Last day in Vilnius

A new blanket of overnight snow has covered the pathways downstairs. Heaps of snow and ice are still melting off the tops of the cars speeding past the block. Jurgita is getting ready for work whilst I finished up packing all my stuff into my bags, ready to leave Vilnius tonight. We had bagels for breakfast, which seems to be a favourite amongst the Lithuanians. Half an hour later, we dropped off Jurgita outside her office building and I bid a fond farewell to her, thanking her for her warm hospitality and company over the past 2 days.

She has been a great host, even though it was the first CS experience for both of us, it turned out to be really positive for both of us. Her bubbly and cheerful character warms everyone up immediately in her presence. I hope to maybe see her in the Far East in the near future and be the host this time round.

Vytautos dropped me off close to VB Sleep Inn and I managed to request to keep my backpack at the hostel to collect in the evening. The day was a chilly 1 degree, with little bits of snow coming down ever so often. I strolled along Gedimino Prospektas towards Museum of Genocide, housed in a former KGB prison. It is the one museum that I wanted to visit, only to find out the it is closed on Monday & Tuesday, BAH!!! Make sure you check the schedules if you plan to visit as most of the museums are closed on Mondays & Tuesdays.

Headed back to Gediminas Hill for a bit of morning exercise. Climbed up 48m to the top of the hill, view over the city was nice but not amazing in that weather. Pissed me off further when they were charging 5Lt just to climb up to the top most tower although I did buy a postcard before I left. The 2nd hill of the 3 crosses is a tad tougher to climb as there was no clear path if you decide to go up from the side of river stream like me. Reaching the top, it does feel that the sight was well worth the efforts although it might be very different during the peak tourist period. 3 crosses that were destroyed during the war but completely rebuilt in memory of 3 crucified monks.

Next up was the cheeky side of the old town, known as Uzupis Republic. Based on lonely planet, "the resident artists, dreamers, squatters and drunks officially unofficially declared this a breakaway state" from the country. You can even find a 41 point constitution that gives its residents some of the most absurd rights, such as right to be misunderstood, a dog has a right to be a dog, etc, see some examples here. Apparently the best time to go is on April Fool's day where there is a huge celebration and you can even get an unofficial stamp in your passport. :)

The locals do seem to prefer tea to coffee although the cafes that I have visited, including Double Coffee and Cozy which serves excellent coffee.

Met up with Xiao Bin again for dinner at Mr Zhang's restaurant (this is my 2 chinese meal in 3 days although I doubt I will have another one in the coming weeks), exchanged contacts before he sent me off to the bus station, where I paid 105Lt for a 9 hr journey by Eurolines. Apparently I was assigned a seat number on the coach but did notice that the rest were just taking empty seats where possible so that they end up with 2 seats in the end if the bus is not full. Ended up sitting beside an elderly man who, guess what, snored again :(

At the Lithuanian/Polish border, there was a slight commotion as the 2 drivers scurried around and barked at passengers asking for the person with bag 10 in the luggage compartment to go down for questions. Turned out that to be merely a false alarm although the coach almost drove off without one of the ladies who had gone to the toilets until the boyfriend woke up in time to realise that she was still missing!

I dozed off with fatigue as the coach headed through vast Poland in the darkness of the night.