Day 70 A really Great Day!

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You are spared looking at many pictures of the Hill of Crosses because the camera spent the day on the tracks between Klaipeda and Vilnius.  Someone (I) dropped it between the seats and didn't notice, but it was there waiting for us when we got on the train to come home.  On the other hand, you missed seeing many pictures of the Hill of Crosses.  If you read yesterday's blog, you have the history of the place, but being there, realizing that it was bulldozed and the crosses destroyed 3 times under Soviet rule and quickly put back up by the citizens is inspiring.  There were large crosses, some of them of wood, some of metal and lots of smaller crosses.  One was just two sticks fastened together  with a hair sdrunchy.  I assume that some girl wanted to leave a cross and just made one from sticks she found and the scrunchy she was wearing.. I think there probably more rosaries than crosses.  They were just strung on the crosses, one after another.  Our new friend Eurika, who took the picture said that her friend from Finland left a rosary and found it again 5 years later in the same spot.  It is true that when the wind blows it is like wind chime music.  We walked over to the monastary and visited the chapel.  The pulpit is in front of a full length window placed so that when you look at the priest you see the Hill of Crosses behind him.  So beautiful.  Look up the Hill of Crosses on the internet for some beautiful pictures.  There was also a large star of David that had a message that related to the Holocaust.

Audrone, her husband Vladas, their little boy Joris and Vladas' sister met us at the train and off we went to see the Hill and the monastary.  Next we had bubble play, thanks to Del's having found them for me.  Joris and I had the best time, and since I don't know the proper words in Lithuanian, he was nice enough to imitate whatever I said and then tell me what to do in LIthuanian.  His mom translated, and I did it.

We drove back into town and visited a beautiful church.  We walked around and looked at it and then Joris pointed to the front bench and gestured for us to sit.  He sat down and spent 5 minutes just looking up toward the altar.  Del coughed and he turned to him and put his finger up to his lips.  His mom and dad had a hard time keeping straight faces.  When he had sat there long enough, he got up and gestured for us to do the same.  I don't know what he was thinking or whether he was praying or what.  His eyes were open, and he never took them off the altar.  Once we got back outside he began to jump and talk a mile a minute.

We had an early dinner in a renovated bomb shelter.  It was a beautiful place.  Del ordered kepa duana with cheese and garlic, and Joris was the primary competition.  We pushed the bowl toward him when it first came, and after that, he took some and pushed the bowl back across the table to us.  We shoved it back and forth between each forkful.  He was very kind, however, when it came to the last piece; he offered it to Del, but seemed quite pleased when Del pushed the bowl back toward him.

Then off to the playground  for more bubbles, the slide and the see saw. 

It was starting to get windy, and poor Joris was only dressed in a shirt, a flannel shirt with a hood, a leather jacket, a wool hat and a down jacket with a hood, so he needed to be out of the cold.  It was 55 degrees F.  Eurika was kind enough to ask us to her flat for tea.  We were stuffed full of dinner, you  understand, but we also had lovely chocolates and cookies.  We turned down the opportunity for ice cream, as much as it pained me to do it.

In her first career, Eurika was an art teacher, but after her father started a business, she went back to school for a masters in management.  She works in the business but teaches part time in an afternoon program for children. Audrone pointed out some of her work, and it ws beautiful.  I think artistic talent must run in the family because her brother, Audrone's husband, is an architect.  Del looked  him up and he has won awards for his work.

Then off to the train.  Joris was a bit bumbed because he was not going on the train with us, but he got over it.  A man who had had a bit of drink was sitting in my assigned seat, so I just sat down in someone elses.  I appoligized to the man who looked as though he belonged in my seat and he just sat down beside me.  He said he spoke only Lithuanian, but asked if I was from England.  I explained, and he showed me camera photos of his wife and daughter.  Between my trusty dictionary and his limited English, we had a grand old time.

Finding the camera made it an even better day.  Fortunately, I follow the advice Tracy gave us several years ago and download all the pictures each day, so losing it would have been a financial loss, but I wouldn't have needed to cry about it.