After enjoying a breakfast at the hotel I decided to go ahead and buy my train ticket to Siaulai and afternoon bus ticket from Siaulai to Riga. I just wanted to get everything out of the way so that I could easily travel tomorrow without worrying about buying tickets.
The lady that worked at both the bus and train terminal did speak some English so it made my purchase easier.
I decided I needed to go to a church with a beautiful interior. This church, St. Peter’s and Paul’s Church is located a bit further away from the rest of Vilnius. Therefore I decided if I wanted to see it it is best to go first thing in the morning. The church has an ornate interior with lots of white carvings. The outside of the church is not all that special and without reading a travel guide a tourist might pass it by or not even look for it since it is someone away from the main tourist attractions. While riding the bus there a lot of passengers got on making the bus extremely crowded and I was a bit worried that I would not be able to get off in time at the particular stop for the church. But I was able to get off in time no problem.
I caught a bus going back the other direction and got off at the funicular to go up to the Castle Hill. It was only 9:15 and the lady at the gate said that the funicular opened at 10 a.m. I went into Cathedral Square looking for other things to do. I noticed the clock tower also did not open until 10 a.m. . So I started walking toward the Castle Hill figuring I could walk up to it and then just take the funicular down. But walking kind of defeats the purpose of taking the funicular up. Looking on my travel guide I noticed the Hill of the Three Crosses was nearby so I decided to climb the hill in order to get to it. At the foot of the hill where some tennis courts with a few people playing tennis or doing tennis practice. The steps going up the hill or in poor condition and it might be difficult for someone much older than me or with some physical disabilities to make it up the hill. It took a while but I managed to make it. At the top of the hill was a Japanese tourist group. I was able to get one of the group members to take my picture at the crosses. 

He seems to know what he was doing even positioning the camera too make the light come in more as where I was standing was in the shadows. There was a lady there, apparently a native, who is talking to the Japanese man who took my photo about how Lithuania has not only Christians but also those of the Pagan religion which she was apart of. This Pagan religion has always caught me off-guard no matter its context. Always see if someone is a made-up religion was no specific doctrine. But that is a blog for another day. I took a different route down and made it to the funicular to go up to Castle Hill. But I had trouble with the ticket and the man had to let me through the day without me going through the turnstile. I managed to use the suction cup device on my GoPro to hopefully get some good shots going up the hill and also down the hill. At Castle Hill you can even climb the steps to the top of the tower for a great view of Lithuania. It’s kind of the national symbol of Lithuania. It seemed I was immersed into the patriotism of Lithuania whenever I saw the Lithuania flag gently waving in the wind at the top of the tower. I managed to take a few pictures before heading back down to the funicular. I positioned the GoPro camera at a different angle along the side and hopefully it will make for some good videos.
I wanted to eat at Boom Burgers and as I walked in at 11 a.m. I was told they weren’t open until 11:30 a.m. so I decided to go to the Clock Tower in Cathedral Square and climb to the top. There were some really beautiful views of the city and of Cathedral Square with the castle tower in the background.
I ate at Boom Burgers which had some really good burgers and fries all for a lunch special of 5.99 Euro. The only problem is that the drinks never satisfy me. it is usually not enough or they’re just not cold enough. That’s one thing that I really miss about America when I’m in Europe. That is the lack of free refills in Europe. After eating at Boom Burgers I came out and immediately bought Sprite at the drink stand across the street. I’m sure it was much cheaper than if I had decided to buy a drink at the restaurant.
I decided to do some exploring around and also look for souvenir shops and visit tourist attractions that I may have missed my first couple of days.
Vilnius has winding cobblestone streets that I really enjoy getting lost in. I found myself and I souvenir shop. I probably paid too much for my Lithuanian t-shirt, but it’s too late now. Also I found out that in Lithuania if it says large it really means medium. But the shirt still fits for now as long as it doesn’t draw up too much from washing it.
Also at the souvenir stand I bought a Christmas ornament. I have a rule when visiting a place overseas. I try to buy a Christmas ornament however the Christmas ornament must always mention the name of the city otherwise it is just another handcrafted ornament that I will forget where I got it at.
I also ended up buying a Lithuania street sign which I plan on putting up in my upstairs bonus room. I already have many other signs so this will serve as a complement to the other signs. Not wanting to carry around this oversize sign with me for too long I decided to head toward my hotel and eventually drop it off. I figure this metal sign may cause problems with the X-ray machines at the airport so I will probably take it out and let them x-ray it separately upon departure. I had the same problem with the same that I bought in London and I had to always remove it whenever I was going through security.
After a short rest at the hotel I decided to go back out again this time visiting the Gates of Dawn which is just a short walk from my hotel. They were beggars in the gates and this was the first time I had seen beggars out. They did not bother me however.
I went to various churches and viewed them from the inside. I always find Catholic church so unnecessarily gaudy on the inside. I realized these churches are several hundred years old but I feel that the church could have easily gotten rid of many of these artworks so they could feed the poor. I guess that’s how I was raised because the churches that I have attended have never really been all that decorative but more practical. While I was at these churches I saw quite a few people making the sign of the cross and meditating in prayer.
I also visited a couple of Orthodox churches which are easy to spot since they have Cyrillic alphabet writing on many of the icons. Some even had light up lettering and somewhat of a Vegas Style.
One thing I noticed at the two orthodox churches is that there are no pews. And I begin to ask myself where do these people sit and do they actually hold formal worship services within the Orthodox Church. Or is it more a come-and-go type thing somewhat like a baby tea.
And here’s a question which this author who was raised and still is a member of the Church of Christ: do Orthodox Churches have no instrumental music? I don’t think I saw an organ or like musical instrument within the churches. I will have to do some research later on about this.
I saw St. Anne’s Church yesterday which has a very ornate outside design but on the inside the paint was peeling and it just wasn’t kept up to par with the outside. This runs in tangent with St. Peter and Paul’s Church mentioned previously that had an ordinary outside but extraordinary inside. This kinda is parallel to people. Some people can be ordinary on the outside but have an extraordinary heart and mind. Others are beautiful on the outside but on the inside they’re drab and dark.
I walked around taking more pictures and attempted to eat at Pizzaland however it was closed for some odd reason even though the schedule said that they should be open. I walked around until I found a Charlie Pizza and decided to eat there. The pizza at Charlie pizza was like most other European pizza that I’ve had. That is they always have a thin crust and never enough tomato sauce. I also had a milkshake which was not very spectacular because the milkshake was not all that cold. This is another problem with Europe in that their cold drinks are never very cold.
I went back to the tourist area and did some last-minute shopping especially for a Lithuanian soccer shirt. Lithuanians are actually more well known for being good at basketball. Lithuania earned the bronze medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. This is quite an accomplishment for such a small country.
Tomorrow will be a travel day as I go to Siaulai via train. I will then take a suburban bus to the hill of crosses. I’ll have approximately 30 minutes to see the hill across as before walking back to the bus stop in hopes of catching the bus back to Siaulai. I’ve spent several hours planning this portion of my trip and am worried about it most of all but having been here for a few days I think I can navigate it without any problems.