impressions | Impressions

Japan-2019-Kanazawa

It is not a long train ride from Takayama to Kanazawa, by the same river with good views but once we got towards the sea side, towards the flat lands-ￂﾠ well, they are flat. Kanazawa met us with an impressive station: Then we got into the streets and it was like a concrete jungle. But that is a port big city, and what can you do, you have to walk a lot or stress your brains and look for transportation. The guest house we found was called Red Fish in translation from Japanese Kintaro.ￂﾠ It had good reviews and was very close to the station, a good feature. It also was very high tech – they send you the password how to get to the house and to your room and you do not need anyone to meet you. Here is Andrei entering the password:But as it is seen -the house is very small and has even 7 guest rooms with one double-deck bed. Luckily we were not on a weekend and therefore were alone or almost alone. That saved our stay…Otherwise -I could not even imagine 14 people in that tiny kitchen, that is how many the house can sleep at a time. Except for the size of it everything else there was very good, we liked a lot and spent our eves in the kitchen with computers. the beds were comfortable, but the size of the room freaked me out a little. In the corridor they have a creature in an aquarium called Kintoto – half fish and half frog, also albino:Kintoto seemed to be very lonely…But you could feels that the owners of the guest house tried to do their best to make you comfortable and cozy. There were several staff people that entered while we were there, one proudly said he is attending English classes and was very helpful in directing us where to go and what to experience. The weather there was not our friend. But at least there was no wind and warmer. The first evening we managed to reach the castle hill and climb it, see part of the park in the evening sun:

There are a lot of Tea gardens around castle hill. A lot. One of the temples in the evening sun, close to where we stayed.The next day we walked and walked…Passed the 21st Century Museum of Modern Artￂﾠ -we went into it, but visited only some to see the architecture of it. There were several temporary exhibits, but no energy to see it all. Also – there are lines of people to every exhibit, they like art. Here is what I liked a lot:This brown surface looks like flat carpet, but once you start walking on it – it has hills, a very peculiar feeling, seems you are in a smallￂﾠ earthquake! Lower is the museum library. Some modern buildings on the way: The tea and just beautiful gardens already close to D.T.Suzuki museum – he was an outstandingￂﾠ Zen philosopher born in Kanazawa: This is all D.T.Suzuki museum surrounded by a meditation pool with a meditation cottage in the middle: So we walked around in the parks, then returned and looked into the strict lines of the structures of the museum and how they matched with the surrounding colors and shapes and the peace of the pool sometimes disturbed by a small bubble in the middle to make the waves and bring your mind to meditative state: Here we are approaching the outstanding one of the three bestparks injapan – Kenrokuen Garde: This pond is surrounded with sakuras…I bet it looks fantastic in spring! The moss in pars is superb! We saw women workers with baskets picking with tiny knives every little grass they find in the moss. That is how they achieve it. The kimono collar opens the considered sexiest most beautiful part of a woman’s body – the neck! I agree with them :-)! That is one old pine tree, all supported and roped: The very famous Kotoji Lantern is in this park: After wandering in the gardens we had lunch and on the bridge between two hills reached the castle gardens: This is the view form the casle: And here is what we saw inside…Nothing much. just the constructions. the castle is restored or rebuilt-ￂﾠ it is not the original, but who cares :-). The wonder of those constructions that they are built without nails: Their appreciation to old trees is seen everywhere: What a lovely house!: This is their Geisha district – I don’t know about Geisha, whether it is still a popular occupation. But I saw that they have a show by Maikos, the Geisha young students or apprentices. If there are students, there are teachers and they are a big part of Japanese culture. Usually Geisha districts are of old traditional houses, that is their charm: By a bridge, by the river, neat and tidy: Those are little paper strips attached to special frames, you buy them in a temple storeￂﾠ (most of them are very business oriented), write on them your wishes and attach to the frame together with the others. The one we looked at accidentally was in English. It said-ￂﾠ God save our White house from all this mess!Next – to Kyoto!

Japan-2019-Takayama

We changed trains in Nagoya. There we got out of the Bullet train and had to wait a little for our scenic train. This is the view once you get from the train station, very intricate skyscrapers… Especially the one in the very center and far away. The train to Takayama was a limited express, which meant that it stopped in only 2 or 3 stops-ￂﾠ it was so fast. much faster than the bullet train super express…Go and guess… it was so fast that I could not take better pictures form my window though the views were outstanding-ￂﾠ we were riding by or over a mountain river and the fall colors were surrounding us intensively – I had a hard time turning my head – looking this window, then the other then back…! Takayama is a much smaller city, no skyscrapers, very traditional and a big old town protected by UNESCO. You get from the station and you are there – every inch is cozy and pretty. Every. It is like a souvenir town. You walk and admire non stop till you get tired of looking and admiring… The sunset in November and December is close to 5 pm. Days are short. And so there were lots of people before the sunset. But after – everything usually closes and nobody in the streets. No nightlife in those quarters, maybe somewhere else… This maple was seen from our hotel corridor and our room: Our Jaz Hotel Takayama was super good-ￂﾠ with the only exception to its goodness – all the doors were very low, I had to bend down a lot not to hurt my head, but by that time I already was used to it.ￂﾠ In the hotel we were served fancy breakfasts, had a small “onsen” on the premises – in bathing rooms, not outside. The bedrooms were of good size and beds were very confy, too. We didn’t need to sleep on futons on the floor like in Hakone. I give it 5 stars! They even gave us nice kimonos to go to the “onsen” downstairs. So the first evening and the next day we walked and walked and looked!Isn’t it a strange interpretation of Trump? And is it their version of Melania? Quite peculiar :-). That was the only mention during our trip of our Orange shame, other than that – they seemed to have no clue of who is ruling the world :-). This is the sky of our first evening there! Loved it. Takayama is a float town – they are famous for their “matsuri” when they take out their intricately built floats form their garages and museum and drive them through the streets, attracting lots of crowds and business.ￂﾠ We tried not to get into any ‘matsuri’, to be free of crowds. but we saw special garages built for a float, while there is so little space for houses…And I noticed this cat figure on our way to hotel – it seemed that it hides some little float or just to make their little yard orderly and fun. The red bushes were driving me crazy. I never got enough of them… A tea garden that we used to call here – a Japanese garden by city museum, which is in a traditional old house complex,ￂﾠ extensive and informative. And also beautiful, as everything there :-). Sorry, I have a lot of pics of trees. I could not help but admire them.. Takayama is tucked in among hills, one of them being the castle hill. The castle is long gone, only the foundations are left. But the trails and forests around it are very worth hiking to. You can see the city from above and you can enjoy feeding colorful little birdies from your palm: They even warn that bears live in those forests and people hike with little bells on their backpacks.ￂﾠ Everywhere there is a little piece of land – it is turned into a neat garden. radishes are big and cabbages are just starting- but it witnesses the fertility of their land and the diligence of people. Most of the temples are high up ￂﾠ -to reach God is not so easy… Consequently – we didn’t climb to all of them, our legs were tired.ￂﾠ Most of the little pools for hand and mouth washing have a dragon and water comes from his mouth. But I liked here dragon not as much as the maple leaves… Lots of cedar trees by the temples on the slopes of the hills.ￂﾠ One can walk there endlessly… The way they shape their pine treesￂﾠ -could not take my eyes off…ￂﾠ

Lots of big branches of the pines or other shaped trees are supported. And lower -those round reddish bushes by a road are azaleas in bloom! At this time of year…This pine tree is like a coquette! Those were Lithuanian flag colors! When it is cloudy and gets dim – my camera is very sensitive to not being stable, and my hand is not that stable. This is the way how they dry their persimmons, also -ￂﾠ not just hanging, but hanging beautifully! This must have been some occasion described on the board on the right.ￂﾠ never saw so many mums by anyone’s door, too tacky:I don’t know a more beautiful entrance to a house… When the skies cleared up-we saw snowy mountains form our hotel steps: ￂﾠ Peculiar – there was a pagoda far in between roofs – and it had a cross:

Japan-2019-Hakone

Their forecast was precise for our third day of the trip- it poured. Not just rained… Like a monsoon all day long and the next day. We took three trains to Hakone, with a stop in Kanawara. Kanawara was also their capital at some point in history. so we left some things in a storage box and went into the rain…With umbrellas, but still. Tried to see something there, but only saw that it is a nice resort town for Tokyo people and that there are temples and nice shops and restaurants. But with sloshing boots we lost interest in the town and took two more trains toￂﾠ Hakone-ￂﾠ JR does not go there, you have to buy another ticket to another train on other tracks :-). Lots of walking in train stations…Hakone met us with rivers of water pouring down the hill we had to climb to reach the “K house”. So I entered it not with my best face, but then we were rewarded with a plunge to the hot spring- onsen- right in their own property. And they also had very good devices for drying out boots. They are prepared to lots of rain in their area. So Hakone is a hot spring town surrounded by mountains. You can climb them or you can take a bus , then elevator – and if the skies are clear – you can see Mt. Fuji – the most sacred of their volcanoes, the most beautiful and admired by their artists. But the skies were not clear for us and so we stayed almost all next day at home, just went to see the town a little: Ikebana An automate that was makingￂﾠ cakes with fillings, turning them over and stamping with a picture.The town is small, but lots of gourmet food souvenir stores. Seems Japanese like their intricate tastes. The fun part – there are plates with their foods to sample and taste. they do not waste plastic containers or spoons, you have to take a little on the spoon form the plate and put it on your hand and taste… There are different pastes with umami flavor, lots of fermented veggies and seaweed. I guess it is this time of year for Buddhas to be dressed like that…

The next morning was already sunny and we took one train, then a bullet train to Nagoya. And we were lucky – for several short moments we saw the top of Mt. Fuji sticking from the clouds! This is how Shinkansen or a bullet train looks like:

Japan -2019-itinerary

Based on the questions I get from friends I figured out that I never wrote about how we choose where to travel. We can travel only in winter and November not to harm our B&B business.ￂﾠ So we usually choose a country which is warm during that time or is relatively close to Lithuania where I visit my parents. This year Andrei happened to come across a big discount in plane tickets either to Japan or Australia. So we chose Japan for the reasons mentioned in Tokyo blog.ￂﾠ But we had to catch some autumn colors which should be the highlight of our trip. They are so admired by Japanese! And they stay much longer intact versus sakura blooms. As we have a lot to do in our gardens and orchards in the fall, we chose to leave on the 18th of November for 14 days, which came to be only 13 days there. So the first advice – do stay there for at least 14 days because of the railway ticket that you buy for them – use it to its full dates. Then I take books from library and read and read and think where we would like to go, how far the distances, how are we going to travel – car, bus or train. Also – we have to pay attention to the weather forecast in the areas we plan to visit. This time the weather channels told us that the end of November is not rainy at all already, but it wasn’t the case as you will see in my next blog. We didn’t expect very warm temperatures, but the cold winds that Tokyo met us with were not anticipated. As I say – nothing is for free. In spite of that we say so many red maples, yellow ginkgo that the locals said usually at this time of the year they are mostly gone. Next we look for hotels or guest houses through Air B&B, booking.com or expedia.com. There are many more websites to look for rooms or apartments. Then we ordered the 2 week JR – Japan Railway pass for $430 each and they send you the voucher for the ticket to your home. Once you are there you have to go to their office and get the actual pass after they check your passport – evidently they give us foreigners a discount and check if you are not on a working visa. Otherwise you can’t get that pass.

For this trip we chose to the as I call -“the main part” of Japan. Where their old capitals were, were most of historical action was. So: Tokyo 2 days 3 nights to get out of jet-lag, Hakone 2 nights to try to hike on a mountain and see Mt. Fuji (that didn’t happen due to pouring rains), Takayama 2 nights, Kanazawa 2 nights and Kioto 5 nights. Takayama is not as big and has a preserved and big old town, Kanazawa has one of the tree best Japanese gardens and also a castle and Nara is close to Kioto, we can see it on a day trip. When we look for rooms to stay – we take into consideration the places of interest in each town or city and also the proximity to the train station. And then we look for train schedule once we get to Tokyo, how are we going to reach our hotel, that is all. Then we have to have faith that everything will be fine. Nowadays even Tokyo didn’t seem hard to navigate-ￂﾠ you download its map on the app Maps-me and you see where you are each time you are thinking which street to take. In the train stations – it is also easy to find the right track – they have English speaking people in bigger stations who would direct you where you need to go, or you just look on the information screens and figure out. Here is the catch! The pass does not cover all train rides. The trains there have numbers and names. So you have to read a little before the trip about them. There can be a bullet train as we call it, and they call it Shinkansen – and if it is written “super express” on it- it may mean that it will stop in every stop and will be slower that the train which is leaving is 20 min after it… On other trains “Limited express” is the best bet – it stops in a limited number of stops. I felt that they have a little different way of thinking than we do :-). Best luck traveling!

Japan-2019-Tokyo

At some point in my life when I was young but already grown up I got mesmerized by Japanese arts, the old ones.ￂﾠ Their calligraphy, their ukio-e prints, their red maples.ￂﾠ But at that time I lived in the Soviet Union and we could not have dreams of visiting developed countries.ￂﾠ We also had no money even to think about it. Times have changed and we decided that I have to see the country of my dreams. So this autumn on the 18th of November we flew to Tokyo from Las Vegas via San Francisco. The flight from S.Fr. is over 11 h, but it was not boring for we flew over the north end of the ocean, the skies were clear, I could see the coasts of California, then Oregon, then Alaska, Aleutian islands and even volcanoes in Sakhalin! Then Japan, which was not very impressive from the airplane. Narita airport is pretty far from Tokyo. Not so much fun after a long flight to look for money exchange, then train tickets, then train. But we did it, actually we had to take 2 trains to get to Asakusa – the area in Tokyo where we had a reservation for 3 nights at “Oyo Urban Stays”.ￂﾠ This is the first view from the bridge we had to cross to get to our street:“Oyo Urban Stays” is a good hotel, we got a room on the 7th floor with all the amenities, even tooth brushes. With bathroom and shower en-suite. Of courseￂﾠ – the room was very small:

But for two days it was fine. We had one of the biggest jet lags, we also had a big program, so we managed. What were the first surprises – the seats in metro were heated, the streets super clean, the the taxi cabs had funny sticking out lights, and it took 6 people to register us, the only customers into the hotel…

As we could not sleep since 5 am in the morning, we left the hotel at 7 am and the streets looked kind of grey – all the stores were shut closed with the metal shutters. Japan is considered the safest of all Asian countries and here you go…better safe than sorry. But the temples are colorful and the sun was shining, though very cold.

The first temple we went to was the biggest in Asakusa Senso-ji. A temple is a Buddhist house of prayer and a shrine is for Shinto, their old religion with lots of gods, often connected to nature. Both of those sacred places are usually in a park, with several buildings (we could not figure out what was their function), sometimes a pagoda,ￂﾠ lots of beautiful trees and bushes and maybe even a water feature. Strange as it is – trees played the biggest impression on me, not the temples…yes, those sacred structures are beautiful, no doubt about it, but you were not easily permitted into them, or if you were-ￂﾠ you had to take your shoes. In that cold weather, who wants it. And after seeing one or two – we got the idea that parks around them are best for us. I guess it is not what we understand as “swastika” and usually have not a very pleasant reaction.A ginkgo tree-ￂﾠ boy how it is pruned! But looks good and so yellow…

We were freezing and children were marching to their schools with bare legs and apparently heavy backpacks:There is a big public park past the temple and a lot of museums are in that park. But having your head dizzy from jet lag and seeing the long lines toￂﾠ museums long before their opening time-ￂﾠ we decided to leave for the next trip. Yes, the feeling we got was that Japanese are very much into culture. So instead we admired trees. The oldￂﾠ ones seem like they are so appreciated, all taken care of. supported, just to have them there as long as it is possible.

And the turning leaves, who can not like them!The whale by nature museum is of natural size.ￂﾠ This temple has a monument for Hiroshima’s victims and an eternal flame there.ￂﾠ Tori is the red or vermilion gate to a Shinto shrine. Why they like to put a lot of them – we don’t know. Maybe for pictures – Japanese like to have their pictures taken in beautiful places. Or maybe you read what is written on every Tori and get your soul cleansed…

Some trees are made to suffer, to my mind…Maybe all of them, for I just read that plants and trees scream when being tortured…

Kind of strange to see sakura in bloom in November. It can be the proximity to the shrine or some weather craziness that caused it. And so we walked through the park, to big streets with skyscrapers towards the center. I remember reading long ago that Tokyo is so huge and the streets are soￂﾠ complicated that one can easily get lost. Somehow I didn’t get such a feeling. The streets are wide, too long, yes, but nothing complicated, everything on our map in the telephone or the paper one. So we walked until we saw the sets of foods in a restaurant window that seemed appealing. Sets till 11 am cost up to 460 yen and after 11 am – around 600 yen. You pay into a kiosk and get you food from the counter, good organization. And having in mind how cold it was – that hot miso soup was a saver! Then we walked to the Imperial palace- which is also a huge garden and only small portion of it is available forￂﾠ us, being not of blue blood. The palace itself is also not seen from where we walked.

Isn’t he a cutie? Like a doll 🙂 The very center of Tokyo – some skyscrapers are quite elaborate, not that I am a fan of them.ￂﾠ Their infrastructure is amazing… Our street where we lived was facing Tokyo Tree. The next morning we took JR train and went to the other side of Tokyo – to their largest Shinto shrine Meiji-Jingu. You get out from the train in a busy city area and couple of steps up – and here you are on a wide and long path in a dense forest! Lots of locals are dressed in their Kimonos, festive. Some just come to visit the shrine, some have an anniversary or some other occasion. Even guys are dressed in their garb and look very good. And picture taking is their main occupation on such a trip. Japanese have a demographic crisis – ￂﾠ too few babies, too old the population. So every child is just cherished! They have a custom 3-5-7ￂﾠ -when a child is of that age-ￂﾠ they dress him in traditional kimono and take him to a park or shrine, mother will be dressed, too. But kids are kids- they do not pose in a proper way.

The biggest industry in that part of Tokyo at some point was sake making. Those are sake barrels dedicated to Gods. I guess they are empty…:-)Chrysanthemums- They were on that wide path to the shrine. Lower are the ones which are turned into bonsais.ￂﾠ They are masters in bonsai art…ￂﾠ This is the only procession we saw in the big square. They came from the shrine so fast and disappeared in another even faster – so I could catch only the end of it… The procession was for newlyweds. Based on my expertise of faces-ￂﾠ a local guy married an American gal,ￂﾠ not the other way around, as is more frequent. One of the 3-year olds…He has the most famous pictures on his kimono, but has no clue about it. Here is the Hungarian pepper in the day time. Loved it! Our hotel was behind it.

ￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠ After Meiji-ￂﾠ we walked and walked towards Ropongi district. It was very long walk but beautiful buildings on our way. Don’t think that we entered any of them, as enticing as they looked…Our legsￂﾠ were too tired. Passed through a cemetery: Towards are museum. But what a lovely combination of chaotic windows on that house! (pic. on top). And the National Art Center, bottom: Then we reached the river, not to simple, only with the help of a map and concentration and found the pier. We took a boat to Asakusa back – a good choice! The sun was setting and it was fun to see the city from some distance. We sailed under 6 or 7 bridges for some 35 min.ￂﾠ As it was not very late, the sun is setting there at 5 pm at this time of year,ￂﾠ we walked to Senso-ji temple one more time to see how it looks in the dark. And were not disappointed, the market on the way was in full swing!Ye, pink chrysanthemums, never saw before…

Poland 2018, Gdansk

Gdansk is amazing. In all aspects. Considering that it was totally bombed during the 2nd World War and now it looks as it looked before the war – makes you believe in the Fenex legend…No wonder there is a new 2nd World War museum built and opened on the outskirts of the old town, right where Russians and Germans had flattened the city. It is in a modern structure, the main part of the very informative expositions being situated under the ground level in a very creative manner:

The museum is only underground and the offices are upstairs in this leaning tower.

That is how Russians from one side and Germans from the other side attacked Poland. Based on casualties Poland suffered the most of all countries. There are very extensive displays of all the stages of the war, of all the facts and stats and lots of survivors speaking on TV screens. Lots of chambers recreated, walls of photos of the Jews killed in the camps – and a voice constantly reading their names. There is even a street after bombing recreated there, in those spacious undergrounds…

The Pact of Molotov and Ribbentrop in which Russia and Germany made and agreement to divide Europe between themselves…But obviously – it didn’t work well.

Gdansk is a port, lots of waterways there. And when you think – all those buildings are rebuilt, and most of them in the old style. Except for some, that are very contemporary but match the style.

I liked this building. A little Gaudiesk, but not as busy.

We stayed in a very nice apartment in the very center of downtown in front of the farmer’s market, through Air B&B. They even had a parking for our car. It was not hard to find it , lots of choices and it was the season – end of June. I highly recommend to go to Gdansk!

Wherever you go in downtown – it is picture perfect!

There are two parallel pedestrian streets that are rebuilt exactly as they were before the war, makes me wonder how did they recreate all he sculptures, frescoes…

There are several fancy houses as museums, but the facades were impressive enough that I decided to leave them for the next visit.

The fountain on the main square for me,the lay person, didn’t look worse than fountains in Rome…

Business is more important than fun frescoes…

The Europe center – where Polish revolution led by Lech Valensa started. There used to be a factory here and the factory workers started their strikes against Russian invasion in the late 80s.

Now Lech Valensa is still working in this building and visitors sometimes see him. We were not as lucky :-).

Again in the city center, again enjoying the buildings but not the weather (it was windy, rainy and cold -Baltic sea normal :-))

Like Dega’s Absinthe… 🙂 So young and so disappointed in life already…What a miserable teenager – her parents took her to eat fantastic Ukrainian dumplings with whatever fillings and the best Paska- cheese pie I ever ate in my life – and she sat as if taken to jail…

Paska- traditional Ukrainian cheese pie, it is only for Easter celebration and we ate it in June…

At last – we got a clear sky of especially beautiful color because those were the shortest nights, almost White nights!

There was a city gate from the river side with 4 wide covered passages with very good acoustics. Gifted young people figured out it is a good place to play some music there. And they were playing all weekend long, even late into the night- there were trios, duos, quartets – changing each other. Their music was really good, mostly classical and they played well, but it was sad to see how people do not pay much attention and just walk by.

We drove to Gdynia close by – they are always mentioned together so I expected to see something similar, but no way. Maybe we didn’t find the nice parts of the city. maybe we had no time for that – we just found this hill with views.

Then we stopped at Sopot- it is a resort known for its music festival. During Soviet Union times- for us it was the biggest festival. it has the same white sand as in Lithuanian resorts. Walking by the sea must be fine, but there are no waves, it is in a cove and sheltered by two ports -Gdansk and Gdynia. So how can it be a good area for vacations?

Sopot – the houses are old style and nice.

I don’t even remember the name of this town. It was on our way from Gdansk home, we stopped here to eat – and there was hardly one pizzeria…Traveling is an adventure- you never know what you gonna find. Sometimes beyond expectations, sometimes- below.

Lithuania 2018, Estates

Last summer I stayed in Lithuania pretty long, like never before. thanks to my good husband who took all the responsibilities of taking care and irrigating our gardens. I guess I stayed too long, because close to the end I fell of a ladder and broke my knee. Consequently I had to extend my stay by 3 more weeks in order to somehow reach home. Though totally for 4 months there was not much use of me in our household…Never ever break your knee, always be aware of that! Never loose concentration and attention!

My misfortune happened in this property at mom’s friend…

But this blog is about estates – so here is one of them. a dilapidated on, close to which my father spent several of his teenage years and where he lived through the horror of war, neighbors killed, etc…In this green field, believe it or not, hemp is growing.

Zypliu estate, not far from Kaunas. Those estates. tat are bought by some rich people, they are usually restored and are used as museums, event venues, concert places and also they usually have a period restaurant.

Flower gardens in front of the main palace are usually arranged in French fashion.

In front of the main palace. THat was one of the two cold days in Lithuania last summer…it was a very hot summer, like never before…

The palace had a good exhibit but the main attraction was the fact that everyone was supposed to pick a had from a big heap of hats and wear it while touring. Here is our friend Egle.

Gelgaudiskio estate, but it was already closed.

This estate is close by the town Babtai.

It is fun to drive around Lithuania and visit those restored estates. I very much recommend! Some of them organize good concerts, if it happens to visit at that time!

Poland 2018, the Magdeburg Castle

I was lucky that during my visit to Lithuania this summer my friends Arￅﾫnas and Nijolￄﾗ drove us to Northern Poland for a several day trip. That land at some point in history was Prussia, so it has a very well built red brick churches and castles, built by the crusaders. Also, the soil is fertile and flat, good for agriculture. But some of the roads are still very narrow and have big trees growing very close to their sides. The biggest of the castles, in fact the biggest castle in Europe from red brick is the Magdeburg castle. If you are interested in its historical significance, have a look at Wikipedia. it also has fantastic pictures of the whole castle from the other side of the river. We didn’t stop for those pictures, so here are mine glances inside the castle courtyards and halls. The good feature – most of polish museums provide you with the “talking stick – audio guide” – you can switch it into any language of your choice and once you enter each location, it starts telling you stories about what is shown. It even sends you from one location to another, whereas otherwise you can end up seeing only a fraction of the rooms and places. The castle is rather big and complicated. I would advise at least 3 hours visiting, maybe even more. Here are the views through my eyes:

Those are the 4 rulers of the castle during the crusader times – they are called the Grand Magistrates.

This is a chapel and there is a story about that hole in the window and the column – it saved the inhabitants during some war but it escaped my mind :-). It is funny what stays in our minds after visits to museums and what not. And then you start wondering, was it worth visiting?

Located not far from the Baltic sea, amber was the main “gold” of the Magistrate.

Monks were making decors from amber, mostly pieces of crafts used in their services and their chapels, but also traded them.

It reflects what a wide color palette amber has…

Now there is a pretty big amber museum in one of the cellars in the castle.

How did they manage to make those stone balls that were used in a canon only once, as far as I understand. Humanity uses a lot of resources for war reasons…

This courtyard was used by monks as a garden area, for growing vegetables.

This pelican is staged on top of a water well in the very central courtyard. I guess it is there to remind monks how they are digging their hearts like this bird. or maybe something else…

There were some cellars for prisoners and unruly monks, too. This is a corridor to them.

Seems that the monks were short…or maybe they slept in a sitting pose.

Bathroom – the hole opens to a moat down below. What a nice environment they had! 🙂

I loved the corridors, they are like music.

Monk’s church or chapel – whatever the proper name for it. Not completely restored yet.

It has an appropriate fresco – The Last Supper

Those were the doors through which food was delivered to the dining hall.

This shows what a big fortress it was and still is.

Modern combined with old. Some decors I really liked.

Lithuania 2018, Neringa

Good friends of ours Egidijus and Jolanta took us three Lithuanian-American ladies to Neringa for a couple of days. And it was wonderful! I haven’t seen Nida the town, my namesake, for 30 years, or maybe 32. It was sentimental. Luckily – the weather was perfect! Neringa is a narrow slit of sandy dunes and earth blown by winds to this corner of the Baltic sea, where it protects an inner sea from the salty waters and too many boats. The biggest river Nemunas is bringing its waters into this inner sea called Kurￅﾡiu Marios. Several little fishing villages are fighting nature since ages ago. Some of them are under sands, some survived or moved to another location. And now they are flourishing resort towns. Especially Nida, where I used to spend my childhood summers with my parents. I will never forget how we used to fish on this pier at every sunset, and that is where I ran to the first thing we got there:

And I couldn’t help but run to see the sand dunes.

They do not look so white this time. Some growth occurred on their slopes, but still it is the most beautiful place in Lithuania for me…

We had a small walk in the very center of Nida and admired the clouds on the East, the flower beds all over with flowers very well matched in colors. And so natural, like it is their place to grow.

We had a real banquet in one of the restaurants there, it was beyond amazing, all Lithuanian tastiest foods in their abundance on a very nicely set up table.

They even have a tuk-tuk, nowhere else I saw it in Lithuania.

Those are signs that fishermen had on their sail boats. Each one carries the owner’s story.

The next day we went to the sea, sparse visitors, it was good!

Then through this and other forest paths towards the big dunes-who can put a price on it?

That is what winds do to the pine trees-makes them love each other.

A sign towards the beach – made me smile. Luckily it was a cool day and nobody was taking off their panties on tat bench.

On the top of the great dune! It is called Parnidￅﾾio kopa.

Hikers can’t walk beyond this fence – it is a protected ecological zone.

To see this vastness of nature and no people – what can be better?

This a a Lutheran church, an old one. Thom Mahn, the writer, lived in Nida and attended this church. It was an area occupied by Germans for a while, therefore the Lutheran church.

We attended a concert there. Our ex president V. Adamkus and his wife were sitting in the first row. The president gave a beautiful speech before the concert.

Sunset colors reflected on pines reminded me the colors of our mountains in Utah also during sunset.

New buildings are being built strictly in the old style.

The promenade by the inner sea is very long and beyond amazing…Far away – the marina building is seen.

A new Catholic church, that was not there in my times…

Sand sculptures in Juodkrantￄﾗ which we checked on our way back.

Straw sculptures on waters in Juodkrantￄﾗ – at some point they get to be burned.

The big ferry in Klaipￄﾗda that takes cars and people to Neringa strip.

Klasￄﾗs susitikimas, 2018

Baigￄﾗme mokyklￄﾅ 1976 metais. Beveik su visais klasiokais praleidome kartu 11 metￅﾳ, beveik giminￄﾗs…Turￄﾗjome keleta susitikimￅﾳ iki ￅﾡiol, bet 40-meￄﾍio susiorganizuoti nepavyko. Geriau vￄﾗliau negu negu niekad. Mￅﾫsￅﾳ auklￄﾗtoja J.Kovienￄﾗ gyvena labai jau graￅﾾioj vietoj Lampￄﾗdￅﾾiuose palei ramiai plaukiantￄﾯ Nemunￄﾅ ir ji mums pasiￅﾫlￄﾗ susitikti jos kieme. O groￅﾾis:

Kaip ￅﾾinia, man iki klasￄﾗs susitikimￅﾳ fiziￅﾡkai toloka, bet ￅﾡￄﾯ kartￄﾅ pasisekￄﾗ-kaip tik buvau Lietuvoje. Susitikome treￄﾍiadienￄﾯ, idant nesusitrikdytￅﾳￅﾡeimￅﾳ savaitgaliai. Tania ir Dainￄﾗ suorganizavo, aￄﾍiￅﾫ joms. Ir buvo gerai, dalyvavo net Inga ir Ina- uￅﾾsienietￄﾗs. Kaip kad Audrius, kol neturￄﾗjo ￅﾡuns ir turￄﾗjo gerￄﾅ jumora, vadindavo mus – ” intermergaitￄﾗs” (Tokￄﾯ filma kadaise rodￄﾗ). Kadangi neplanavau ￅﾡio ivykio ￄﾯtraukti ￄﾯ savo Blogￄﾅ, ne iￅﾡ nepagarbos ￄﾯvykiui, bet gal dￄﾗl savo sulietￄﾗjusio galvojimo proceso, todￄﾗl nuotraukos neiￅﾡfasonuotos, neiￅﾡkonfiguruotos, bet gal save paￅﾾinsite. Plius juk buvo didelis susijaudinimas! Taigi -ￅﾾiￅﾫrￄﾗkit.

Mￅﾫsￅﾳ auklￄﾗtoja, kaip visados ￅﾾavinga…

ￄﾌia Dainￄﾗ dovanoja Auklￄﾗtojai medelￄﾯ, kuris pavasarￄﾯ graￅﾾiai ￅﾾydￄﾗs.

O ￄﾍia fotografavomￄﾗs ir keitￄﾗmￄﾗs adresais 🙂

ￄﾌia kaￅﾾkam fotografuojanￄﾍiam ranka sudrebￄﾗjo :-)…

Pasiaiￅﾡkinu, kodￄﾗl taip vￄﾗlai iￅﾡleidￅﾾiu ￅﾡias nuotraukas ￄﾯ eterￄﾯ. Lygiai lygiai savaitￄﾗ po susitikimo kritau nuo kopￄﾗￄﾍiￅﾳ ir susilauￅﾾiau tibialio virￅﾡￅﾫnￄﾙ, liaudiￅﾡkai – kelￄﾯ. KKL darￄﾗ operacijￄﾅ, dￄﾗjo metalￄﾅ, buvau “ￄﾯkalinta” LT dar mￄﾗnesiui, o nevaikￅﾡￄﾍiojau 3 mￄﾗnesius. Nuostabￅﾫs daktarai, nuostabￅﾫs draugai padￄﾗjo, ypaￄﾍ Audronￄﾗ, kuri tￄﾅ patￄﾯ vakarￄﾅ atlￄﾗkￄﾗ su skaniais maistais, Tania ir Algis I. veￅﾾￄﾗￄﾯ ligoninￄﾙ patikrinimams, aￄﾍiￅﾫ jiems. O man buvo itin liￅﾫdna ir Lietuvos nuotraukas atsiverￄﾍiau tik prieￅﾡ savaitￄﾙ…Vis tik nevaikￅﾡￄﾍioti yra baisu, o dar kai ta proga pamatai kitus su didesnￄﾗm bￄﾗdom…Linkiu bￅﾫti budriems, angl. “aware” visￄﾅ laikￄﾅ ir nekristi.

O dabar trumpa reklama. Rasa suspￄﾗjo man ￄﾯtaigiai paskaityti trumpￄﾅ paskaitￄﾗlￄﾙ prie stalo apie marketingo naudￄﾅ, tai jos minￄﾍiￅﾳ bei pavyzdￅﾾio (vyko vaikￅﾳ pasiekimￅﾳ reklama) ￄﾯkvￄﾗpta noriu supaￅﾾindinti Jus visus su faktu, kad kai turiu laiko ir netingiu – raￅﾡau Blogￄﾅ apie mￅﾫsￅﾳ keliones. Niekad gyvenime neplanavau, kad nuskils tiek pamatyti, iￅﾡ to dￅﾾiaugsmo nesusilaikau nepasidalinus patirtais ￄﾯspￅﾫdￅﾾiais ir ypaￄﾍ vaizdais. Pabrￄﾗￅﾾiu – tai ne verslas, jokio uￅﾾdarbio iￅﾡ to as neturiu (na netiesa, per daug metu uￅﾾdirbau kartￄﾅ $40 uￅﾾ vienￄﾅ nuotrauka iￅﾡ turizmo agentￅﾫros :-)). Bet galvoju taip – kol kas mes niekas neturime laiko skaitineti svetimus Blogus ir ￅﾾiￅﾫrinￄﾗti gamtos vaizdus kompe. Taￄﾍiau juk nejaunￄﾗjam, deja. Ir gal net ￄﾯ pensijￄﾅ kaￅﾾkada iￅﾡeisim, ir gal keliauti darosi vis sunkiau ir sunkiau, ir gal atsiras noras pasigroￅﾾￄﾗti be streso kaￅﾾkuo. Tam aￅﾡ ir pluￅﾡu :-), prisipaￅﾾinsiu – su vyro pagalba, nes be jo nei keliauti, nei kompo nustatyti Blogo raￅﾡymui nesugebￄﾗￄﾍiau (aￅﾡ gi esu “technologically disadvantaged” :-)). Visuomet knygose raￅﾡo padￄﾗkas, taigi – aￄﾍiￅﾫ mano geraￅﾡirdￅﾾiui ir nusimananￄﾍiam Andrejui.

Linkiu nepamirￅﾡti vieniems kitￅﾳ, susitikinￄﾗti ir toliau, linkiu visiems kuo geriausios sￄﾗkmￄﾗs ir kai turￄﾗsit laiko ir noro – uￅﾾmeskit akￄﾯￄﾯ mano kelioniￅﾳ Bloga, pasirinkite ￅﾡalￄﾯ, kuri Jus domina ir keliaujam kartu. Yra ￅﾾmoniￅﾳ, kurie labai giria mano nuotraukas (ￄﾍia jau ne lietuviￅﾡkas bruoￅﾾas save pagirti :-)), cha! Ir iki kitￅﾳ susitikimￅﾳ.