The dean of the humanities faculty allowed the Library faculty to have a day off, a van and a driver to take us on a tour of the Curonian Spit. It's a 90 k long and narrow penninsula that connects with Kalingrad, an outpost of Russia they kept after Soviet times. We could not go across the border, of course, but unlike a former candidate for national office, we really could see a part of Russia, and our cell phones claimed we were actually there. The spit divides the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic sea, and is magnificent. The part we could visit was the municipality of Neringa which is one long skinny politican entity with several little towns taken into it. They say the main street is 50k long. The area has long been a mecca, as they say, for artists.
We started our trip at 9 o'clock by taking a car ferry from Klaipeda. Our first stop was at the Hill of Witches. During Soviet times artists wanted to make a beautiful scupture garden, but were limited in choice of subjects by the Soviets. Since the Soviets did not mind witches and legends, they decided to carve them. Now there are more than a hundred sculptures.
After a picnic, we walked most of the way up the gray dunes, but one of the older librarians took pity on us , and perhaps herself and suggested that time was getting short and we should go on to Nida. It is a beautiful village with an amber museum and the former summer home of Thomas Mann. Up on the hill you can look in one direction at the lagoon and in the other to the Baltic Sea.
Amber is brought from the sea and is made of resin. I had not known that it comes in many different colors depending on the circumstances of its creation. White has lots of air bubbles, for example. We also saw examples with insects, etc. captured in it. Amber is believed to have healing properties and to bring luck. One of the librarians has had bronchitis, and she was wearing a dark amber necklace which is supposed to be especially good for respiratory ailments. We were taught how to make an elixer of amber soaked in 80 proof alcohol for a month, and given some to taste. The museum curator said that after a month it is no longer alcohol, it is medicine, and a shot glass a day will guarantee good health. It certainly did taste like medicine of the nastiest kind.
If you ever want to know if amber is real, put it in a 10% solution of salt water. If it floats, it's real.
We also learned about the painted wooden weathervanes that ships had to have in order to identify them. We were told that you would have been ale to look at the weather vane and tell all about the owner of the ship, down to how many children he had. Now people set the weathervanes on tall poles as yard decorations.
We got home around 6:30 and collapsed. Fortunately, our picnic, the cake and cookie break and ice cream at the ferry landing meant we needed no dinner. Once again, I was too tired from doing to talk about it, so this is late.
The ladies were so funny. We try to pay for as much as we can because their salaries are small. I just tell them it's Del's turn to cook or that Uncle Sam or the government is paying. When we planned this trip, they told me that the government was not invited and they would play. The last time we went out, I had stopped and paid when I went to the bath room, so when we stopped for coffee and I went got up to go to the bath room, Audrone said "Ha, we already paid." and they laughed and laughed. We were on our best behavior regarding letting them pay.
The weather was just beautiful, sunny and warm. Our little friend Joris had prayed for good weather for us, and he did a god job.
Included with the pictures in this post, you will see an example of the most creative parking I have ever seen and the inside of the taxi I took to work this morning.
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