Fried eggs and sore legs

Vilnius, Lithuania became an object of pilgrimage once we (I possibly?) knew they had celebrated the life and genius of Frank Zappa in statue form.  The motivation here was twofold.  Firstly Frank Zappa is worthy praise and adoration as his music and the thinking behind it is so rich and... Basically if anything is worth reducing ones mental vigorousness toward faith for, then FZ is a worthy candidate.  Secondly any town who thought FZ should be considered in a public sense is a town we want to be in.  We are in Vilnius now, 'kicking down the cobble stones' as it were.  But before I tell you about it Karolina will fill you in on how we arrived.

Left Bialystok feeling tired still but really ready to get to Vilnius!  We started riding at 12.00 so it was a rather late start, our plan was to get within 55 Km of the Lithuanian border. And we almost did, ended up at a really nice pension 20 Km short of our goal but it was already 20.00 so we thought it would be a good idea to stop.  Chris made a Christine Hopkins inspired "chilli-non-carne" and it was lovely  though not quite up to the standards of the original dish.

We got up early next morning and started riding towards the boarder, and as we rode along we saw something we have come to fear but at the same time desire.  It was Eurovelo route 11. I desperately wanted it but also loathed it.  We decided to stay on our own track and soon realised that it was a really good idea.  We found ourselves on a nice road in national park and the sun was shining on us as we entered into Lithuania. Riding for a little under an hour we stopped 10 Km from the border and booked into an empty hotel.  It even had no staff!

 

We set the goal for Vilnius the next day but it was 150 Km away.  We knew it would be a big day.  Alas we had started too late for such an adventure.  But it ended up being a wonderful day of riding.  The road we thought was going to be heavily trafficked but was really quiet and we could enjoy chats and jokes about squirrels and crabs. 

We soon realised that we would fall slightly short of our goal and at 18.00 we decided to ride to the nearest town and set camp for the night.  The day had been windy and not in our favor and the last 15 km was hard since the wind picked up and the pegs were already quite tired.  We got to a national forest and started looking for a campsite or something of the like.  We found nothing apart from a place saying "family holiday".  We approached and tried to ask if we could get a room or possibly set up our tent there.  The man who did not speak a word of English called up someone who we think was the owner and she informed Chris that we could get a cabin.  And it was good.  A well equipped kitchen and a cozy sleeping loft looking over a big lake. We loved it.

The next day we rode 60 Km to Vilnius and we got to our accommodation by 15.00.  Our room is retorfitted into the chambers of an old monestary and despite the Lonely Planets false lure of laptop hire we love it.  Chris is as amazed by the light evenings (the sun is still up after 10!!), and I am staring to feel closer to home.We will definitely come back to Vilnius.

Vilnius is a town which embraces its history and seems to take much pride in creating its exciting present.  Art seeps out of the walls of the dizzying lane ways, music and bells join together in an unintentional melodies and the people seem excited and eager for any new contributions.  Tonight, we will be attending a piano recital at the Vilnius Philharmonic at 19:00 and once i has concluded will walk 100 meters down the road for some Blues over dinner.  All of this bohemian flavor takes place in a town so colored by its communist past.  But unlike the other countries we have visited the Lithuanians have kept the statues and some of the old buildings,  being able to embrace them as of great aesthetic interest rather than, as we have previously heard, a dark reminder of "those fucking Russians".

Tomorrow we begin end game.  A two week journey through the Baltic States concluding in Talinn on the 16th for a ferry ride across to our last and most familiar country Sweden.  We both know the end is near and conversation has started to turn towards what we will be doing and who we will be meeting post bike trip.  Whilst we still have two weeks to go the ominous excitement (an oxymoron?) of the next phase will no doubt color our experience.  That said our route has us going past great lakes, through national parks and finally the coast.  Also the 800 or so kilometers between us I am sure will require some of our energy!

View Larger Map