ukraine: kherson

I'm still trying to visit all the oblasts in ukraine, and while I know it probably won't fully happen, I'm doing my best 😀...
Kherson is the capital of an oblast...lonely planet barely mentions the town, only saying that there are tour companies offering excursions to  various nearby areas...kherson isn't far from odessa, it's in the more russian speaking half of ukraine...
It was a long train ride to get there, around 12 hours...when I got off the train I headed to an ATM, since I'd forgotten to bring cash with me from my flat the night before...that's when I remembered I didn't have much left in either of my bank accounts, after emptying them while in Kazakhstan the previous weekend (I was able to get dollars easily there, so I took advantage)...ooops...

then I realized the debit card from my american account was expired...bigger ooops...fortunately I found a few dollars in my wallet, and was able to exchange those for griven...not to self: don't forget to take money with you when traveling!
I started walking down the big street in front of the train station...it was still Saturday morning, there weren't many people out...I saw laundry hung out to dry, a couple churches, newspaper/magazine kiosks, etc...I saw the place where a Lenin statue used to be located...I saw the platz where kherson might've had its own version of the Maidan encampment...
Eventually I came to a pedestrian street, and decided to follow that...I noticed a few people setting up their stalls for the day: some knick knacks, a few souvenirs, etc...it didn't seem like a big market type of area though...

I found the address to my hotel, and noticed it only had the name of a spa/gym on the building...I walked in and asked (in russian) where the hotel was located...the lady at the front desk looked at me like I was an alien, then picked up the phone to call her supervisor an told her a foreigner was at the front desk and she didn't understand what that person was asking...(I don't speak or understand as much russian as I'd like, but I can understand some)...I asked the supervisor lady (again in russian) where I could find my hotel, and she gave me directions...it turned out to be on the back side of the building...I never figured out whether I didn't speak correctly to the first lady or if she simply hadn't known how to respond to me, an obvious foreigner...

the hotel let me check in a couple hours early, yay! My room was big, and breakfast was included in the price...good wifi too...the lady at that front desk showed me the list of options for the spa, they were cheap...despite not having that much cash, I asked her to schedule a massage for me...(it's hard to turn down an hour massage for less than $10!)
I relaxed in my room for an hour or so, then headed out again...more wandering, following a general street grid...I saw more churches, including one that looked as if several people had started different styles of renovations, then stopped...the land around the church wasn't being cared for, but the interior was lovely...
I found a bakery, and took a chance on what I thought was cheesecake...not as good as I'd hoped...why do i keep trying stuff in ukrainian bakeries? it's very rarely as good as i want it to be...

I found a couple parks, one of them very small...I found a bus station, and the surrounding market, on a cul-de-sac...I looked at possible destinations, but nothing jumped out at me...I'm guessing the towns were mostly small...
Eventually I wandered back to the pedestrian street, and into a sushi restaurant...(there are a lot of sushi restaurants in ukraine)...I ate too much, but it was my first actual meal of the day, at 1500, so I didn't feel too bad...
After eating I wandered more, just taking in the feel of the town...it was very quiet, but patriotic at the same time...lots of benches and fences painted yellow and blue, flags flying, etc...entirely too many empty an abandoned buildings...I love to take photos of them, as they have a certain type of beauty, but I also know they don't mean good things for a local economy...

I got back to the hotel not long before my massage...AMAZING...a deep tissue massage, it felt wonderful...I was sore afterward, but it was sooo worth it...I drank heaps of water afterward, and feel asleep early that evening...
The next morning I was up early, and decided to go for a walk before breakfast...I found the Greek Orthodox Church and stepped in only briefly, as there was a service going on, and I always feel awkward in that situation...I always want to take photos and look around, but not in the middle of a worship service...aesthetically I couldn't see any differences between this church and a ukrainian or russian Orthodox Church...does any one of the three people who read this blogs know if there are style differences? Or are the differences just theological?

From there I walked toward the water, and found a monument to sailors...big, which didn't surprise me...it was super windy by the water, and chilly...during the summer I suspect there are plenty of boat tours, but not in mid March...
I made my way back to the hotel for breakfast, which was ready and waiting...(this is one of the places where you choose which breakfast you want the day before, and what time you want it served)...the restaurant was closed, so they served it in my room 😀
I relaxed for a while after breakfast, cleaned up and packed up, then checked out...I left my bag at the front desk, then went out for another walk...
At this point I was convinced lonely planet had missed writing about this town...I'd already seen spots equal to other places they write about, and I planned to see more that day...

I walked through Lenin park, which isn't big, but has a very small church, a few amusement park type of rides, and a burned down theatre designed like a castle...the fact that it had burned clearly didn't deter people from exploring, I could see rubbish everywhere...
I exited that park, followed the street for a while, passed another theater, then finally came to what was left of the former kherson fortress...earthen walls, a couple big gates...the area in the middle is mostly empty, and has been turned into a a park...st Catherine's church is in the area, there is a chair inside the church from a visit by Elizabeth...(embroidered letter E on the chair!)...it seemed to be both an active church with some history on display...just to be sure, i had a scarf over my hair...

The walls of the old fortress aren't very high, (were they always this height? or have they shrunk due to years of normal weather?) but it was nice to go walk along the tops...(have I mentioned the weather was awesome?)...this entire area was called Lenin Komsomalya park...(why are there two parks named after the guy?)...across the street is the so called alley of heroes...a pedestrian zone with memorials to those who fought in a number of different wars...there are quite a few memorials, and one end of this alley has big steps and decorated walls...quite impressive, but somewhat out of sync with the general atmosphere of the town...I still like it...
I went back to the sushi place again for another late lunch...as I was eating, a random guy came over and brought a plate of dessert sushi for me, his treat...then he sat and watched me eat...it was a bit odd, but I appreciated the compliment...

After lunch I went back to the hotel, charged my phone a bit, then walked back to the train station...my train left on time, at 1848...12 hours later I was back in kyiv...
I would definitely go back to kherson, I want another massage, and I'm curious where some of the excursions go...

kazakhstan: almaty

As soon as Anaya and her family moved to almaty, Kazakhstan, I knew I wanted to visit...
note: each time i refer to mom or dad in this post, i'm refering to anaya's mom or anaya's dad...
I was able to get flights that gave me five full days in almaty...it turns out to be a town not worth that much time, but it was great to catch up with friends...
My flight arrived at 0500 Thursday morning...not a great time, but it was a direct flight, and I got a full row of seats to myself, so I wasn't complaining...when I went to the airport ATM to take out money I realized I was able to withdraw US dollars as well as Kazakh tenge...($1~185tenge)...I withdrew some of both and decided to clean out my bank accounts when I left...(US dollars are quite difficult to get in Ukraine)...
I took a taxi to the Anaya's flat, her dad came out to greet me and help out with change, since the taxi driver didn't have any...

It was great to see friends again...I miss them in kyiv, and it turns out they miss life in kyiv too...Anaya woke up at some point, and I think it was a nice surprise for her to find me there 😀...
We chatted in the kitchen for hours, pausing only when the driver took dad and Anaya to drop Anaya off at school...
Sometime around noon mom and I went with dad to a mall to pick out gift baskets for all the women in his office...women's day was on Sunday, (8 march,) so gifts were handed out on Friday, and Monday is a day off work...it turns out there are a fair number of big malls in almaty, filled with expensive and foreign brands...I don't know what (if any) industry there is in Kazakhstan...

After buying gifts we went to lunch at a sushi place...they'd already described Kazakh food to me, it didn't sound good...(boiled horse and sheep meat anyone?!?)...the description made me think of Mongolian food...no thank you, especially when there are other, far better options available...
After lunch the driver took dad to work, and me home with mom...I got out of the car just before we got to their apartment complex, I wanted to go for a walk...
So I walked...I walked to a nearby Islamic center, at which I didn't stay long after a security guard asked why I was taking photos...(the buildings were pretty)...I told him I'm a tourist, I don't think he understood why someone would want to take photos of a non touristy place...further down the road was a mall, not as big as where we'd been earlier, but fancier...prada and the like, but the food court was not so high class: Burger King anyone?

I kept walking, and followed a dry waterway to its end, then went around the other side and walked back up the slight hill...back to the mall and back to the flat...I arrived not long before mom went with the driver to pick up Anaya from school...(I would've gone along, but I'd already felt motion sickness in the car at lunch and didn't want more of that)...
Dinner that night was yummy indian food at home...(have I mentioned this is an Indian family?)
The next morning I slept till 10, which is a lot later than normal for me...on the other hand, 10 in Kazakhstan is 6 in kyiv, which is when I normally wake up, so maybe I just didn't adjust...but I did sleep ten hours, almost solid, and that's rare...if only i could have long sleep nights like that more often on weekends instead of waking up at 6 or 7 saturday and sunday mornings...

Anywho, I had chai (YUM!!) for breakfast, I didn't need any food...around noon the driver picked up me and mom, and took us into the city center...we started at the post office, where mom had found out was a good place for me to buy sets of postcards of the city...it was a good place for that...
The next stop was the green market, or ziliony bazaar...it's a big market, with a lot of different sections: dairy, meat, (with various types of meat listed: horse, sheep, cow, etc,) as well as pickled food (I found kimchi!!!) and clothes and dry goods and more...it's easy to think you've seen everything, then find a whole different section...I ended up buying some kimchi, yogurt, and dried apricots...I didn't really want the dried apricots, but when I was taking photos of the market from a second floor the vendor at a particular stall kept saying I should come to his spot...why not? He gave us lots of tasting portions of different things he sold, some I liked, some not so much...

The next stop was 28 Panfilov heroes memorial park...(longest name ever for a park)...there was an Orthodox Church not far from one of the entrances...as we got close, the exterior decoration of the church made me think of candy land...the interior was very nice...frescoes on the ceilings, chandeliers, iconostasis...as always (to me anywho,) the interior didn't seem as big as it should be compared to how big it looked from the outside...
From the church we walked toward the memorial area...there are monuments to several wars in which Kazakh soldiers have fought...Afghanistan (remember the Soviet Union fought there for years and years) and what I know as WW2 and what I know as WW1, and more Im pretty sure...there were blocks of marble (I think) with names of cities in which big battles had taken place...many of those cities have different names now...

We played with the panoramic photo function on my iPhone for a while, and managed to get a photo with three of me in it...(can there ever be enough of me? 😃)
We exited the park through a different entrance and crossed the street to a cafe, to have drinks...but this place was out of tea, and my second choice as well...ARGH...so we found a different cafe...
After that, the driver picked up mom, she had to pick Anaya up from school...I decided to walk home, as the weather was nice, and I'd figured out it wasn't a complicated walk...I walked straight up Dostuk avenue, looking at a few different looking buildings along the way...as I was on the main street back to the flat, I heard someone yelling so I looked...whaddya know, it was mom and dad and Anaya, being driven by the driver...I could've walked the rest of the way home, but I hopped in the car instead...they told me later the driver had seen me and pointed me out...wow...

Dinner that night was more indian food...I don't think I can ever get enough...
The next morning (Saturday) I woke up feeling not so good, a feeling that didn't go away until that evening...so much for getting out and walking around more...
Sunday I still didn't feel great, but did feel better...more chai (I ended up having chai every few hours when I was in the flat😃) helped...
Sometime mid afternoon we all walked outside, then flagged down a local car to take us to a mall...(different from the two I've mentioned earlier in this post)...it turns out that flagging down a car is a normal way to get around...think of it as a mix of hitchhiking and unofficial taxi...

Since it was women's day, and Anaya is a girl, she basically got to have a day of celebration...she got to play in happylon (play area with games, climbing, jumping, etc) for 30 minutes, while us adults walked around...after that we went to a cafe for food and drinks...yum...the mall was packed, there were a lot of families out doing the same thing we were...the mall had a marching band (very small) walking around playing music, it was fun to listen...one little place handed out mini cupcakes to every woman who walked past...dad felt left out, as mom, Anaya, and I all got one😀...
We didn't eat dinner that night, we didn't need any food...i know i could've eaten, especially if it was homemade yummy indian food, but i wasn't anywhere close to hungry...

The next day the driver picked us up, I guess it wasn't a day off for him...our first stop was the central mosque, just because I wanted to see it...we ended up being there as people were arriving for midday prayers, so we didn't go in...nice building...it looks different than the photo on the postcards; now it has gold domes, the postcards show it with blue domes...
The next stop was Arbat street, a pedestrian area...not a long street, and not very busy, since it was not warm...art vendors had a number of paintings for sale, and there was a guy walking along selling balloons...Anaya got to have one...
The next stop was an indian restaurant...I guess it was mid afternoon by that point, it wasn't a busy time of day...great food, and I ate waaay too much...
We spent the rest of the day at home, not doing much of anything...I got my stuff ready, and relaxed...

The next morning I was up at 0330, the taxi came at 0400...I was sad to leave...I didn't get much sleep at all, and my flight was delayed 45 minutes...before checking in I emptied my bank accounts and exchanged leftover currency into dollars...:)
I got another row of seats to myself on the way back to kyiv, yay!!
I want to go back to Kazakhstan, I want to explore the natural beauty of the country...if only work didn't get in the way of traveling...

ukraine: nizhyn and sumy

Another weekend, another time to travel...domestically again this time...
It took me a bit to figure out which trains to take for this weekend, as I wasn't going far from kyiv, but there weren't many trains heading to the towns i wanted...as it turned out, the train i took friday afternoon ended up being the first bit of the train i took saturday evening...people living in some towns of the country have a harder time going home for a weekend just due to crazy train scheduling...
I departed Friday afternoon not long after 1500, and got to Nizhyn an hour and a half later...
Nizhyn was the first place I'd traveled to in Ukraine without any idea where I would sleep that night...despite looking at multiple sites online, I couldn't find a single hotel listed...nothing...but I figured there had to be something there...

I got off the train and walked into town...not long after getting on a main street I saw a monument to pickles...yes, a monument to pickles...apparently the pickles of nizhyn are special in some way...of course I took a photo...it still makes me laugh: a monument to pickles? Surprisingly, it wasn't all that big...I'm used to big monuments in this country...i wish it had been in the city center, that would've made it even more awesome...
I got to the city center, and walked along several well lit streets, looking for a hotel...nothing to be seen...eventually, just as I was about to ask one of the taxi drivers to take me somewhere, I saw the sign: готел...yahoooo! It turned out to be the not so famous hotel nizhyn...a very soviet style hotel, but they had a room, and I didn't see other options in town...

the room I got was a 'standard' and had a bedroom, bathroom, eating area and table, as well as small entry area...wow...wouldn't it be awesome if more hotels had this as a 'standard' room...since this was probably the only hotel in town, i should've taken the chance to look at other rooms, just to see what they had, out of curiosity...alas, i never think of these things when the timing is right...
i slept early and slept well that night...i think part of it was in being relieved that i had a place to stay...it's one thing to show up in a town with a lonely planet list of places to stay, or to know there is a tourist area with plenty of hotels/hostels...it's another thing completely to know there is nothing listed online, and to know you're in a nontouristy town...as easy as it is now to get your establishment listed, i'm surprised hotel nizhyn hasn't done so...

The next morning I was up early (as usual) and went for a walk...I headed toward a monastery in what trip advisor says is a suburb of nizhyn...how can a town that size have suburbs you can walk to? It didn't take me long to get there...the monastery was small, and recently painted...white on the outside of all the buildings...not exciting...the inside of the church was small, and typical...I stayed for a few minutes, then went out...
On the way back, I saw a small shop of the type that sometimes has postcards...success! The lady was probably surprised I bought so many...
I turned and walked further, along a road is walked the night before in the dark...this time I saw the river, which isn't big, or notable in any way...
I found a university, and the big WW2 memorial and park in front...pretty...

I found several churches, two of which looked abandoned...(one was maybe under renovation, the other truly looked empty, but it was the prettier of the two)...
I found the Saturday morning weekly market and wandered through there for a while...it was fun to people watch, though I needed an wanted nothin of what I saw...except cookies, I did buy some of those...is it ever possible to have enough generic type molasses kind of cookies? the ones i bought were supposed to have two different flavours, but they all tasted and looked the same to me...
Back at my hotel I cleaned up and packed up, then checked out...i love noon check out times...(i doubt there were heaps of rooms to be cleaned)...

I walked again...basically just following roads to see where they went...I found more churches...(there were a lot of churches, and relatively close together for a town this size)...I found a park too, but it wasn't big or pretty...by this time the market was all packed up and gone for the week...
I found a restaurant and ordered sushi...free wifi, a plug, and food, what else could I want?
After an hour or so, I headed back to the train station...since I knew where I was going this time, it went faster...but I was still moving quickly, as I had underestimated how long it would take me to get to the station...I arrived only a few minutes before my train...(which was long enough to get myself a hot chocolate for the whopping price of 4griven: 20cents in the states!)

The train ride was 3 hours, my next destination was Sumy, a capital of an oblast...
While on the train I decided I wanted to take a taxi to my hotel, but when I asked a bunch of taxis outside the station they were already booked for specific people so I had to walk...even though it was only 3km, I really don't like walking after dark by myself...especially when I'm not sure of where I'm going, and going through snow and slush...yuck...
Anywho, I got to my hotel, the room was huge, and there was a bathtub in the bathroom!! Yahoo!!
The next morning I was up early (story of my life) so I went for a walk...the area I started in is definitely not a grid system of streets...i'm always a bit afraid of getting lost, which happens a whole lot more easily when streets are twisty turny and you have to take a lot of different streets to get from one area to another...

I found trinity cathedral, the outsides of the domes were being repaired...there are doors on four sides, but only one of them is open...I have no idea if the others are ever open...there are stairs on the outside of all four doors, so maybe...
I made my way to a more central area, starting at one end of a pedestrian street...have I mentioned it was snowing a bit at this point? I'm so tired of snow and wind...there was a pretty church nearby, complete with a separate bell tower...I wish it was easier to go up more of the bell towers I see, the views are probably awesome...it's definitely possible, but those doors aren't usually open for tourists/visitors...
Walking down the pedestrian street I found another church in the middle of a service...it looked pretty big from the outside, but when I went inside there was a larger than normal entry area, so the actual sanctuary area wasn't nearly as big as I expected...

I walked the rest of the length of the pedestrian street, there wasn't much happening...
I went back to the hotel, took a bath (yahooo!) packed up and checked out...there was another american checking out at the same time...I told him I was surprised to hear the accent, I didn't think I'd hear it in sumy 😀
My first stop after leaving the hotel was a supermarket for snacks for the day...I opted for a chain I know well from kyiv...
Back into the city center, I walked along a lot more streets...(it's on much more of a grid, so I was able to weave along the streets without getting too lost)...there are a few cafes and such, but not many...it had stopped snowing, but it was cold and generally wasn't nice so there weren't many people outside...

During all of my walking I looked for postcards, but had a hard time finding them...I was finally able to buy 7...not nearly enough but that's all she had!
I meandered through some residential areas...they looked very soviet, with huge apartment blocks...come to think of it, the whole town felt soviet, as I also saw huge office buildings  in several places...in one smaller platz I saw kids playing on a HUGE pile of snow...super cute...
I found a cafe with strudel...YUM...I took a break and had fruit strudel and tea and warmed up for a while...I ended up spending longer than intended in there, it was almost dark when I left...oops...
At this point I walked just to kill time and burn calories...eventually, I returned to the strudel cafe, because I liked the atmosphere and food...the waiter who served me previously laughed when he saw I was back...I stayed until they closed...

After dinner at the cafe I walked to the train station, along the edge of a park at one point...I could see little statues, even a castle...it was a park for kids! Across the street I saw a giant Easter egg and chicken...I really need to come back so I can see this stuff in daylight...
I arrived at the train station early enough to get a chair...2 hours of waiting while cold, as the wind rushed through everytime someone came in...the way the doors were set up it probably provides great circulation in summer, but it doesn't feel good in winter...
My train back to kyiv was not a sleeper train, we were all in seats...a 5 hour ride, I didn't sleep much...the next day back at work was tough...

I wouldn't mind going back to sumy, but I think I've seen all of nizhyn 

ukraine: drohobych and lviv

I booked my train tickets to/from lviv rather last minute, only the Monday before I traveled...I was supposed to meet a friend there, but that didn't end up happening 😞...funny how travel plans can happen in a hurry...
My train arrived around 0600 or so, I walked into the city center as I always do, taking a few new streets along the way...lviv always has something new for me...as the sun came up I saw it was going to be a beautiful day, total sunshine...
I spent some time in my favourite cafe on the square, starting my day with chocolate cake and mint tea...yum, even if not the healthiest option...
When cloe and I visited lviv in February 2012, one of the first things we had done was go to the top of the tower in the ratusha, the city hall...on a clear day the views all around are great...I decided to do it again...

I'm pretty sure the entry fee hadn't changed, it was only 10griven...(at today's exchange rate, that's less than 50cents of an American dollar)...how awesome is that? It's always windy up there, but I love the views...
After wandering through more streets, I made my way to my hotel, they let me check in early...yippee! I warmed up and charged my phone for an hour or so before heading back to the train station...
Before coming to lviv this time id looked at trip advisor, seeing if there were any nearby towns that might be worth a day trip...Drohobych was on the list...I bought a ticket, and 90 minutes later arrived in drohobych, Ukraine...a very modern, express train...
Drohobych is not a big town...I don't think it gets many visitors, and few, if any foreigners...the train station is on the edge of town, it was an easy walk to the city center...

Just on the other side of the city centre are the two reasons most people come to drohobych...two wooden churches...they're both small, and old, but still beautiful...the wood is very faded, but I loved it...one is called st George's, I don't remember the other name...
On the way back to the city center I passed another church, I decided to peek in...by doing so I stumbled into a wedding...yay! Ukrainian weddings aren't the same as what you often see in the states...a small group of people attends the service in ukraine, I'm thinking immediate family and one or two people to stand up for the two getting married...I didn't stay long, but I always love seeing people on such an important day of their lives...
I walked around the square in the middle of which is city hall complete with a tower...(I couldn't figure out which entrance would've taken me to where I could climb up the tower)...

I walked to a park, on one side of which was another church...I saw a couple having wedding photos taken in the area...very pretty...
I followed the street until I came to the end, about 200m down the perpendicular street on the other side was something you see in every ukrainian town...a WW2 memorial...as usual, it was big...I followed a different street back toward the center, getting slightly lost...after figuring out where I was, I walked through a small market, finally locating a place to buy postcards...I bought three sets, her entire stock 😀...
I made my way toward a synagogue, which unfortunately was closed, a gate was locked in front...I don't know if it was being renovated or it was just closed...pretty from the outside though...i wonder if it will ever be open to visitors...i hope so...

I followed another street back to the train station...I thought about taking a marshrutka back to lviv, but when I looked in, all the seats were already taken...booo...
so I bought a ticket for the next train available...the ticket was so cheap I thought I'd made a mistake of some kind! (Only 11griven!)...it turned out to be an electric train that goes back and forth all day...2.5 hours (and many stops) later I was back in lviv...
Dinner was a random cafe on the way back to my hotel...I was tired and it was dark and cold, I didn't want slow or fancy...
The next morning I went for a walk before breakfast...(when I checked in I chose which breakfast I wanted, and when I wanted it served)...nothing special, jut more walking, finding streets, courtyards, and other areas new to me...

 Breakfast was good...bread, cheese, oatmeal, yogurt, juice, and tea...afterward I relaxed in my room for a bit, packed up, and checked out...the hotel let me leave my bag, I love that...
The rest of the day I spent wandering more...new neighborhoods, new cafes, etc...new churches, new streets, etc...there are heaps of hidden courtyards, i love to peek into them...unlike kyiv, there are no really tall and huge apartment buildings...i love it...i also love trying to peek behind fences, to see what is being hidden from me...in some cases it looks like ruins are being dug up, but i doubt that's what it actually is...
Eventually I went back to the hotel, picked up my bag, then went to dinner at puzata hata, a cafeteria chain...basic food, basic prices...from there I went back to the train station, then back to kyiv...
i finally visited the boyim family chapel during this visit...it's small, but absolutely beautiful...it's in the city centre, i'm not sure why i haven't visited it previously...the ceiling inside and everything else is made of wood, the carving is absolutely amazing...a photo just doesn't do it justice...
I'm sure this won't be my last visit to Lviv and around 😃...i always wonder what else the city has to offer :)

boyim family chapel ceiling...all carved from wood i think!

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)