To Lithuania We Go

So the next adventure was Kaunas Lithuania (June 11-13)

Well, Friday morning was filled with travel. Woke up at 5 am for a 7:50 flight. When I got to the airport, Dan and Ted said that Lance had just called them saying he just woke up and that Jack had realized his passport was expired and that he couldn't come. Both of these were lies, Lance was a little late but not bad, and Jack barely made, the real reason he wasn't there on time was he had missed his bus. Anyways the flight was fine, but we were really packed in there. Take a southwest plane, more the seats 4-6 inches closer and then pack in a few more rows and you have a ryan air flight. I don't think I would be even able to get my head anywhere near my legs incase of a crash. But we arrived safely in Lithuania, 1030 am local time, and then spent an hour on a bus to get to the city center, then 20 minute walk to another bus stop, 30 minute wait, then 20-30 minute bus ride, missed our stop by 2, so another 20 minute walk to the hostel. All of this in 90+ degree heat and high humidity, and very crowded buses. Needless to say, we were a little bit miserable. We finally arrived at our hostel around 1. It was actually a 3 star hotel that had a few rooms that had more beds to cater to students. It was a nice place and the only downside was we were about 15 minutes outside the city.

After getting settled in and cooled off we went to a super market for some snacks. We got lots of weird looks as the 9 of us sat outside in the parking lot eating an assortment of lithuanian junk food.

We spent the next few hours walking around Kaunas. We caught a mini bus back into town, and it felt like we were on some sort of lithuanian safari. The Town Square and main street were a bit unimpressive. They were quite empty, especially for a staruday, but there were some cool looking shops. We stopped at a cafe for beer and to cool off and while we were sitting there some amatuer opera singers set up a little stage and we got to enjoy a few diddies from them, including a song from phantom of the opera.

After a bit more exploring we went to dinner at this nice little steak house, and though we had to wait a while for our food it was delicious. I should mention that Kaunas is ridiculously cheap, because most of the prices look like normal prices for something, but the exchange rate is like 1 euro to 3.5 Lita, so everything is really the third of the price. For this dinner I had a steak with mash potatoes and steamed veggies plus a beer for 10 euro.

After dinner we encountered a thunderstorm. We headed to a club called B.O. (blue orange, not bad odor) and grabbed a drink. Ellie, Anna and I were tired so we left the boys to their own devices and went home.

In the morning we awoke to some very interesting stories from the boys. Ted had apparently started making out with a girl and then once they were outside he found out she was a hooker, or may have been since he wasn't entirely sure if the men telling him to pay money were actually pimps or not. Not wanting any part in that he, david and lance left shortly after this revelation. Danny, Dan and Jack ended up meeting some Lithuanian girls and going with them back to their apartment where they were served cold cabbage soup, bread and cheese and played with their rat Pupa (the lithuanian word for bean). They said the apartment looked just as shady and broken down inside as it did outside. haha

Later in the day we went back into the city for some breakfast and to explore some more. My new favorite salty snack is Lithuanian fried bread. its so good. its essentially fried bread with melted cheese with mayo in it. mmmmmm! Then the girls split up from the guys and just strolled the city while the boys visited the sport and circus museums. That evening we watched the US-England game at an outdoor viewing. It was a very exciting game ending in 1-1 tie. Afterward we went back to BO and when it failed to get going by 1 am, we headed to Latino, which promised black music and a good time. While Anna and I were dancing this old man with a big beer belly who looked like he could barely keep his eyes open came over and said "I am the only man brave enough to come talk to you." We didn't respond and then he came back a minute later and said "Nobody likes you" haha. And then later in the night, seeming to have forgotten that he had insulted us earlier, he came dancing over and asked "where are you from?" then danced 5 paces away and then back towards us and asked "how old are you?" repeated his dance walking and then said "yea I know". Anna and I never said a word to him, it was really funny though.

We left the club around 3 and then headed back to the hostel, caught cabs at 345 to go to the airport, arrived around 440 caught a plane at 640 got to berlin at 730 and i was home and asleep by 9. It was a long 48 hours, but it was a good time, but i don't think i need to go back to kaunas in the near future, haha.