Christmas Eve Dinner

A fun gathering with a few new friends.  Decided to celebrate on Christmas Eve with a potluck dinner!  Just a few shots from our fun evening.

Sean and his daughter Gabriela

Aud & Gabriela

 

 Hungry Man Rob

 

Hollis "You put the lime in the Coke, you nut!"

 

Mimosa's, anyone?  says Anthony

 Lorean and I

 

The Spread of Goodness

Laura's homemade truffles

Walkin' and Freezin'

Sunday, 12/23/12

Instead of cozying up to the fireplace we don't have, we opted to go for a walk on one of THE coldest days so far.  It was about 2 degrees, slight wind, high humidity.  Best described as "nostril hair freezing, cold to your bones, shiver me timbers, gonna take 6 hours to thaw out my body" cold.  Don't ask me why we choose to go out on these days, but we do.

 

At a local flea market, both indoors and outdoors. 

Lots of books, hats, furniture, dolls, coins, cards, antiques and random household items.

 

Walking through a park to make our way towards Old Town. 

Pushing a stroller in the snow is like a fun game.

 



 

The Three Muses

This statue atop the  Lithuanian National Drama Theatre is represented by the unusual black-robed figures of drama, comedy and tragedy.  They hide behind their gold masks leaning toward their audience of tourists like me taking pictures.

 

Hollis and I walking on one of my favorite streets.  A lot of the art sellers have stands along this roadway.  I took home a few treasures myself this day!

 

A few fun holiday decorations gracing some of the shop entrances.

 

The orchid painting I bought.  I can't wait to get it home!

 

 

5 Liters of Bavarian Beer!

Last night at a restaurant, we decided to give the old 5 Liters of Bavarian Beer a try!  The cost of this beer is 36 Litas, which equals $13.78 in U.S. Dollars.  Thank goodness we had a few friends to help us work on it.  Man, are we going to miss it here!  LOL!

We finished off the beer, and Hollis kicked back with her feet up with a sigh and a soft belch.

 

Adventure to Trakai and Trakai Castle

We finally took our first adventure outside of the city.  We had a nice (albeit snowy and icy) drive out to the lakeside city of Trakai.  The thing to see in this quaint little town is Trakai Castle.  The castle sits on an island on Lake Galve and has been painstakingly restored to its original red-brick Gothic glory.  It dates from around 1400.  A footbridge links it to the shoreline.  You can tour the castle, and entering each of the rooms, there is a story about what the rooms were and are now the Trakai History Museum.  It charts the history of the castle and features plenty of medieval weaponry, traditional costumes, furniture, and personal items.  In the summer, they host concerts, plays and mock medieval battles.  The day we visited was FREEZING COLD, but we braved the snowstorm and had fun exploring the castle.  Although much of the walking around is outside and up and down stairwells, once you entered a room, it was heated, so it was nice to get out of the cold and warm up a bit.  We will have to come back in the summer, I'm sure it will look quite different, but I thought it was lovely even in winter.  Enjoy!