Vilnius: Part the Third

If you knew me in childhood, you will know that I love castles. They, along with pirate ships, were my favorite things to build with my Legos. So when I get a chance to visit a real one, well, it's not hard to convince me. This one is called Trakai, and it is a short drive from Vilnius. It was originally the seat of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, a stronghold in their fight against Germanic religious-military orders in the late-Medieval period. Later, it was the center of a wojevod-ship (a county, of sorts) in the period of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The sweetest part: it's a castle, on an island, in the middle of a lake. How cool is that?

Killer facts: spiral staircases were always built in this direction so as to allow the defender, backing his way up the stairs, a free right sword-hand, while the central pillar blocked his opponents range of motion.

One interesting thing about the town on the peninsula across from the castle is its small Karaim minority, related to Turkic and Kalmyk peoples much further east and holding a religion based on a reading of the Old Testament. Also, they make tasty pies.

Vilnius, Part the Second

Just putting up a few pictures to try to illustrate why I'm enjoying my time here in Vilnius, both inside the archives and out. I'm here hoping to uncover more about the ways that local Communist Party and other officials dodged, altered, or ignored policy directives from Moscow. There's nothing obvious, and I don't expect there to be, but it's interesting material anyway, and the days in the archives go fast (which is, in my opinion, a good thing).

I'm continuing my tradition of taking in the city, bit by bit. This is a square near the guest house in which I am staying. I pass it on my way to and from the archive, and the city's oldest sections as well.

Today, it turns out that some people gathered together in the square, as best as I can tell, to blow bubbles. What's not to love about this place?

I also pass this guy daily, he sits in front of a store selling glasses, truly man's best friend.

Who doesn't love hot air balloons?

So the last time I posted pictures, they were mainly from the area along Gedimino pr., the main street in the part of the city that is mostly from the later 19th century. A day or two after I took those pictures, I wandered into the old part of the city, where many of the buildings are from the 16th-18th c.c., including an innumerable number of Baroque churches. One of the first things I found was the university. I'm guessing I don't have to translate the above.

And here is the courtyard of the university, one of the first in Eastern Europe and long a center of learning and alma mater of many famous writers, including Czesław Miłosz and Adam Mickiewicz.

You will not be surprised to learn that I've been trying out the coffee houses, many of which offer excellent opportunities for sitting on the sidewalk and enjoying the fresh air and free WiFi.

This is one of the attractions of the old city, the entrance at the top of one of the long, winding streets that leads down to a square (pictured below).

Through the above arch, you can see the narrow street (and this is one of the main, wide ones!) and one of the modest number of gaggles of tourists, most of which seem to be from Lithuania itself or neighboring countries.

This is the other side of the gate, where you can see that there is a chapel above, which gives the Gate of Dawn a little something special, in addition to its well proportioned structure.

Another example of the aforementioned Baroque.

And the square, where there are a number of stores, restaurants, cafes, people on segues, and riding a contraption, the name of which - "velo-baras" - requires no translation beyond the reminder that masculine nouns in Lithuanian mostly end in an "-as" suffix.

Vilnius, Part the First

A late night flight on Monday got me to Vilnius. Thus far, I've found it very agreeable. The people are nice, it's clean, and everything is very inexpensive - although, I admit, in each of those categories, it's hard not to give Moscow stiff competition. Also, it's telling that when I typed the list above, I inadvertently typed "the people are nice" twice. About the only negative so far is language and, while Lithuanian is pretty difficult on it's own, that's certainly not Vilnius's fault. I'm barely at the "hello," "please," and "thank you" stage, but most people here in the center of the city where I am speak at least a little English, as usual with a strong bias toward people of my generation. In any case, some pictures. As you can tell, the weather yesterday was overcast, which is the norm, but today was certainly sunny--if not terribly warm.

Gedimas st., the main one.

Cathedral, 18th c.

Late Medieval castle, 14th c.

River and accopanying greenway.

Across the river, modern buildings. Haven't ventured over there yet, but I'm sure I will.

I just liked the juxtaposition of half a dozen styles and eras all in one block.

Can anyone explain these to me: bottles with flowers in them, tied with ribbon and hanging from the street-lining trees near my guest house.

Also, in case you should ask, I'm here working. the archives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania are open 8-4, so I get the evenings to explore, drink coffee, and have dinner. Looking forward to a solid ten days of interesting work, but also a little more relaxing time off!

Picture Series #4: Gorky House

Gorky House, home in the 1930s of, drum roll, Soviet writer Maxim Gorky. Amazing. Originally built by the Riabushinskii family of industrialists in the years immediately before the Revolution. I love the elements of Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts Movement. The rest, in pictures.

[Also, more and better pictures, not by me, here.]

Picture Series #3: Concert Posters . . .

. . . continued. Heck, there are even some I'd go see!

Picture Series #2: Of Panoramas and (Space) Pioneers

This one is picture heavy, but I just couldn't resist. I was out for a walk the other day after the archive closed, and stopped to snap some pictures. The first several are, if you use your imagination, a panorama of sorts, taken from a spot atop the ext of the Third Ring from a tunnel near Leninskii prospekt. The river is below and Moscow City in the distance in the first one, Luzhniki in the second, the university in the distance in the third, and the Academy of Sciences in the fourth. Oh, and the trees are the southwest end of Park Gorkogo.

This one is bad news, should one be foolish enough to actually drive in this city: "Average speed to the intersection with Kutuzovskii prospekt is less than 10 km/h., with Zvenigorodskoe shosse - more than 50 km/h." [Womp, womp.]

Not far from there is Gagarin Square. I just love the statue that stands [flies?] there as a monument to the first man in space. There's a picture of the statue from the front here. It has this rather odd Iron Man quality about it, but one which gives you the impression that the man flew himself into space

"Поехали!"