The Fun Life of the Girl Child

Riding high on daddy while he does computer work!

 

Climbed into the cupboard under the sink to do some exploring. 

Having fun in the balls at XPlanet on our first playdate with Chris and Ana.

A Lovely evening

No day would be complete without these two and Rob's favorite thing to eat... dessert!

 

 

 

Walking home through Old Town

 

Touring our new city

Today, Rob, Hollis and I took a tour of the city.  We were the only people on the tour, so it was like having our own personal tour guide to show us the city.  We visited a lot of churches, and got a really good feel for the city.  We saw a lot of different styles of churches as well including Gothic and Baroque.  We have a lot more to see and explore, but here are some shots from the day.  Of course, my battery started flashing at me, so I didn't take as many shots as I would've liked, but still managed to get a lot.  We walked into and out of Old Town (it's about a 5 min. walk from our house), so I took some shots of the streets and things so you can see what they are like in Old Town.  Hollis was a little fussy (it was during her naptime), so I missed a bit of the names of places and such, but down the road, I'll learn them I'm sure!

 

 

 The Church of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Franciscans)

 

 
Typical street leading into Old Town

 

 
Painted Frescoes in some of the churches.  Many of them were in service, so we didn't go in too many of them.

 

 
On one of the streets, this knight stood guard.  I took this picture for Charlie.  :)  Made me think of you!

Typical roadway in Old Town.  These bricks will go up and down and can make for a fun and bumpy ride in some areas. 

 
Rob walking down the street.  Crazy exciting, I know.

This is the Presidential Palace.  The flag on top of the building shows whether the president is in Lithuania or not.  If she, yes, they have a female president, is out of the country, the flag is removed until she returns.  Pretty cool! 

 
This is in Cathedral Square -

 

The clock on this tower does not have minute hands, therefore it only shows what hour it is, and most times it is not correct.  When it was built, people did not use minutes, so they only needed to know the hour.  Kind of a fun fact! 

Here's me in Cathedral Square.  Bad hair day.  Don't judge. 

Rob and Hollis in front of the Cathedral in Cathedral Square. 

This is one of the main streets, just outside of Old Town.  It is full of shops and restaurants, lots of people out enjoying the day. 

This is the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul.  It was not in service while we were there, so we were able to go in and explore.  It's hard to see due to dim lighting, but there are thousands of carvings all over the interior of this church... all made of stucco.  It was amazing to look at.  So much detail!

 

 

 

My friend's mom, Sally Priest, recently passed away, so I lit a candle for my friend Stacy, and one for her mom.  I thought they looked quite lovely glowing below the image of Our Lady of Mercy, a painting that has been in the church since 1653. 

 

 

This is another church we saw which is an example of Gothic architecture. 

 

Below is the Gate of Dawn:

 
It was built between 1503 and 1522 as a part of defensive fortifications for the city of Vilnius.  Of the nine city gates, only the Gate of Dawn remains, while the others were destroyed by the order of the government at the end of the 18th century.

Note the glowing window - close up below.

I used my zoom to capture this picture below from the street, but you can in fact go inside the church and stand right in front of  the painting.  It is said to have special powers.

Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn

In the 16th century, city gates often contained religious artifacts intended to guard the city from attacks and to bless travelers. The Chapel in the Gate of Dawn contains an icon of The Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of Mercy, said to have miraculous powers. For centuries the picture has been one of the symbols of the city and an object of veneration for both Roman Catholic and Orthodox inhabitants. Thousands of votive offerings adorn the walls and many pilgrims from neighboring countries come to pray in front of the beloved painting.

On September 4, 1993, Pope John Paul II said Rosary at the Gate of Dawn Chapel.

 

Borrowed these two from the internet:

 

 

 

Fun at the Grocery Store

This is for all my foodie friends! Shopping here is quite an adventure. Here are some shots from our grocery store across the street. If you see prices listed, we are on the Litas here. $1 in the U.S. is about 2.7 Litas here. Some things are about the same as in America. Other things you can buy here for dirt cheap. There's no rhyme or reason to it.

Milk - You can buy these 2 Litre plastic bottles, and then for much cheaper, you can purchase these plastic "refill" bags of milk to refill your bottles with.

Meats! This outstanding selection is particularly interesting. Why? See that block of white stuff on the right side of the case? Um... yep, that's BACON! Bacon here tends to contain a LOT of fat, and not much else. You can find bacon with the red in it, but not very much, let me tell you! We have yet to find a restaurant that serves crispy bacon. It's more of a soggy mass of this stuff, but the people here seem to love it! Marci - This bacon photo is for you. Especially since you love the extra crunchy. :)

A lovely selection of sausages and such. We try several of these a week. They are all pretty good so far!

The meat case. Notice the prosciutto hanging in the rear.

Here's a close-up of the prosciutto. Seeing this close up, you can see they are quite large. As an example of something you can get "cheap" here. Just one of these will run you about $10 US. Oh yeah!

Alright seafood lovers... you can pick straight from the tank or choose "on the rocks"!

Next up - some dairy! Here's the milk area. Note the tubs of "refill bag milk" down on the bottom. And my life would not be complete without CHEESE! It's not like my good 'ol Wisconsin cheese, but we are having fun sampling the many varieties. A cheese I picked up tonight was red in color and is called "Suris su prieskoniais" which I believe means Landana Red Pesto.

 

Fellow bread heads? Well... check this out! All of the breads, and I didn't even show all of it, is walk right up, open bins, all fresh, every day. These are some of the treats ranging from sweet breads like danishes to say cheesy type breads. There's also a huge assortment of loaves and other interesting things.

This case in the store is one of Rob's favorites. It's the hot dogs. Yes, I said hot dogs. There are loads of sizes, textures, flavors, etc. We had a hot dog night (some were like kielbasa) one night and tried about 6 different ones. I'm good on hot dogs for awhile now... LOL!

And the best for last.... Desserts! These are just a few things that grace the bakery area, and let me tell you, the selections are scintillating. Warning: You may gain a few pounds by looking at these photos. Mmm...

In this top photo, notice the yellow fruit (kinda looks like a cherry?) - well this fruit is called Physalis fruit - it's quite interesting. Funny story - we were at a fancy restaurant, and one of these little guys came on the side of our dessert plate. I asked what these berries were, and the server said Physalis fruit - and I said "Syphilis fruit?"   Hahhahaha! So, now this fun little yellow fruit will forever be known to me as the Syphilis fruit.

Highlights of Lithuania

A great overview of what we have to discover here in Lithuania!

Two peas in a pod?

Rob often gets lots of looks when walking down the street with Hollis. I wonder if it's that thing protruding from his chest?