Vigorous Vilnius

Miaoooo! It happens quite often that I fall in love with places (and people and animals and books and sweets and names and shoes), but if I fall in love with a city, there has to be something very special in it, because I prefer countryside when it comes to falling in love with what I see. Hä. Sounds weird. Well, everything and everybody that I fall in love has something special in them. Now me talks about city-loving. It’s too early in the morning I need a break, cheers, tea is the thing (Jasmine tea, if possible, because it keeps people young, that I learnt in China from an old Chinese lady who looked like a teenager).

Let’s keep it in city-loving. Helsinki, Munich, Verona, Bergen (in Norway), Gent (in Belgium), Oxford, Innsbruck, Moscow, Athens, Madrid, Prague, Istanbul, Budapest, Hong Kong etc. etc. have made it to my heart (btw, for some reason New York or London never did). They carry something special in them. Something that I can’t put into words. Now I’ve got a new special city to my list of „beloved cities“ for you to introduce: Vilnius, Wilna, Vilna – how ever you’d like to call it and I will tell you why. Or I don’t know if I get to the point but let’s try. (Normally in the mornings I write „morning pages“ into my diary but now I decided to write here about Vilnius, so it might all NOT make any sense..)

I can only say: please go to Vilnius! And please DON’T go there in the summer time, when everybody else is going. Go when the colours are bright and when it might rain and is freezing cold, go in the fall. Or in the winter time. It gives you more. In the summer time all the European cities seem to be quite the same – and it makes things boring. Eastern Europe is in its best outside of the „high season“. I actually decided to avoid summer time in Europe (now remember there’s a girl talking, whos heading to Siberia in December!), because summer carries something desapointing in it…I mean summer, come on, everybody, me including, expects summer to be nice, warm and sunny, and if it’s not, then everybody is more or less being dissapointed, right?

Well the good news are: there’s always a weather. Weather never goes away. Some say „oh wow what a nice weather today!“ and some argue „oh whatta shitty rainy/snowy/dark/too hot a day!“ But why don’t you just forget about the weather. You can’t hide from it, you can’t run away from it, and every day is a new day. If it’s cold, wear a fucking (thick) jacket (and by a hat!) and stop complaining. Have fun. Take it as it is. Weather is there to play with you. Sometimes people forget it. They think that weather is just playing around and there to annoy people. But no-ho, weather, my dear, is our best friend! So if it’s too hot, go topless, people do that, and you might even get more good than bad looks from people. Concentrate on what you see and experience. Remember: no matter what the weather is like, you are still you, and the world is still the same old world, and from white cows you get milk and from brown cows hot chocolate and bunnies love carrots!

So when you go to Vilnius, don’t just walk around in the old town. Old towns are always beautiful, or at least most of them are, and the old town in Vilnius is not extraordinary beautiful compared to for example old town in Tallinn or in Stockholm or in Prague. It is worth wandering around, of course it is, but don’t spend your whole time there. Instead, go to the hills that are surrounding the old town (ha, if it’s cold, climbing up makes you warm, so don’t you dare complaining if the weather decides to be cold – do something about it!), walk to Uzupi (ah oh uh – and get an architectural orgasm!) and wander around. Go to backyards. Go to cemeteries. Go through open doors and gates. Observe the surroundings, talk to people if they stare at you – in Eastern Europe they seem to stare at you, especially if you wear something else than what is „normal“. It’s somehow lovely in Uzupi; some old houses almost fall down but still look so adorable, that you would want to give them a hug. New houses are being build or old ones being renovated – if you want to see Uzupis, GO THERE SOON. I’m afraid It will loose its enchantig atmosphere when/if all the new houses occupy the area. From the bottom of my tiny little twisted heart I hope the city of Vilnius won’t let people build or renovate so many buildings there. It’s so pretty now with more old than new houses and surroundings.

What else is there to do in Vilnius. Well, do what ever you feel like doing. Isn’t that a great advice? Actually every day just do what you feel like, even when you’re not in Vilnius. Stop planning things. I mean of course you have to go to work or do stuff that you have to, but other than that go where your feet take you or where ever your nose leads you. I decided not to plan anything anymore. Plans might affect other people – and what if you change your plans!? Then you upset the others, make them sad, even if the changes are not coming from you. Or you might get obsessed with your plans, and don’t follow your heart. Or you get confused. Or you loose yourself. Or you start panicking and going around in circles like I sometimes do when I forget about what I was going to do. That’s why it’s better not to do plans. Then you don’t forget things.

Except that now I’ve got such an idea for a novel that I have to do some travel planning. Need to travel to Balkan countries and East Europe after Siberia and Japan and the Rainbow Mountains. Need to. My new novel needs that. Oh but first, of course, I’ll meet up with my two cows in Thailand or Vietnam in February/March (greetings to you girls!).

Anyways now that I’m trying to write a travel blog (I’m still practising, propably for a very long time, so please don’t judge my blog yet) my hot tips to Vilnius are

– Cafe Mint Vinetu (if you buy a book and a piece of cake and then write a lot in your notebook, the quite serious but nice waiter will smile at you!)

– Literary street (!!)

– Buying hand made mittens from the market (old town shit – remember to handle!)

– Titanikas (Art Academy, where you can see cool art for free)

– Vilnius Picture Gallery (not that special but gives you a taste of Lithuanian art)

– Gate of Dawn (the oldest and the only gate of the old town, not that special, but before that you see a really old 500-year old church in an inneryard, and it’s worth visiting!)

– The National Opera (you get easily cheap and neat tickets – i went to see ballet and it was GOOD!)

– Do Re Mi hostel is a good place to stay overnight (it’s cheap, quiet, close to everything and very clean!)

– TALK TO PEOPLE IN RUSSIAN and they take you more seriously – if you don’t know Russian, pretend that you understand – I’ve started slowly speaking Russian again…my skills are rusty but it’s great place to practise them..

The nightlife must be good in Vilnius, that’s the feeling I got. There are lot of pubs and bars, and people seem to go out a lot. Unfortunately I can’t say much more, because I’m an old cow nowadays, or actually I’m a young cow who drank too much alcohol lately and tries to stay far away from the king called Alc. Nightlife is boring all alone without drinking, that’s a cruel fact, so I didn’t go into the night of Vilnius. Next week in Helsinki I have to go out, but there I can entertain myself by talking to friends and watching them go drunk. Ha. And now I’m off to bus once more. Nine hours of training my bottom muscles. Then I’ll eventually land in Tallinn, unless I step into the wrong bus and end up in Ukraine.