Curonian Spit and Lagoon

 Things I did not know when I moved to Klaipeda: 1) It is located at the mouth of a lagoon that is formed by the Curonian Spit.  This is a strip of land that I compare to the islands off the coast of North Carolina, a sandy  barrier keeping the worst of the Atlantic from the inland coast.  In the case of Lithuania, this barrier is a solid strip of land, also very sandy, and enclosing a large bay or lagoon.  Klaipeda is the port at the point at which this lagoon opens to the Baltic Sea. 2) If you look closely, you can see that the spit is two colors. This means it belongs to two different countries. The Russians really wanted a warm water port, so at the end of the second world war, they claimed a portion of this area, which is not attached to Russia proper, much like Alaska in the Unites States.  The last town in Lithuania is Nida.

So, one day this summer I and a friend took the ferry across to the spit.  The round trip fare is about $1.25.  We then took a bus to Nida, about 60 kilometers down the spit.  Nida is a small artist village.  Thomas Mann and Sartre have both spent time here.  During the Soviet occupation, it was a restricted resort for party officials.  As a result, it is still quite unspoiled.  It is known for its pictographic family flags that harken back to pagan designs.  The day we visited, a group of artists were sculpting birds and fish outside the local fishing museum.

The Soviets also preserved the many of the buildings.  I do not know what this one is used for, but was impressed with it being large, round and having a thatched roof.

We then made our way up the dunes.  They have a nice set of stairs going up, and the view is definitely worth the climb.  Here you can see  Russia and the Baltic Sea.

Another point of interest at the top of the dune is this large sundial. (The men in the front are repairing the walkway.)

On another recent visit to the spit, I walked across from the ferry to the Baltic and actually waded in the sea.  I thought you would enjoy seeing the children of one of my colleagues making angels in the sand.

Both trips left me happy and tired as I boarded the ferry for home.

Redemption of the trip of Palanga

When I arrived  in Klaipeda, I still did not feel like riding the bike, so I took loaded it onto the local bus and made my way to the rental shop.  I was returning the bike more than 12 hours earlier than I had planned and they refunded the difference.  A very nice surprise.  And then off to home and a night sleep in my own bed.

When I awoke the next day, I decided that I was still on vacation.  Ah - what to do?  Well first off, I rolled over and went back to sleep.  When I finally got up, I went down to my favorite bakery for a chocolate croissant and then  to the market to replenish my supply of fruits and vegetables.  Back to the apartment to study Lithuanian for a couple of hours, a very enjoyable time.  Then I decided to do the tourist thing and go see a museum or two.

Off to the castle museum. The main part of the exhibits are inside this mound, which I think is supposed to represent some of the battlements erected for protection.  I learned that Klaipeda has not had an easy history.  The Christian Teutonic Order gave permission for the building of the castle in 1252.  This was a wooden castle that was destroyed by fire.  Over the next several centuries the castle and Klaipeda came under the rule of the Teutons, the Prussians and the Swedes.  Not an easy atmosphere in which to develop a culture.



During one of the reigns of the Teutonic Order, the craftsmen of Klaipeda were allowed to organize trade guilds.  These guilds tended to congregate on particular streets. (So much for a varied shopping district)  In 1588 the Bakers Guild was given a charter and settled on their street.  I live with that history as the address of my apartment is Kapėju 11, or 11 Baker Street.

The rest of the museum consists of the excavation of the castle's stonework foundations.

This section is covered by an excellent, reasonably flat roof that seems to be just the place for this young man to practice his martial arts.








From here I went to the History Museum of Lithuania  Minor, so named because, in the back and forth of conquest, areas of what is now Lithuania were the rule of different people at different times.  So the museum covers the area around Klaipeda, a minor part of Lithuania.  Two things I learned: 1) Populated shortly after the last Ice Age receded, this area had a very sophisticated culture; I would say even more so than the Indians of North America, though that is hard to say since that culture has been so obliterated. 2) In the early 19th century, the furniture makers around Klaipeda were making distinctive pieces, including a very practical bed that could be pulled out to make room for one more sleeper.

After all that culture, and still being on vacation, I decided that I would rest at one of the many side walk cafes in Old Town.  I had the incongruous combination of ice cream with chocolate sauce or ledai su šokoladu, and alcoholic sparkling cider.  Very refreshing.  This is the view from my table.  The Lithuanians may have a short summer, but they have flowers every where.  Notice the hanging baskets.  The day was different than it would have been had I been able to stay in Palanga, but it was redeemed.

Two-wheeled Misadventure

I had two cultural goals for the summer.  I wanted to ride some of the city buses to the end of the line to get to know the city.  I decided that this was an unachievable goal, since the city city buses have no ventilation and it is VERY uncomfortable to ride a bus just to see where it would go.  The other was to ride a bicycle to Palanga, a resort city about 25 kilometers away, stay overnight and return the next day.

So, this week, I made my way to a local bicycle rental shop.  Unfortunately, I did not get a photo of me with bike that I rented for a couple of days.  I got a helmet, a lock , a map and I was off.  This is a photo of the  scene across the street from the rental office.

And I was off.  My method for getting through this type adventure is to just keep going.  As a result, I did not take any photos of the process.  But I did enjoy the ride.  All of the path was paved.  One of my adventures was missing a turn and taking a path down to the sea.  This turned into soft sand which I could not negotiate.  I fell off the bike.  But it was soft sand.  The rest of the trip was through woods and meadows with butterflies, wildflowers and views of the sea.  A very nice ride.  At about kilometer 20 or 21 I determined that I needed to stop for water and some of the lunch I had packed.  When I reached the next benches that were placed periodically on the path, I saw a van with a flat-bed.  I thought an entrepreneur was selling water and sandwiches to the cyclists.  But no, this was the sag wagon for a German cycling tour.  As I sat down to enjoy my apple and tomato, one of them of them greeted me with 'Laba diena' or good day in Lithuanian.  A Lithuanian would have known I wasn't a native.  They gave more water to make it the rest of the way.

And I made it.  I arrived at the tourist town of Palanga.  The main street was lined with attraction, souvenir shops, restaurants, and street musicians.









My friend Gerda, who met me, and I went for a small lunch of traditional Lithuanian potato dumplings at a restaurant where she had worked.  It was set next to a small stream, off the beaten path, very peaceful.






We then walked down to the pier or bridge as the Lithuanians call it.  The walk way at the base of the dune leading to the pier was mad of wooden blocks.  The only other place I've seen this type of paving is at Blenham Palace in Brtiain.





Out on the pier, I saw the sea.  It is indeed the Baltic Sea and not an ocean.  Being August, many were out to enjoy the relative warmth.  We watch a couple of children dig a hole in the sand, several others bounce on the trampoline, and one young boy enjoying the freedom of swimming in the nude before his mother could get him into clothes.

Back to the Information Center, I found out that the Information Center in Klaipeda did not really know Palanga.  I could not get inexpensive accommodations on the spur of the moment.  Not to worry.  Gerda said I could stay at her home, an additional hour bike ride away.  Off  we went.  But I had already ridden for three hours that day, had recently had problems with my ears, and I fell from the bike again, this time on a grassy incline. I was not injured but it was quite unnerving.  Gerda suggested that we could walk back to the bus station and see if I could get back to Klaipeda with my bike.  This was a very good idea.  For less than $2.00 I and my bike rode back in half an hour.

So I made half of my goal.  Tomorrow I will tell you of the redemption of this misadventure.

A Treasure Hunt

A couple of days ago, a friend and I went on a treasure hunt.  The local tourist department has developed a map of a number statues located in my neighborhood.  We decided to find these wonderful bits of a art, some whimsical and some historical.  We started off to the harbor to see the first statue.  In order to get there we need to cross a bridge that spans a small canal.  The bridge is a swing bridge with a man-powered mechanism to return it to the spanning position.

The first statue we came across was rather daunting, a ghost commemorating a sighting by a castle guard across the canal in 1595.  I heard a story that the young son of the architect who created t he sculpture is afraid to go near it.

At the edge of the harbor we found the next pice of art, a young boy with his dog waving to those on the water.  according to the information on the map his mission is to meet and greet all ships entering the port and to make sure that those leaving have a friendly farewell.

We went back to the town to find the next sculpture.  The map indicated that it was on a particular corner, but we could not see it.  We then happened to look down the street and see it on the side of a building.  The dragon represents a legend of the founding of Klaipeda.  Two brothers were searching for a place to build a city.  One of them disappeared.  When the other went to look for him, he found only bloody foot prints belonging to a dragon.  The sculpture includes the foot prints and serves a practical purpose.  When it rains, the dragon becomes a downspout, with water rushing from its mouth.

The next sculpture was not hard to find.  It is a large piece of art and it is right across the street from my apartment.  This tower was erected in 1990. The bas relief on the four sides reflect the multiple generations living in the city.  notice also the dragon on the upper corner.

Then the hunt was on again.  The next  sighting was a small brass mouse on the corner of a small garden.  The story is that if you whisper a wish into the ear of the mouse, it will come true.  I was too busy taking photos to even read this information at the time, so I am not sure if it is true.

And where there is a mouse, there must be a cat.  This one was created by a Russian and has a rather stern face.  As with the mouse, the cat will give you good luck.  To take advantage of this you only need to rub its tail.  It was shiny enough to think that many people had tried to have their wishes come true.

From there we headed across a main thoroughfare to the banks of the river.  On the corner of one of the buildings was a basket of coins falling onto the ground.  This commemorates the first cash register in the city in 1915.

To find the next sculpture, we needed to lift our eyes.  The chimney sweep is quite a sight against the sky.

The last sculpture on our list is a series of mooring bollards.  We asked a couple of police men where we might find them.  They were not helpful, though I think the language barrier was a problem.  In the end, they were right in front of us, though difficult to see because the were rather nondescript.   Three mooring bollards commemorate the sea going history of Klaipeda, including crossing the Baltic Sea in a row boat, sailing the Atlantic, and sailing the world.



The hunt was complete and we went to a local Swiss restaurant where the proprietor encouraged me to try Swiss beer rather than my regular hard cider.  I wish I had taken the cider.  But it was a very pleasant afternoon.

Midsummer and Jonines

June 21:  The sun rose at 3:48 AM and set at 9:22, but the curvature of the earth meant that this was the view outside my window at 11:00 at night.  It never really got dark.  This makes it difficult to get to sleep, even though my bedroom is dark, because I don't think in terms of going to bed until about midnight.  As a result, I tend to sleep until perhaps 8:00 if I don't make myself get up.  This is rather disturbing to me, since I am generally a morning person.

The locals have designated the day as a celebration of St John and call it Jonines.  The festivities include much greenery such as the swags on the bridge.  We also had to walk under an arch of greenery to get to the dance floor.

It was an opportunity wear fancy ethnic clothing.  I really want one of these outfits.  I can just see myself sharing about my experiences to a group in the States in a long pleated plaid skirt with a fancy apron , blouse and vest.

I noticed several differences between this festival and one that might take place in the US.  There were close to 100 people on the dance floor and many hundreds more on the surrounding hills listening to the music.  For this group of people, there were perhaps ten concession stands and only one that served alcohol.  In addition to being non alcoholic and non commercial, the atmosphere was decidedly family with many young children around.  And people who came to dance really danced.  It was not just those who were in fancy dress who participated.  The organizers were well prepared.  They had at least three bands.  When one got tired they just brought in another.

       The last part of the festival was the lighting of the bond fire.  I took a photo of the prepared wood.  I stayed until 10:00 and decided that it would never get dark enough for the fire and went home.  But, it was a fun time.  Now the days are getting shorter.  I am not excited.        
                                                                                                                  

Easter

I know I am a bit behind the times, but I lost my camera and it took me a while to feel comfortable with my new one.  So, I am giving you an update.  Easter seemed to begin several weeks early when the mall started selling candy and set up this Easter Bunnies in a cart.  I felt like I was in consumer America.
                                                                                                              

 I spent Easter weekend in Riga, Latvia.  My office mate worked there some years ago and has friends who hosted us.  We spent the first day viewing the old town area.  The Latvians have reconstructed many of the medieval buildings sometimes using original specs. (The city was bombed heavily during WW2)






Some of the buildings are original, like this church.  It was a Catholic Church that the Lutherans took over at the Reformation.  It was the most ornate Lutheran Church I have seen, though there were no stained glass windows.  They had all been blown out during the war.
                                                                                                             

And then I saw some relatively new buildings like this one from the Soviet era.  The Latvians saved this one and turned it into  the Occupational Museum.  I thought that it was a museum featuring various occupations of Latvians.  Then I realized that it was an historical museum featuring the Soviet occupation.  I did not have the emotional energy to see what was inside.

That evening we went to a concert at the Opera House.  The hall was magnificently decorated and the choir sang very well.

I went to the local Salvation army for Easter services.  A very good experience

Monday we went to to open air museum, a lot like Wisconsin Old World Museum.  However of course the only ethic community represented were Latvians.  One of the buildings was a wooden church that as ornate as some cathedrals I've seen but all in wood.  Very impressive.


After this we took the four hour bus trip back to Klaipeda and the last week of classes.

T

Spring Festival

Rio has its Carnival and people go to New Orleans to drink and collect glass beads. Klaipeda is not to be left out of the celebration.  They offered the locals a weekend of food, fun and festivities. All of this took place two short blocks from my apartment, so of course I went to see what it was all about.  I found many stalls offering candy, sweets, alcoholic beverages, and cotton candy as well as a number of locally made crafts.  I stopped for some of the cotton candy.  I need one serving of this sweet confection each year and was not sure when I would have another chance.  Down the block was a group entertaining the crowds. The person in the middle was in drag and at this time was telling some story in Lithuania.  I wish I had been able to understand even the gist.  The crowd seemed to quite entertained.

Many of the stalls were selling dried flower arrangements in the form of various things associated with spring: chickens, eggs or flowers.





I bought a small half coconut shell, of all things, filled with dried flowers, mostly purple, to brighten my apartment in these closing days of winter.

I was also impressed with the wide variety of baskets.  I wanted get one to store my knitting, but since I have not bought yarn yet, thought it could wait until another time. By the way, the white figure in the middle of this photo is a dress form used to display a crocheted dress.


And of course there were tables and tables of amber.  Actually, I had not known that the area was known for this gem, but one can often find it washed up on the beach. These have been polished.  When you find it on the beach it is much rougher.



I am told that the Lithuanians are famous for their festivals and having  been to two of them, I can say that I am looking forward to seeing what they can do on a balmy summer weekend.