Our train arrived in Vilnius at an ungodly hour of the morning. We disembark and then try to figure out how we can get to our hotel. We had mapped out that a taxi would be the best bet, however we had no local currency, and the shops were all closed so exchanging it was somewhat difficult. Off in a corner of the train station we were able to come across a money exchange machine that let us get some Litas for our taxi ride.
The taxi brought us through a series of really narrow and curvy streets that eventually met up in what is known as Old Vilnius. The hotel was open, but seeing that most people weren’t up yet, getting our room for the night wasn’t possible. They were kind enough to let us drop off our luggage and give us a map so we could explore the city until our room freed up.
We ended up wandering, looking for some place where we could grab breakfast. Here are some of the newer apartments in the city.
We ended up following a path that ran on top of the ridge that follows the river that cuts through Vilnius. The lilac bushes were in bloom which was rather nice. 
An office building we passed along the way. What I found neat was if you look at the building there is a second layer of glass on the outside of it. Each window inside the building can open up, unlike most offices in North America. The end result for this building is that you have a air gap at the bottom of the building and as the sun strikes the outer layer of glass it heats up the air between it and the building. The air rises, pulling air from inside the building out. In short this is a type of solar chimney, which is a really awesome way to keep buildings cooler without the excessive use of electricity.
Along the path we were able to see the old fort, and one of the only hills in the area (the country is REALLY flat).
We found a local grocery store and took a look through it. One of our odd delights when travelling is to visit local groceries and see the type of food that is commonly stocked in the shelves. It tells much more about an area than anything you would read in a book. After we had our breakfast we continued along to see more gorgeous brickwork.
We crossed a bridge which had some statues commemorating one of the many battles that has happened here (in recent memory).
Yo.
Once we crossed the bridge, we ended up in what is known as the new city. There aren’t many skyscrapers (7 at most), but they are all new and quite pretty. The art in the park was also distinctly Baltic in nature.
In the core of the new city is what anyone would expect to find… a mall. It was a nice mall, but not too different than what we have back home.
It seems sports cars were a bit more impressive here than some spray paint on an old car. This one was even branded 🙂
A panoramic of the new city of Vilnius.
Another local apartment complex. I did like how green everything felt.
And as we wandered, we eventually hit this place!
Even cooler was that this prison was the one where the first president of Israel was imprisoned at during the second World War. We just have to go in and see it!
We were about to go knock on the front door to ask for a tour when a police car pulls in, and is buzzed in… Oops. A further sign this wasn’t a tourist attraction was that a pair of women came out… crying. So we quietly made it around the back to where the parking was to take a snapshot of the place.
There was quite a lot of razor wire.
Ya… maybe we don’t want to visit there.
We followed the back alleyways past the prison and saw some more houses. This was one of the chimneys.
A here is a local child, behind bars. Although in this case, he was in school – so a different type of prison.
The backs of one of the apartment buildings. Funny to think that one of my grandparents owned something like this before the war.
By now most of the people had woken up, and we were in serious need of a pick-me-up. So we visited a local coffee shop that was eerily like Starbucks.
With our new found energy, we made our way further into the old city.
Here is a memorial to WW2. There are a lot of these in Vilnius.
The memorial with the church in the background.
One of the carved rocks that was built into the memorial.
And, as I was saying, there were a lot of WWII monuments. This was likely the biggest one we saw that day. This is only a small part of the wall.
The granite bricks surround a very large building. Each brick has a carving of a name of one of the freedom fighters that was killed in action trying to liberate the country (in action or captivity) from the Russians, then the Germans and then the Russians again.
Now this building isn’t just any building. It is a former MGB, German SS, and KGB facility. Let’s just say the building feels a bit heavy when you walk by. It has now been partially converted to the Museum of Genocide (which ironically only recently included the Jewish genocide). When they refer to genocide, they are specifically speaking to the genocide of the Lithuanian people, specifically those who resisted.
The resistance piece is very important to note, since my family fled after the Germans conquered the city, but before the Russians recaptured it. A lot of family and locals were deported to Siberia during this time. It may also explain why the border guard as I entered Russia smiled once she saw my heritage in my name.
The building was not immune to attacks and is still covered in shell markings.1
I will just describe the museum as heavy. In the basement it still had all of the jail cells that were used. Some were no bigger than me! And I do mean me. They were like coffins. Some of the larger rooms lacked covered windows and were specially built to be used in the cold winter months. Prisoners would be place on a small disc in the middle of the room, and then beneath the disc a large amount of water was filled and left there. This is like an early form of water boarding, where if you fell asleep, you’d be quickly woken up by falling into the water. (and now we have tamer versions of this as a ‘challenge’ on Survivor). The weirdest room was the kill room. We made our way in and even though we didn’t know what happened in this room (yet), we were creeped out. We end up in this small room and as we are looking about I just freeze. I don’t know how long I was there, but Alicia eventually had to get my attention since I was standing on the exact spot where… too many people were shot. The number of holes in the rock precisely in front of my head from the bullets was grotesque. And thinking this was bad enough, there was a reverse coal chute that was in the room, which was used to send the bodies up, “to be dealt with”.
And after several hours of this not so uplifting atmosphere, we tried to lighten things up, and came across a vintage clothing store.
Alicia tried on a bunch of things, and eventually left with a lovely skirt. I didn’t fare so well.
We passed this really cool statue in the park. And no, that isn’t perspective, it is stretched that way by itself. I find it one of the easiest ways for me to peg off Lithuanian work. Now the importance of this statue? It is what was built to commemorate when Lithuania announced its independence from the Soviet Union through the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania.
Some more monuments, although we didn’t get what these were for. 
Another apartment with more Lithuanian art. Notice a trend with it?
And now some pansies to lighten the mood.
A church.
And here is the site of the Lithuanian parliament.
While mostly erased, we did see a few communist markings on a few of the buildings. And as proof of how strong an influence mother Russia can be, Alicia had to try really hard not to say thank you in Russia when interacting with people. This was harder than it sounds. And given the history, it was very important to NOT speak Russian lest one ticks off the locals.
An eagle.
And here was their own version of Atlas.
Carvings in the stone.
A local selling some flowers.
An interesting form of advertising we saw there. Go peddle power!
The bus system there, while electric, does look a bit in need of a coat of paint.
Mr. ice cream guy
Hidden church.
So after having spring chase us for so many weeks, it finally caught up with us and gave us tulips.
And here is a dog being silly by wearing glasses.
This old lady statue isn’t amused.
Nor is this lady, as Alicia tries to get a picture.
Another church. I think there was a higher density of churches than Tim Hortons we have back in Canada.
Some students relaxing under a tree.
Another monument.
And some mandatory yarn bombing!
Me beside Vincas Kudirka, one of the founders of Lithuania (for lack of a better term). 
These three sisters were above the opera house.
Part of the old city.
And more crosses, one of those heritage products.
Faith was always held on during whatever occupation happened to be in at the time. Much persecution of priests and nuns happened during occupation (many of the great freedom fighters were priests), and even in the face of the risk of being a man or woman of the cloth, Catholicism held on strong and gave the people hope. 
Apartments!
As the day started to end, we made our way back to the hotel. This was a view from our window, although there was a lovely green courtyard down below.
During our adventures we did come across something else. We found some cake in one of the grocery stores, the same type of cake as we had for our wedding, along side some sparkling Lithuanian wine. For the record, the thought was nice, but wines and store bought cakes are not something Lithuania is known for… and with good reason
Cheers!
Rails Across the Curtain 