Dave Germany: 81-84 (Lith - Vilnius - Friday) 2/5

I slept great and had set my alarm for 7am to make sure I could get out the door around 8am.  I took a much needed shower, but the hostel didn't supply towels, so I dried off using several of the paper towels they had in the bathroom : ).  
Breakfast was a couple granola bars, and then I walked out the door, and into a blue sky Lithuanian morning!

I had a 10am walking tour that started in the middle of the city, so I had 1-2 hrs to explore.  As I left my hostel, I realized that I wasn't in the best part of town.  Buildings were run down, graffiti was everywhere, and I passed some parking lots filled with trash.  It was probably a good thing I didn't try to walk around the night before.

I first wandered over to a local indoor market, Hales Market.  It was a little intimidating at first since it had a busy feel, and no one was speaking English.  But it was neat to listen to people conversing in a whole new language.  I walked around quickly looking at what was for sale, and then got the guts to walk up to pastry vendor and order something.  I had no idea what I was ordering, but I pointed at what looked good, paid up, and said "achu" (thank you in Lithuanian).  (Also, Lithuania just switched to the Euro on January 1, 2015.  So luckily I didn't need to hunt down a new currency).

From the market, the next closest place on my list was the Gates of Dawn.  I got a little lost on the walk, but I was really enjoying just walking around the streets.  Seeing the people, the business signs, just being part of the daily hustle in the home country!  I walked through the city walls, and finally found the religious icon.  As advertised, it was beautiful.

As I continued to walk into the city, I could hear church music from the street.  Vilnius has tons of churches  (Catholic & Russian Orthodox) so it wasn't a surprise to hear the music.  It made for a lovely soundtrack to my morning experience.  I wandered over to the church, peered inside, and it was a beautiful scene.  Several old ladies standing and singing together as the pastor walked around blessing everyone.

As I headed towards the center of town for my tour, I came across an old man sitting on a bench.  And he looked just like my GPa Urbon.  He had the same smirky smile, to go along with slightly messy ring of hair on his bald head.  It warmed my heart and all I could do was smile.  I started feeling at home.  Like maybe I didn't look too much like a tourist, maybe I blended in a little with the locals!

I made it to the Cathedral square, where the tour started.  I joined a family of 5 from the USA, and the wife was from Detriot!  So there were 6 of us total.  The tour guide was a Lithuania woman in her 40s who taught English in the schools.  She told us all about the Lithuanian history of Kings & Archdukes, and when we got the early 1990s and Russia finally leaving, she told us about the day at the TV tower when the Russian soldiers shot people, and how it was one of her close friends that was shot in the hip.  I was realizing that the people around me had recently lived history, and the oppressive Russian government was still a recent memory.

Just outside the Cathedral, there is a sign on the ground, Stebuklas.  It is customary to make a wish, then spin in a circle 3 times for it to come true (you know I did it!).  There was where the Baltic Way started, a 600km human chain formed in 1989.

Since we were a lively tour group, we walked all around the city.  We went into the Cathedral.  We walked atop the old castle remains that overlooked the whole city.  We walked over to where the Lithuania President was housed.  We walked over to the Vilnius University and saw were PhD students way back in the day would told to say in their rooms and off the streets, to avoid the disruptions of street life that could disrupt their studies.  We saw lots and lots of churches, but an iconic one was the Saint Ann Church.  We walked down Literaty Street, where 100s of Lithuanian poets & authors had been honored with plaques on the street walls.  We walked past the Gates of Dawn (again), but this time there was a wedding couple parading by.

We also learned that the three colors on the flag had a meaning  Green for the forests & farms, red for our blood, and yellow for sun & hope.  Pretty neat!

We then walked over an upcoming part of the city that a more young feel.  The tour ended here, but at a local restaurant for lunch.  I joined the family of 5, and they ended up paying for my meal (very nice of them).  For lunch, I of course had a beer, and then had some amazing potato pancakes.  Yum!  They also had stuffed cabbage, but I had to make a choice.  What a great day in the city.  People, music, food, history, stories.  Wow...

It was then time to say goodbye to Vilnius.  I took a taxi back to the airport, as I needed to pickup my rental car.  The pickup was smooth, except I found out it costs 300 Euro to leave the country!  WHAT?!  I was planning on going to Latvia on Saturday night, but didn't want to pay the 300.  So I fibbed and said I wouldn't be leaving.  I thought...how could they track the car?  (we will see!)

I got the keys to my Toyota Yaris and headed for the Trakai Island castle just outside of Vilnius.  I arrived about 5pm, and parking was very difficult to figure out.  Since I wouldn't be there long, I just found a spot, and walked over to the water to get a nice view and a picture.  I returned 20 minutes later to find a 10 Euro parking ticket on my windshield.  C'mon man!  Argh!  I had to keep moving so I hopped in the car and started my 1.5 hr drive towards Kaunas.

Hales Market

Gates of Dawn

Inside of Russian Orthodox Church

Cathedral Square

My tour group & tour guide

Stebuklas... turn around 3 times and make a wish!

Atop the old castle, overlooking the city, with teh TV tower off in the distances

Those flags look great together on my morning walk

President's home with soldiers guarding the front

Saint Ann Church

Literaty Street, with all the wall plaques (close of picture of the tour guide too)

This is the middle finger in Lithuania

Wedding at the Gate of Dawn

Potato Pancakes and beer for lunch

Trakai Castle

Dave Germany: 81-84 (Lith-Thurs) 1/5

All my bookings had been made (flight, car rental, hostels, tours) and I was cautiously ready to embark on an amazing trip into Eastern Europe.  I was excited that I was going to be make a family pilgrimage back to Lithuania.  I would be the first one in the Urbon/Krzeminski blood line to make it back to Lithuania, where my Great Grandma (Benedicta Rudys) had left for the USA around 1905 (at age 13!).  While we couldn't find out exactly where Benedicta was from, Lithuania isn't too big of country, and so her life growing up on a farm would be easily realized in a country mostly covered by farmland.

I also want to point out that I feel a strong connection to Lithuania.  Within our family, I think my looks and personality is most similar to my GPa Urbon (Benedicta's son) and so I was extra excited to walk around and find people that looked like me!

I was also extra nervous, because I was headed into a country that was still behind the Iron Curtain in the early 1990s.  They haven't even been independent for very long.  Heck, I had just turned 6 years old when Russian soldiers were stillterrorizing Lithuania.  So I would need to be extra careful

Once again, I packed all my things into my backpack, and on Thursday afternoon I left work around 4pm.  I biked 5 miles to the Erlangen Train Station, and got to the Nuremberg airport in time for my 7pm flight.

From Nuremberg, there was only one afternoon/evening connecting flight into Vilnius (the capital), which arrived at 11:45pm.  I was a little nervous about arriving so late into a city I had never been, but I read where there were plenty of taxis to take visitors to their destination.

As I waited at the Frankfurt Airport for the flight to Vilnius to board, I realized that I was sitting amongst fellow Lithuanians and started to get excited.  The pilgrimage experience was already beginning!  While on the flight, I sat next to two people flying from Dallas, and the chatting with them helped to calm my nervous energy.

When we finally landed, it was after midnight.  I walked off the plane, and there were signs with all new letters!  (Luckily signs also had English below).  Since I was coming from Europe, there was no customs stop, and so I walked out and was in Vilnius!  I walked over to a taxi, and showed him my hostel booking address, and off we went.  

The taxi driver was a very polite man in his late 20s and could speak English were well.  I told him that I was visiting because my family roots go back to Lithuania, and the neat thing, was that he asked if I was from Chicago before I could say anything.  It was neat that locals knew where lots of Lithuanians had headed, and I felt a little more at home because of it.

He dropped me off at Come to Vilnius Hostel, and since I was arriving so late, the owner had given me the PIN code & said my keys would be on the welcome desk.  The PIN code worked, I grabbed my room keys, quietly found a lower bunk, and finally exhaled.  

I had made i safely to Lithuania!  I could finally relax and begin to prepare for a Friday was that packed.

Welcome to Vilnius

Plane landed just after midnight

Made it to my hostel!

Across the street from my hostel... the safe part of town

Dave Germany: 77-78 (things & a haircut)

I decided that I would try to travel every other weekend, so that meant I would stay in Herzo after the successful trip to the Netherlands. But there were lots of things to cross off my list!

On Thursday night, I got my first flat tire while in Germany.  Thankfully it happened on the way home from work, and not out on a bike ride.  And luckily I had brought a spare tube from the US, so I was able to fix it home.  

Then I needed a haircut!  It had been since mid-May in Michigan, and I was starting to get helmet hair!  I asked around the office and there was no "english speaking" place in town, but someone recommend a place that would fit my budget.  So on Saturday morning I headed to the Haar-Studio SuB in Herzo.  I brought a picture of myself on my phone with a previous haircut just in case.  When I walked in, none of hairdressers in the room spoke english, but they went to the back and a Ukrainian woman that spoke a little english happily greeted me.  Her name was Inga, and she had just moved to Herzo only 5 months ago.  We had great conversation, and I walked out looking normal again!

After that it was time to focus on finalizing some major trips...

1) Flying home to see future Dr Lippa!!  I finally booked the Delta flight, and will be arriving in Gulfport Mississippi at 4pm on Saturday October 3rd.  Can't wait to finally see my girl again...it has already been 3.5 months!  Miss my sweetheart!

Now this travel itinerary back to the US gets a little crazy...but the short story is that I will be traveling back through London on Sat October 10.  I will be going to watch USA vs Japan in a World Cup of Rugby match in the UK with my amazing friend that got me into rugby, Josh Hanna.  Josh's sister lives in Salisbury UK, so we will be staying with her, then going to the match on Sunday.  Then I will arrive back in Nuremberg on Monday October 12.  

2) Ed & Deb flying over to see Dave!  We finalized a rough itinerary and I will meet my parents in Krakow Poland on Thursday September 10.  We will then drive from Poland, to Prague (Czech), then to Herzo, then up to Berlin.  Can't wait to spend a week together in Europe.  I'll finally have visitors in Herzo!  Then I'll head back to work on Monday September 21, and they'll continue onto Greece!

3) Dave travels back to his roots!  I planned and finalized a 3-day weekend to Lithuania for Aug 14-16.  I would leave late on Thursday night, and arrive back on Sunday evening.  I have always wanted to visit the small country that my Great Grandmother left around 1905.  Plus, as I get older, I realize I match my Lithuanian Grandfather (Gpa Urbon) probably a little more than my Polish Grandfather (Gpa Krzeminski), so I have always felt a draw back to Lithuania.

So my credit card was bleeding, but I was making exciting plans.  August is the month of travel in Europe, so I was fitting right in!

Flat tire fixed

Looking normal again!

Dave Germany: 68-70 (Kinderdijk) 3/3

After having a great city experience on Saturday, I found a UNESCO site for the classic Dutch windmills, called theKinderdijks.  It was located south of Rotterdam, and would require us to take a train, to a tram, to a bus.  Plus all the time waiting between connections.  It's a good thing we left early in the day, because we spent most of the day intransit.  It took about 2.5 hrs to finally arrive (would be a 45 minute drive otherwise).  But it was certainly worth it!

When we got to Rotterdam, it was much different than Amsterdam.  I am guessing that the Germans destroying the city in WWII probably lead to a more modern city.  There were sky scrapers, and just a more modern architecture to the city.  While it was quiet on a Sunday morning, you could tell the city wanted its only identity.

We were in Holland Netherlands, and it felt just Holland Michigan.  Not to mention all the names I kept seeing looked so familiar...Vander-this....Oost-that...Hoogstra...DeHaan....these were the families I grew up with.  It felt comforting to recognize things a little better.

So the Kinderdijks is a place where 19 original windmills have been preserved.  They had a museum with educational videos, and you could walk into the windmills, where whole families would live. Some of the windmills had people still living there as recently as the 1970s (i think)...and most of the windmills were finally decommissioned in the 1980s (i think).  We also took a boat trip up and down the canal, which was the highlight.

Since my flight back was at 6pm, we had to leave the windmills around 3pm.  I said thanks to Steven at the train station for all the great conversation and hospitality, then headed straight to airport.  I arrived back to Erlangen around 11pm, to find my bike still there!  I then biked home with my light in the dark, and arrived safely home just before midnight.

What a great weekend!  I had left Germany via plane, and gained lots of confidence towards traveling.  I had been eyeing a trip to Lithuania to return back to my family roots, so started to put together a plan for my next adventure!

Rotterdam skyline

Kinderdijks

Great view down the canal

Proof that I was there!

Picture from 1901 of the family that lived inside this windmill

Constructed in 1740, decommissioned in 1984 (I think)

Different view of the windmills

Dave Germany: 68-70 (Amsterdam) 2/3

Saturday was a beautiful day, and it started with a stroll around the Leiden market that was just outside Steven's apartment.  We decided to buy some fresh salmon & fruit for breakfast.  We cooked it up (yum!), then headed out for the big city.

It was the day of the Gay Pride Parade in Amsterdam, which we would learn to find out is a 'Mardi Gras-esque' party for the city.  The trains were packed, and people were dressed in all kinds of crazy outfits.  We arrived around noon, then began walking around the city.  It was great to have Steven as a tour guide, he mostly knew where to go, so I could relax and look around as we went.

We were quickly immersed into the liberal scene of Amsterdam.  We walked by several shops selling numerous types of weed and other lighter drugs, as well as sex shops with eyebrow raising displays, and storefronts selling anything you can think of that embodies a freedom of human expression and desire.  There were also open urinals on the street, which meant you could go, and look passers-by straight in the eye!

We then walked through the red light district.  Since it was the afternoon, the red lights weren't as bright, but the ladies behind the glass doors still were.  These first couple parts of Amsterdam had a similar feel to the French Quarter of New Orleans.

From there we walked to the Rijksmuseem (didn't go inside) and over to the "i amsterdam sign".  We also strolled past the original Heineken brewery, the Anne Frank House, and just took in the city on a lively Saturday.

We grabbed an easy lunch, and then walked over to where the 4 hour boat parade was....and it was crazy!  The canals were packed with boats, people were 5-10 deep all along the parade path.  There was music, dancing, drinking, partying, etc.  I never would have imagined the city like this, so it was neat to see it at its peak.  After a couple of hours of drinking beers and watching several floats of scantily clad men & women, we hit up a few more scenic views of the city, then headed back to Leiden.

That night we went to a house party with some Spanish friends Steven had recently made.  Who thought two Mississippi guys would be in the Netherlands sharing a meal with some Spainards : )  In true Spanish style, they were ready to head out dancing at 1130pm, but Steven & I opted out after a long day.  Tomorrow would we head towards Rotterdam and the Kinderdijks.

Breakfast in Leiden

Lovely canal in Amsterdam

Spacecake & joints for less than 10 euro

Steven using the free public urinals

Yes, that house is learning that far

Heineken Brewery

Rijksmuseum

Iamsterdam

There I am

The outside of the Anne Frank House (and my finger)

The red lights are on 

The parade route was super packed

That's a lot of guys without shirts!

I think the picture says it all

Can't argue with that

Nice view of Amsterdam North

Dave Germany: 68-70 (Leiden) 1/3

To close out the month of July, I planned a trip to Amsterdam where a former roommate of mine  back in Mississippi (Steven Whitacre) was now working.  In February Steven moved to Leiden, which is halfway between Amsterdam & Rotterdam.  He had a free place for me to sleep, and also I would benefit from Steven being my tour guide, which meant I wouldn't need to walk around with a map in front of my face the whole time.  So I booked a trip!

I booked a 5pm Friday flight out of Nuremberg airport, so I left straight from work.  I packed everything for the weekendin my backpack and rode my bike ~20 min to the Erlangen train station.  I locked up my bike, and hoped it would be there when I returned on Sunday evening.  I took a train then into Nuremberg Central Station, and then from there took a subway out to the airport.  Overall, it took about 90 minutes to get from adidas to the airport.

I first landed in Munich before continuing on Amsterdam.  When walking from gate to gate, I found a stand of free newspapers, and they had the NY Times & US Today.  Something to read in English!

I landed in Amsterdam about 8pm and walked straight to the train platform.  After almost getting on the wrong train (phew!), I hopped on the right one with 2 minutes to spare.  When I arrived at the Leiden Train Station, Steven was there to greet me with a hug, and then we walked back to his apartment.

Leiden was beautiful!  These Dutch cities built along canals are like a blend of New Orleans and a New England coastal port.  There were bikes everywhere.  And every couple of minutes, you walked over a a little bridge.  It was so scenic, and you could take a picture every 5 minutes.  

We walked down a side street, and into Steven's tiny apartment.  There was just enough room for the essentials of life, but not much else.  We headed out for some dinner and drinks along of the canals.  We exchanged stories and laughs about moving to Europe, and each enjoyed the company of an American friend.

We headed back around midnight and prepared to head into Amsterdam on Saturday!

Tanya... you'll love this... you can charge your cell phone for free!

The bike storage at Leiden Train Station... wow

Just a typical view walking around Lieden!

Views like this never get old!

A popular eatery in Leiden right along the water

The side street of Steven's apartment... the church

The stairs up to Steven's room

Steven's kitchen

Steven's living room & guest room (his bed right behind the picture)