About my first day.

noreply@blogger.com (Monty) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:25:00 +0000

I am happy to write about the things I've been doing ever since I arrived here on Tuesday, Sept 22.

After flying from Dulles International to Copenhagen Denmark, I took a connecting flight to Vilnius International Airport and arrived at 11:15am Vilnius time.

You all know that I've never been away from the U.S. except for Canada, so it was an exciting experience in itself to set foot in Lithuania for the first time.

After picking up my bags, I met with Rūta, my roommate, and her friend Indrė, and we took a taxi to our apartment, which is right by the Lithuanian Parliament, known as the Seimas.

Rūta made an excellent stuffed eggplant with rice that we drank with Italian wine. My other roommate, Alina, works at an Italian winehouse here so she brings home wine and really fancy sausage and cheese. It's almost criminal.

After eating, Rūta and Indre led me down the street that we live off of, Gediminos Prospektas, towards the great Cathedral here. Let me tell you, Gediminos Prospektas is the prettiest street in Lithuania. Deliberately, it is clean and maintained and hosts some of the best shops, cafes, bars, and restaurants city. It has a combination of baroque, classical, early modern, Soviet, and contemporary architecture that has this old world / new world mixture.

So we walk down the avenue and I pass by those shops...but in the distance I see it, I see one of the most amazing sights ever, and it amazes me even now. The Vilnius Cathedral:

Watch what it looks like when you are underneath it:

At the time, walking with the two girls, I just grinned and said in Lithuanian, "As ne tikiesiu as esu cia", or, "I can't believe I'm here."

We went and saw Gedimino Castle as well, which I will have pictures for later.

Vilnius Letters

About my first day.