Lithuania
- Wandering Vilnius(2018)
2018
is the 100th Anniversary of Lithuanian Independence
Sadly the century included Nazi (1941-1945) and Soviet (1945-1992) occupations |
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The church where we attended
mass in Lithuanian |
Strolling through a city park |
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which included gardens |
and a creative use of felled trees |
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Cathedral Square |
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Memorial to a Hero
of Old Lithuania |
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The red tile on the square
marks the start of the human chain in 1992 that extended from Vilnius through Latvia to Tallin, Estonia as a protest against Soviet occupation |
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Scenes of the City |
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University of Vilnius |
National Philharmonic Hall |
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I bought this T-Shirt in 1992
to support the Lithuanian Olympic basketball team. Most of the old Soviet team were Lithuanian players. So when the USSR broke up, Lithuania had the players but no money to send them to the games NBA player Arvitas Sabonis set out to raise funding with the support of Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead) who designed the T-Shirt  |
Our
first taste of Lithuanian food. Afterwards, I ate lots of potato pancakes just like Dad used to make for me  |
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As we were sitting in a restaurant I got a text that our granddaughter had just been confirmed back in the USA. She took the name "Gabriel" since she plays the trumpet just like the archangel Outside our restaurant was a huge statue of the angel Gabriel since he is the patron of the city of Vilnius (see photo below)  |
Granddaughter
Carrie with the Bishop and her Dad
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I bought a small wooden replica
of this as a memento for Carrie |
Across the river in an "artistic" part of the
city, they have their own constitution |
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The constitution is translated
into dozens of languages and displayed here |
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