Vilnius

Tonight we travel by bus to Vilnius hoping that it will be comfortable enough for us to sleep the whole way there...no chance! The driver makes the bus feel like a boat and the woman in front of James seems to think that her seat is a trampoline. Worn out we arrive at the hostel 6 hours before check in but thankfully the room is ready for us. Putting the code into the door the receptionist stops suddenly...there is someone in our room! A bloke comes out half dressed and explains that he was moved there last night. The receptionist wasn't having any of it but we were able to go into another room while they fought it out. Waking up after a long snooze it was still light enough for us to explore. We walked to the old town which is beautiful and all lit up for Christmas with a beautiful tree and ice rink. We stopped for Indian food and had a few drinks in the Portabello pub which is an English pub with a phone box as a front door, heehee! As we leave it starts to snow, yippee!

Vilnius Old Town

Waking up to a picturesque snow filled view is amazing and it's still snowing, we can't wait to get out there. After a few snowball fights we find ourselves in Cathedral Square where there is a Christmas market on. It is only small but the smells and sounds are enough to get us excited for Christmas. Back to the Old Town to have a proper look around, we see the Gates of Dawn, a lot of churches and the impressive palace. The snow is coming down thick and fast so we duck into a place called Snekutis and have traditional deep fried garlic bread with cheese dip, lovely!

Snowy view from our hostel

Christmas market in Cathedral Square

The Gates of Dawn

One of the beautiful churches

The Cathedral

Today we are going on the free tour, we've enjoyed the ones that we've been on previously so are looking forward to it. However the stories are a bit boring and the tour guide doesn't seem to want to be there so we're losing interest. We're not the only ones and someone else on the tour starts to eat snow to amuse himself. After being told about a statue of a doctor who was famous for helping sick people (??????) we decide to ditch the tour and explore on our own. We go to the Barbakanas Bastion which looks pretty in the snow but unfortunately it is shut so we can't go to the top to experience the view of the city. Time to warm up in a restaurant called Cosy. It is cheap but posh food, result! Shame we can't eat everything on the menu. Shopping next (James' choice) but after a while we're frozen again, look...there's a specialist beer shop...hurrah! Back at the hostel we cook some food and chat to a nice German man who lives there.

A snow covered Old Town

Wrapped up warm and playing in the snow

James gets a little excited

The view from the bottom of the Bastion.

special beer for special people

Up for breakfast and the cleaning lady is cleaning the oven with a knife then she rummages around the drawers before triumphantly holding up the potato masher and disappearing out of the kitchen. I don't want to know what she needed that for.
There is a Christmas fair on in the town hall so we have a wander around that where there are lots of cheerful people trying to raise money for charity. We explore more of the city seeing the Easter Egg monument, the Frank Zapper statue and the statues on the green bridge. As we are near the funicular we take a trip to the top of castle hill and go into the Gediminas tower which has a small museum and great views of the city from above.

James hatches a plan

James meets Frank Zappa

Gediminas Tower

The view from inside

The museum told the story of the Baltic Way

Cold but still smiling at the top

Our last day in Vilnius and we decide to have a walk around the Uzupis District which is a republic of artists with its own anthem, constitution and 12 man army. It is guarded by an angel which hatched out of the Easter egg that we saw yesterday. There is a giant John Lennon statue and a mermaid preparing to jump into the river. In Cathedral Square we find the lucky tile, stand on it and make a wish while turning 360°, let's hope they come true! After a banana and nutella crepe at the Christmas market we take a trip on the Christmas train which is driven by elves. The conductor elf is a little grumpy, maybe he misses making toys. The train drives around the old town for half an hour and even though we have seen it all before we are grateful for the warmth and are kept entertained by a little girl who loudly shouts "WOWWW!" at all of the lights, heehee! We make the most of our last night by visiting a few bars and get a pizza on the way home. Back at the hostel the German man is in the kitchen again and has a good laugh at James trying to heat up the pizza in a frying pan.

The guardian angel

Dancing to Lennon

Its a bit cold for a swim!

Christmas train complete with Elves