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| In Vilnius this week |
Hi everyone,
Well it has been an exceptional week and there is lots
to tell you.
On Monday Suzy,
her boyfriend Gabor and their Italian flat mate Stefania moved from the house
which they shared with 5 people in Canada Water to nearby South Bermondsey
where the 3 of them will be living there in a new flat on their own. Suzy is delighted with the new accommodation
which seems bright, clean and modern and which has a large kitchen, lounge,
terrace, two bedrooms and a bathroom. It
is apparently just one stop on the train from Tower Hill. Here is a pic of Suzy the day they moved in.
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| Suzy in her new flat |
Tuesday was
Eladio’s big day. He turned 70 which
seems quite amazing to me. I met him
when he was 35 so we have been together now for approximately half his
life. I didn’t do anything spectacular
but the day was full of magic. First we had chocolate and churros for breakfast
with my Father when we gave him his presents and birthday cards. Unfortunately Olivia had to go to work so
would miss the birthday breakfast and lunch.
But she was to join us in the evening for a surprise birthday dinner in
Madrid with all the members of his family who could make it that night: José
Antonio, Dolores, Juan, Cristina, Sara, Paula and Pedro.
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| Eladio's birthday breakfast |
For the record
he got a wonderful set of men’s fragrance from Olivia and from my Father and I
he got a kindle, the latest version, the touchscreen Paper White. His first
ebook was by Richard Dawkins, the British scientist.
Lunch was fish
and chips followed by a super strawberry birthday cake bought at my favourite
cake shop, Mallorca. Here is the
birthday boy with his cake. He doesn’t
look his age does he?
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| Eladio and his birthday cake |
The birthday
dinner in Madrid at El Escondite de Villanueva was to be a surprise. Eladio thought we were having dinner on our
own with Olivia and kept asking if we really had to drive to Madrid and wouldn’t
it be better to have dinner at home. So
I had to force him to go. Once we there,
he was delighted to see all the family waiting to greet him and celebrate his
birthday. It was a great evening and a
superb end to the day. Thanks to all for coming and for keeping the secret.
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| The surprise family birthday dinner |
The next day I
was up at 6.15 to catch the 10.15 flight to Helsinki where I would get a
transfer flight to Vilnius. In my headline I write “all the way to Lithuania”
because really it is a hell of a way away from Spain and there are no direct
flights from Madrid. For the record Lithuania is the geographical central point
of Europe. It would be my first time there and I was going for a day-long
meeting with my communications colleagues working for TeliaSonera in the
European countries where the Swedish Finnish mobile telephone operators are
present. In Spanish the capital of Lithuania is called “Vilna” and whenever I told
anyone I was going there, nobody knew where it was which surprised me. But after all it is a tiny country in the
Baltics very far from Spain, so maybe that is the reason. In case you didn’t
know, its neighbouring countries are: Latvia, Belarus, Poland and Russia or
rather the Kalingrad landlocked region which used to be part of Prussia.
First I had to
drive to work to leave my car to be serviced whilst I was away. It was raining that morning and took me 2
awful hours in the traffic to get there.
Thankfully I was just on time at the airport and worries of missing the
plane were over once I was sitting on the Finnair flight which would arrive in
Helsinki 4 hours later; or 5 if you take into account Finland is one hour ahead
– Lithuania is also one hour ahead. As you know I love Finland and Helsinki so
it was frustrating to have just 45 minutes there. Soon I was on my second Finnair flight which
took just over an hour and at 17.30 or so I landed in Vilnius where
unbelievably the sun was shining.
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| Lithuania and the countries that it borders with |
I took a taxi
into the city which took just 20 minutes and soon I was being driven into the
old town where I would be staying at the charming Shakespeare hotel just a
stone’s throw from Vilnius’ most famous street in the old town; Pilies Street which
means Castle Street. I was keen to stay
there and get to know this Unesco World Heritage centre. Once settled in my
room called The Coach Room, I ventured out into the street to start my
exploring. The following day I would be
given a walking tour of the town with my colleagues and would then find out
what all the places I had seen were all about.
But for the moment I contented myself on enjoying walking around the beautiful
old streets and passed countless number of churches. The Lithuanians are mostly catholic as are
most of their beautiful churches but so too there are quite a few Orthodox churches
and even one Uniate church, the Holy Trinity.
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| Pretty Pilies street in the old town of Vilnius |
I carried on
walking from Pilies Street to the Town Hall square, through the Gate of Dawn and
outside the old town, I spotted a sign to the “panoramic view” so in in need of
a proper walk, I decided to follow the sign.
I was not disappointed as it was still light when I got there and the
view of the old and new town was magnificent.
A kind young Lithuanian couple took a photo of me, the one illustrating
this post. Very noticeable here were many padlocks which they explained were
put there by couples, as in many other cities, to represent their being “locked
together” in marriage.
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| Vilnius as seen from the panoramic view point |
From there I
walked back to the old town and walked along Pilies Street in the other
direction. That took me to Cathedral
Square and a magnificent Belfry both of which stood out very well in the
floodlit courtyard.
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| Cathedral Square Vilnius |
Before I returned
to my hotel I was determined to find some shops, as the ones in the old town
were either touristy or the Gucci type.
I wanted to find Lindex, that lovely low cost Swedish fashion shop. And I found it in a small shopping centre as
I walked up an important looking street called Gedimino. Unfortunately it was about to close so I
walked back to my hotel and decided to come again in the morning before I had
to go the meeting which would start at 12 midday.
Once back at
my hotel I was pleased to see that my fitbit registered 12km of walking that
day. By 9pm I was tired so decided on a
hot bath and room service. By 10 with the
BBC World News on the TV I fell asleep until 7.30 the next day.
After an early
breakfast I walked to Gedimino street in the sunshine and found some lovely
items at Lindex; a black dress with lace, a shocking blue cardigan (to match my
blue Clarkes shoes) and a long sleeved black and white striped t-shirt. I also got a thick furry white scarf as it
was much colder in Vilnius than I had thought and I would need it in the
evening when we went on the guided tour of the town. While I was there I took
photos of clothes I thought Olivia would like but she only answered later so I
had to go back the next day.
At just before
12 I was outside the building of TEO, TeliaSonera’s fixed operator, which was
one of the few sky scrapers in the town.
Our meeting was on the top floor with some amazing views.
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| The view of Vilnius from the offices where we had our meeting |
Soon we were
all together; Antantas and Audrone, our hosts from Lithuania, Severin from
Norway, Elina from Latvia, Tatu from Finland and Madeleine, Anna and Peter from
Sweden. We were joined by Mette from
Denmark via video conference as she couldn’t be with us in Vilnius. The first item on the agenda was lunch. 12 is very early for me but really it was 11
am. But I tucked in quite happily into
the salmon and rice as I talked to my colleagues.
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| Some of us during our meeting |
Our meeting
ended at about 6pm, after which we all went to our hotels. I would meet my colleagues again outside the
St Ana Gothic church for the start of our guided tour. Our guide explained to us that the
architecture of the old town was a mix of Gothic, Classical, Baroque with some
Renaissance. The Saint Ana church was beautiful, made with red brick and lovely
spires, as if the church were on fire.
She also told us that Napoleon loved it so much when he arrived in
Vilnius that he had plans to take it piece by piece to Paris. Thank goodness that never happened.
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| The beautiful Saint Ana church in Vilnius |
From the
church we got on the bus and were taken to the panorama view point which I had
seen the day before. Here, being good PR
people, we subjected our guide to questions about Lithuania. We were told the population used to be about
3.2 million but was now 2.9 owing to emigration – lots of Lithuanians living in
London. I was more shocked to hear that
the average monthly salary is only 290 euros.
That sort of seemed to contrast with how well the women look and dress
in Vilnius as with the apparent modern and progressive life they seem to
live. Everything works there, the mobile
phone network is superb, everything in the hotel was perfect and the building
we had our meeting in could have been a building in New York it was so modern. People
speak Lithuanian – a difficult language which is similar only to Latvian (well
they are their neighbours) but you hear a lot of Russian (some 30% speak
it). I knew before I went that the
Lithuanians hate Russians because of their history. It was once the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and
later merged with neighbouring Poland and afterwards formed part of the Russian
Empire until the 20th century.
In February 1918 Lithuania gained its independence until the beginning
of the Second World War when it was occupied by the Soviet Union. It was then briefly occupied by Nazi Germany
and then again by the Russians for 50 stifling years. Lithuania became independent for the second
time in March 1990. Today it is a member
of the European Union and despite the low average salary it looks quite
prosperous with not many vestiges of Communist times although some buildings do
look in dire need of renovation. During the Soviet occupation and influence,
religion was frowned upon and the churches closed. The Soviets even wanted to
do away with the beautiful old town.
Thankfully the Lithuanians defied the measure saying it represented
their history and the old town is today as it was hundreds of years ago. The ghastly looking communist blocks of flats
are there of course on the horizon but they are few and far between.
The next item
on our tour was a visit to a funny place called Uzupis which is actually the
Republic of Uzupis, just next to the old town.
It is a neighbourhood similar to Montmartre in Paris or Christiana in
Copenhagen with a similar bohemian and relaxed atmosphere and spirit and on 1st
April 1997 was declared an independent republic. It has its own constitution which is written
in many languages on one of the walls of the area. Some of the articles are downright funny such
as “People have the right to be happy”, “People have the right to be unhappy”, “People
have the right to die but it is not an obligation”, etc.
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| Uzupis even has a constitution |
We then
returned to the old town and walked from the Gate of Dawn, through the Town
Hall Square, up Pilies street to the Cathedral Square and from there to the University
and Presidential Palace. We then
ventured into what was once the bigger of the two Jewish ghettos in the
war. When it started there were some
60.000 Jews living in Vilnius and when the genocide finished there were only
2.000 left. We were to have our dinner
in this area and it felt a little disloyal.
However it was cold and we were all very hungry so we soon forgot the
history of the town and ate and drank merrily together. Our first course was the Lithuanian national
dish, “zeppelin” because of the shape.
It is really called “Didžkukuliai” and is a sort of
potato dumpling stuffed with meat and smothered in a lovely dill sauce. This is what it looked like.
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| The delicious Lithuanian national dish, "zeppelin" or really “Didžkukuliai” |
After the
dinner our Lithuanian colleagues presented us with a box each containing their
country’s most famous cake or sweet called “sakotis”. Later I saw it in many shops and at the
airport.
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| Our Lithuanian colleagues, Audrone left and Antanas right, presenting us with a box of "sakotis". |
It was quite
late when we all said goodbye. It was
raining a bit but I decided to walk back to my hotel. I was sad to read that
night that the second Spanish born victim of ebola, Manuel García Viejo did not
survive the virus.
The next day I
would be in no rush to get up early as my flight wasn’t until 3pm. In fact I overslept and didn’t wake until
9.30 am (actually 8.30 for me) and rushed to get ready for breakfast as it
closed at 10. Later I packed and checked
out, leaving my luggage at reception. I
had an appointment in Uzupis at 11 with my ex colleague Indre. I walked there and as I was early decided to
walk into a Russian Orthodox church on my way.
Inside I prayed for my Mother and my Aunt who were staunch Russian
orthodox believers. It was a funny
nostalgic spiritual sort of moment for me but I loved it.
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| The Russian Orthodox church I went into on the last day |
At 11 I was at
the Picerija cozy café where Indre and her two little boys, Ignas aged 8 and
Lukas aged 6 were waiting. It was great
to see them. Indre and I caught up on
our respective lives since we had last met some three years ago. She is looking good, has set up her own
marketing and communications consultancy business and even bought a couple of
flats in the old town which she rents out to tourists. I had to leave at 12 if I was to get to
Lindex on time to buy the skirt and trousers Olivia wanted and get back to my
hotel to pick up my luggage and take the taxi to the airport. Dear Indre and her lovely football mad boys
drove me to Gedimino where we said our goodbyes. I invited them to visit us in Spain and hope
they come.
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| With my ex Lithuanian colleague Indre in Uzupis on the last day |
Soon I was in
the taxi on my way to the airport. When
I paid the taxi driver and got my luggage out he flattered me and amused me by
saying “thank you beautiful woman!” That was a nice ending to my visit of
beautiful Vilnius. I wonder if I will
ever go back; possibly not. But I am
glad to have added Lithuania to the long list of countries I have now visited.
Once inside
the airport I heard my plane to Frankfurt would be delayed. That worried me that I would possibly miss my
connection leaving at 17.05 for Madrid but thought the Lufthansa flight would wait especially
because I was arriving and leaving from the same terminal. So I sat down at a café where I was joined by
a very interesting fellow traveler, an American of Greek and Polish origin
called Damian who spoke many languages including Czech and Russian! He was a very interesting chap and we had a
great conversation about the main worries of the world: Isil, the Russian
Ukraine issue and of course Ebola. This
man told me he was ex-military and now worked in a military advisory type of
role. From all the things he told me, it
seemed to me he may have had links to the CIA or something similar. It was
Damian who pointed out an American airplane on the tarmac which was entirely
unbranded. He himself was moving to live
in Vilnius this weekend and would be here for a year. He hinted at US help in the Baltic area re
what was going on in the Ukraine. It was Damian who told me too that Lithuania
has a feisty woman President called Dalia Grybbauskaite who is very outspoken against
Putin and who said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal recently that Putin
is terrorizing his neighbours and that he will go further than the Ukraine and
that the international community was not doing enough to stop him. Damian also assured me the US and UK special
forces would catch the jihadists who were beheading western hostages. He also told me the US predicted there would
be 1.400.000 deaths due to Ebola. Can
that be true? He certainly seemed to have a lot of information.
The plane left
45 minutes late and thus I arrived in Frankfurt at 16.50, just 15 minutes
before my next plane was leaving. I thought I would make it and that the plane
would wait but I learned later that Lufthansa seems to prioritize bureaucracy
and punctuality rather than poor passengers like me missing my plane. I was
directed to a gate very far away where I had to queue with many other people in
similar situations. It seemed we had to
queue to get a number from a man and once we had a number we had to queue again.
In the end German or Lufthansa efficiency took more than an hour to issue me a
ticket on the only next flight to Madrid which wasn’t leaving until 9pm. I was so cross I even refused the so called
meal voucher compensation for 10 euros. I mean what could I do with 10 euros in
Frankfurt!! To make my return journey
even more uncomfortable I was assigned a middle seat right at the back. Then when I boarded the strict looking
Lufthansa air hostess threatened to take my cabin luggage and put it into hold as
the plane was full. I was not taking any more bull **** from Lufthansa and
refused point black telling her the last two times I had flown Lufthansa they
had lost my luggage. I just didn’t want
a long wait so late at night in Madrid waiting for my cabin luggage.
Meanwhile I
had 3 hours or so to kill at the airport.
It was here that I learned that the British government had got the
backing from Parliament to join the coalition and attack Isil in Iraq. I was pleased to hear that, I’m afraid to say
but I am one of those people in the world who, although I detest war, know that
we have to eliminate the threat of these fanatical terrorists. We have seen what they can do and I don’t
want to see any more of it. Just this
week they beheaded another western hostage, a French tourist. So I spent my time reading the news on my
phone and continuing to read Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett. I also had a meal
accompanied with a delicious glass of Reisling wine.
That night it
felt like I would never get home. I did
in the end of course but it wasn’t till about 1 in the morning that I got into
bed. The next day was Saturday and I was
able to “chillax” (chill out and relax) at home with my family, Eladio, my
Father and dear Olivia who has been here all weekend. She came food shopping with me in the morning
and joined us for lunch. In the
afternoon Eladio and I went on our second walk not thinking about the weather. We had no raincoat or umbrella when it
started to rain so we had no option but to continue it and get completely
drenched. It was like having a shower
fully clothed. However I didn’t mind as
I wanted a shower anyway before going out to dinner that night.
We went to La
Txitxarrería in Pozuelo and were joined by our friends Javier and Ana. We had such
a good time, talking nonstop and eating that I totally forgot to take a photo
for this week’s blog. As we left the restaurant it was pouring down again,
quite a contrast to the sun and high temperatures of last week.
And today is
Sunday and it has been very quiet.
Sundays for me are about walks, meals with the family, writing my blog
and hopefully time for reading.
Next week won’t
be exceptional; no birthdays, no trips.
It will be a quiet week I think but sometimes I like the quiet after the
rush so to speak.
Wishing you
all a good week ahead, cheers till next Sunday
Masha
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