Touring Kaunas

Our hotel rooms were very comfortable!

And here is the exchange rate. We figured out it is Litas divided by 2.5 = US dollars.

Vita Račkauskaitė was our guide today. She says her last name indicates she is Račkaus' daughter, and if she married her last name would be _____wife. She first took us to Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral. It has been said to resemble "a resting cow with one horn." It is a gothic building with a baroque interior, and was never completed because a Tsar didn't want anything within the city to be built above a certain level.

This is a Roman Catholic Cathedral. There was a private chapel to the side for those folk who needed a silent place for prayer.

The birthdate of Kaunas is 1361, because that was when Crusaders described pagans building the castle. We went to the Kaunas Castle, which sits at the "energetically powerful" confluence of the (female) Neris river and the Nemunas (male) river. On this point in the tenth century people lived in wooden houses, and there remains a pagan altar where pagan fires now regularly burn. Some Visitors recently mistook the altar for an outdoor grilling spot, but I think the pagans were gracious about it. Lithuania was the last pagan country in Europe, since the first baptisms here took place in the 15th century. The castle is restored now, but some of the original wall is still in place.

Behind the castle is the only seminary for Catholic priests in Lithuania. Currently it houses six students, but earlier in this century there were 300. The St George Cathedral has been used for many uses during this century, including a place to hang parachutes which landed on the castle green and and when Napoleon attacked Kaunas (the first city in Europe he attacked in 1812, horses were kept safe inside. During the Soviet Union it served as a place to house medicines for the sisters who were receiving medical training. There are six Franciscan priests living there and working to restore the church.

 

It is said that this Cathedral is now very popular with young people, with whom the monks have a good approach.

The cross above has Christian and pagan symbols on it.

At lunch we met Laurijana, Žaneta, and Ugnė, women who work at the Methodist Center. Laurijana is the Youth minister, Žaneta is a Diaconal and Women's Ministry Coordinator, and Ugnė is the Treasurer for the District. Laurijana is in the green sweater, Žaneta is in the middle, and Ugnė is on the left. They are working in the church to help families be healthy and women to be strong. Laurijana spoke English, and Ugnė translated for Žaneta.

 

After lunch we wandered some more, and saw the "Longest Bridge in the World." It is long because it used to take 14 days to cross into Prussia at that site. This was because Lithuania and Prussia used different calendars. It has also been known as the "Shortest Bridge" for the opposite reason.

 

Others of us went to the top of another church and rode a Funicular train.

 

 

 

 

For dinner we went to this restaurant... And had this Farmer's Meal. It was served family style, and had potato pancakes (bulviniai blynai), sausage skins stuffed with potatoes (vėdarai), boiled potatoes, sausage, potato dumplings stuffed with minced meat (cepelinai), sauerkraut, and pickled cucumbers, with special sauces: horseradish, bacon sauce, and something like ketchup with Brown sugar in it.

 

 

Judy was able to join us for dinner, and arrived with her luggage! Good thing she used to be a travel agent! As I write this she has just gone to bed for the first time in many hours, and she is counting her blessings!

 

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