Vilnius, Kaunas and Strupenjača

A new week, a new day, a new post. Now I'll continue with my authentic story about our baltic trip. I probably won't write as much as I did before, but I'll try to do my best;)
Asta woke us up really early (at around 10.30 I think) and we tried to decide whether to go to Kaunas and pick up the rest of the Slovenian guys, who came by plane or should we just stick with the old habits and go back to the bar;) We've came to the concussion that it might be nice to pick-up the "lost" guys and show them around. (by lost I mean, lost because their guide was Janvit who is not really known by his orientation abilities in an urban environment;) So we jumped in the car and drove to Kaunas - airport. On the way we've realized that we might have forgotten to change our time (Baltic countries are 1 hour ahead of Central European Time) so the concussion was that we were not half an hour before schedule as we though, but actually half an hour behind it;) With that in mind, we called the rest of the Slovenian guys and delinquently told them that there is no sense of us going to pick them up in the airport and we should just meet in the Kaunas center. It took some time to convince them that our new plan was the best one we had yet, but after few minutes Miha gave in and we just gained a whole hour that we could spent in Kaunas (the drive from airport to Kaunas center takes around 1 hour with bus). We came to Kaunas center at around 12.15 and we were just about on the verge of starvation so we didn't care about the nice buildings around us, we just wanted to get something to eat;) When we finished our first real meal in Baltic the rest of the pack, the 4 amigos from Slovenia came. And I can't tell you what a pleasant reunion moment it was , the joy, the dancing, the singing and the excitement in that small local restaurant in Kaunas. Well that didn't happen exactly, but still it would have been fun if it did;) After that we went for some sight seeing of Kaunas and of course for one coffee. Few hours later when we saw the whole Kaunas we decided it was high time to leave this place and to had back to Vilnius. At Vilnius we changed the location (we've moved to a hostel, since nobody can host 8 Slovenians at one time). We had some time before the night party started, so we used it to have a bite to eat. In some local restaurant we ate some national dish and drink Lithuanian beer. Asta recommended us this national dish called - Zeppelini, which we all had. At this point I must say the meal was quite good although few Slovenians might disagree with me;) When the Zeppelinis were all in our stomach we went back to our hostel unpacked and started to organize the first official Slo-game in front of the hostel. When the game was over, we (8 slo guys, Asta and 2 of her friends) went for a search for the perfect club. At this point I must add that although we eventually did find the club we did have some problems with Miha. (i'd like to tell you more about this problems, but I think it wouldn't be fair to say in public that security didn't let him in the club;) The club we finally did get into was named ..... ??? Hm yeah I don't remember. So in the club... hm hm ok there was music,.. nice girls, dancing... ok ok what else,... that's probably about it (at least what I remember;). In the morning we took some last looks of Vilnius from one of the highest points in the town, we had our coffee (the Strupenjača was seen there) and then we head out to our next destination; Riga- Latvia. Here are some photos and a video, till next time enjoy.

The Slo-gang in front of the Cathedral (from left to right): Blaž, Neno, Kure, Pero, Nejc, Miha, Matej, Janvit

Zeppelini (might not be the right spelling)

Cathedral

Porno producer #1

Mrs. Rose (the most famous beggar in Vilnius)

Just a nice picture;)


Vilnius from above #1

Vilnius from above #2


Vilnius from above #3

Vilnius's beauties - Strupenjača

A interesting bar on wheels and Strupenjača

First days of the Baltic trip

During past few days I've promised many people that I'll post something new about Vilnius and now this moment has finally come. I'll start by describing our way to Vilnius which started in Ljubljana.

So Ljubljana 25.4., 17 o'clock near Bavarski Dvor. 4 students (Cero, Matej and 2 friends) waited and waited, for the main man to arrive. Of course that main man was me and I was late as always:) When I finally arrived and after I've told them a few not so good excuses we set off to our first stop, small city in East part of Slovenia called - Ptuj. There we left 2 friends, me and Matej went to do some last minute shopping, while Cero packed his bags. When he finally packed he picked us up at their local food store and we set off to a distant location where Pero lives. There we meet Pero's father and mother, exchange few words with them, abducted Pero and started our journey towards Baltic States. We drove throe Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland and then we arrived in Lithuania. Of course as all good turist are, we were as well greeted by the local police who couldn't help themselves and give us a speeding ticket. But as a students, a costumed to constant police interference we weren't bother with the ticket (for information the ticket might have been payed later or not;) and try to enjoy our last few hours of the trip. When we finally came to our first intended destination- Vilnius we were stunned by the beauties and diversity of the city. Lots of churches, old buildings that can hardly stand, new building that are better than most buildings in Ljubljana and so on,... Because we had our trusty navigation system on board (we named it Mrs. Garmin) we arrived exactly in front of Asta's apartment. Of course we wanted to suprise Asta on her doorsteps, but we weren't that lucky since she was still at work. Because of that we've sent few sms to her and we finally agreed to meet in front of the Kathedral (according to Asta it was 20 min walk from her place). As all self-confident man, we didn't bother to look at the map and we just start walking in one direction. After few minutes we've realize that it might be a good idea and ask few people where to go. Cero was the bravest one of the pack and luckily he volunteered. He went to ask two ladies where the Cathedral was and while he was there he asked if we can drink beer inside as well;) Of course, since we didn't know what the Kathedral was (first we though that it was a park) it wasn't that weird off a question for us to begin with. We started to have doubts about our Kathedra=park theory, when the girls told Cero that he can drink there, but the police will come and take us away:) When we finally came to this Kathedral we were a little bit shooked. Iit was really a Cathedral - look at the picture;) We tried to find Asta on this big square near the Cathedral, but with little luck. When we finally saw her in the distance we knew this trip is for real and that we've just "started" our new tradition (tradition = mettings with Baltic tenderness, few times a year:) Since we were driving for around 16 hours we had to eat something, but as a good proverb goes "one can't eat on an empty stomach", we just sat in the first bar we could find and order a beer. Few hours later after we've drank few beers Asta deliquntly suggested we should go to her place and unpack. We knew it was the best think to do, althou we could have easily stayed there for a couple of hours more, just drinking beer and admiring the cars and the ladies that were passing by;) The way to Asta's apartment was of course shorter that the one we took earlier, and if we hadn't had to stop in the store or needn't had to seach for Pero along the way we would have been "home" in few minutes. When we finally arrived to our "home for one day" we unpacked, took a shower and started to prepare for the Slovenian game with Asta and her 2 roommates. I won't tell you the hole story as to how the game went, since it might be somewhat disturbing to my "younger" readers. Let's just say we won (I don't know if there could be the winner in this game, but nevertheless;). After the game some of us went to sleep and some were still chatting with Asta's roommates. That's about it for the first few days of the trip. Next time there's Kaunas and the reunion of the "slovenian gang".

We're back

Early today at around 2 o'clock (Slovenian time) our journey across East Europe and Scandinavia ended. 4 of a Slovenian "gang" already came home on Thursday, but the rest had to make a few stops along the way, thus the trip had to be prolonged for a few days. Initially we though we'll travel across Austria, Slovakia, Poland to Baltic countries and back, but as faith would have it we didn't stop there.
We added few countries to our "belt", such as Czech, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. So overall we've traveled across 11 countries in 12 days, impressive isn't it;) All thou we've only travel across most of them we did see the important cities we wanted to see in other words : Vilnius, Kaunas, Riga, Tallinn, Helsinki, Stockholm and of course good old Copenhagen.
I've decided that my previous post was good enough for my blog, thus I plan to describe all this cities and thing that happened during this trip in details in few post to come, when I get all the material (pictures and videos) that can bring a third dimension to my writing. Until then I can give you few photos of the whole gang with Baltic Tenderness at its best. From right to left: Miha, Me, Matej, Nejc, Asta, Janvit and Meeli (bottom), Blaž, Cero, Pero and a couple who just happen to be there and apparently likes to take pictures;)