the bed...have I mentioned we had a junior suite? Two full bathrooms, a sitting room, and a bedroom!) and threw up...eventually I crawled back in bed, and slept until 0700...then I got up and puked again...I didn't fall asleep agin even though I tried...
eventually ken woke up, we went to breakfast again...this time I didn't eat so much, the smell of meat was not a good smell...I had a banana and oatmeal, yogurt and tea...I just wanted to keep food down...
Ken asked me what I wanted to do, I knew I needed to get out and walk a bit, even though I still felt awful...so we went for a walk...

Along the river and crossed a bridge, into a church just before the Sunday morning service started...beautiful views along the river from the front portico of the church...we walked along the river for a bit, trying to stay warm...it was partly sunny and quite windy...
This led us to a street that went in front of the Cathdral, so we followed it...at the cathedral I went in and bought postcards...if been looking at prices, and the cards in the cathedral were half the price id seen anywhere else...30euro cents vs 60euro cents...not cheap!
We went through the old town again, through a few alleys we hadn't walked the day before...we wound down to the church from the night before, it looked quite similar in daylight...(brick always looks like brick)...
Back up the hill in the old town we stopped in a cafe...I decided to risk hot chocolate and ice cream...(I love dairy!!!)...it was nice to warm up too...

after the cafe, we walked back in the direction of the hotel, following a street we hadn't yet walked...we came across a flag change ceremony...very very cool...three flags: lithuania, nato, and eu...representatives from the army, air force, and navy were the flag folks...
On the way back to the hotel we stopped in a supermarket, ken wanted water and other food or the rest of the day...(he wasn't leaving when I was)...while we were in there I started feeling bad again, so I took the key and hurried back to the hotel...sure enough, everything in my stomach came up...ugh...
I took advantage of the bathtub in one of the bathrooms, and drew a hot bath...it felt great, I wish I could've soaked for longer...not long after I got out, I puked again...
I packed up, and the front desk called a taxi for me...a short ride later I was back at the airport and on my way back to kyiv...
I wish I'd had longer in Vilnius, and I wish I hadn't gotten so sick...(I ended up being sick for the next couple weeks, off and on, ugh)