28/07/08 - Lithuanians are crazy.

It was our final Baltic capital city today - Vilnius. In our usual
unorganised fashion of showing up to a place without a real clue about
what we actually wanted to see - we headed straight for the
information centre to find out a walking tour was starting in an hour.
We thought that would be something different to do - so with our hour
of free time we roamed the streets before finding cathedral square and
Gedimino Hill with Gedimino Tower sitting on top. We took in the view
a little too long, and as a result were about 3 mins late for the
start of our tour. After eavesdropping on who we figured was our
tourguide, we found her voice projection sadly lacking, so decided to
forego the tour and continue exploring on our own.

We made our way circuitously to the Hill of the Three Crosses.
Lithuania was the last European country to convert to Christianity and
here 3 large crosses remember 14 missionaries who were murdered by
pagans in the 14th century. These symbols of Lithuanian pride were
yet another example of ending up buried under a Soviet bulldozer for
50 years. The current crosses were erected to 1989.

We also found the 'Republic' of Uzupis. It has its own anthem,
constitution, president and bishop. The constitution states that all
residents have the right to : take care of the cat, live by the river,
be happy, be unhappy etc...
Uzupis is quite the fashionable place for artists and also it would
seem, town drunks. Marea had a shoving match with a couple when she
dared to try and go out the door of their local as they were coming in
for more supplies.
After hoofing it back to Pat, via the old town we headed to Trakei
amid rush hour traffic. Lithuanians are crazy I tell you, they are not
described as the Spanish of the Baltic for nothing. They'll pass,
making a two lane road into three, they certainly won't give way and
they have zero patience for slow traffic, even passing Pat on blind
corners.
This, in a country where we've seen people get round in horse and
carts and we've also seen horses being used for field ploughing!?!