Greetings from VILNIUS! There was a Christmas market at the Cathedral Square.
Since moving back to Europe, we've made it a habit to spend the Christmas holidays with my family in Finland. Every year we have also made a short trip to another country to spice it up. Choosing the destination is a challenge, though, because my wife's travel interests are somewhat different than mine. In my opinion, an ideal winter break includes lying on a beach under a parasol (located sufficiently close to the Equator) while enjoying a piña colada, and showcasing the extra kilos of prosperity I've earned around my waist over the years. Unfortunately my wife won't have any of that. For her, travelling is about accomplishments, and she's hell-bent on increasing her country count. She really wanted to pop her #40 by visiting the always delightful, warm and oh-so-lovable Russia. (Un)fortunately Mother Russia requires visas, and if you procrastinate long enough, you won't have enough time to get one. Therefore we decided to visit Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, instead. My best chance of ever enjoying the Canary Islands is if Catalonia claims independence; then our trip to Barcelona wouldn't count as "Spain" any more.
Cepelinai are the "national dish" of Lithuania, so we started our trip with them. They tasted similar to the Kartoffelknödel I sometimes eat at work.
I expected that Lithuania would be another Latvia with just a slightly different name. Quite obviously I was wrong with my ignorant assumption. Latvia was influenced by Germany and Sweden, while Lithuania was much closer to Poland. Lithuania has arguably tastier beer, but Latvia is much better in Ice Hockey. Whereas Riga and Latvia felt a bit intimidating, the first impression of Vilnius and Lithuania was more laid-back and down to earth. Vilnius might look sad in December slush, but it wasn't the city's fault that we had chosen the darkest month. We walked around a lot, but never felt afraid even if some parts of the city looked quite rough in all their post-Soviet glory. The locals tried to help us whenever we seemed lost (obviously I've never been lost, especially if asked, but thanks for the kindness anyway) and the younger generation spoke good English (to the extent that English seems to be the lingua franca even between the Baltic peoples). The prices are very affordable if you stay in a hostel and use the public transportation, and the price/quality ratio of food was exceptional.
We usually spend the Christmas eve with my sister and her family. This year, however, was quite unusual. My wife had invited her friend, along with the friend's sister, to spend the Christmas with us. It was a really international experience especially for my nephews, and the extra expertise in cooking and babysitting hopefully also helped my sister's burden in preparing the evening. I am not sure how much the friends regretted flying all the way from Germany to Finland though, when they were only rewarded with lousy weather and Finnish Christmas delicacies. Since there was no snow, Santa Claus got bogged down with his sled, so the Christmas presents just mysteriously materialised under the Christmas tree while we were dining. Those sneaky elves. Not seeing Santa was a disappointment, but probably also a relief for the boys since they didn't have to sing or sit on his lap.
After Christmas we headed to the Arctic North. Lapland is very special for me, in my opinion that place is just magical. We visited Lapland almost every year with my family when I was little. I have nothing but happy memories from our travels (except that one little incident when I was five and I tipped a full cup of boiling hot coffee on my auntie and we hurried to the hospital and she was in agony for months — sorry!). I loved the thrill of downhill skiing and the sense of accomplishment after a long day of cross country skiing, but what I really loved was the nature. It had been quite a while since the last visit, so I was glad I would get to go again. This time we shared a small but cozy cottage in a very international Korean-American-Swiss-Japanese-Finnish atmosphere with my wife and her friends. It was good to see so many foreign tourists in Lapland in general, I just wish that they enjoyed it as wholeheartedly as I did. After all, some people might be a bit disgruntled with the never-ending darkness and -40°C temperatures.
River Neris and the new city center of Vilnius. High-rising towers are frowned upon in Nordic capitals like Helsinki or Stockholm, but the Baltics don't seem to have silly problems with them.
Church of St. Peter and St. Paul is very beautiful from the inside.
On a daytrip to visit the Trakai Island castle.
Collar insignia of a KGB uniform. We visited the Museum of Genocide Victims and the Holocaust Museum. Highly recommended, especially if you want to lose all your hope in humanity. Then again, individuals like Chiune Sugihara, with the courage to do the right thing despite of the consequences, might help to return it at least a bit.
Padded walls and a straitjacket of an isolation room for prisoners who lost their marbles under the torture. Like the Leader of the Free World has declared, "Torture works". To what end?
Gedimino prospektas is the main street of Vilnius. We used the public transportation or Vilniaus viešasis transportas a lot.
Škoda 14Tr trolleybuses really ooze the superiority of socialism. We got to witness an incident where the trolley poles got disconnected. It took just a minute to fix; first the passengers pushed the bus from the crossing, and then the driver granny, with several decades of experience, reconnected the poles.
Greatly inspired by the boundless wisdom of President Trump, we also wanted to "grab them by the pussy". This is Tobula and she likes to hang around in Cat Cafe Vilnius.
Merry black Christmas! Jumping to the south coast of Finland, Halikonlahti to be specific. When we arrived in Helsinki, it was rainy, foggy and +7°C. It has been the same thing every year; it's just bleak and miserable and there's not even a hint of snow. It is comforting to know that global warming is just a Chinese hoax, because otherwise we might be in trouble. Damn 'em Commies!
Welcome to Lapland! Finally some snow!
For the first time in my life I got to drive a snowmobile! SO much fun! This beauty is a Lynx, one of the very few things still actually made in Finland.
A downy birch on the shore of Äkäsjärvi (Lake Äkäs).
Summit of Ylläs.
Ylläs is small compared to Central European skiing resorts, but on Finnish scale it is big. The slopes were almost empty, so I could really enjoy the speed without the fear of running over anybody.
The slopes were open until midnight on New Year's Eve.
We got quite lucky with the weather. It wasn't too cloudy, so we saw some Aurora Borealis. The temperature plummeted down to -40°C right after we returned home. Lucky us.
Lapland is the land of magic and shamans. You can almost hear the sound of a witch drum.
Northern lights on the northern sky. That's it, thanks!