Paskutinis Savaitgalis Lietuvoje

After having exhausting all options that I could think of and having some exhausting and frustrating days running around town trying to get a working visa, I admitted defeat. So the choice was to either stay illegally or to leave. I really wanted to be there for when my parents and aunt and uncle would come later on, but a week before my visa expired (I fought to the very end), I bought tickets to Croatia, which is not apart of the EU and thus I would be able to stay there legally. You see, since Lithuania is apart of the EU and in the Schengen Zone, tourists from the US are given 90 days to stay. For every 90 days there though, you have to leave for 90 days. This is why I had to leave since I did not get my working visa. So I bought the tickets to Croatia and hurriedly did some things I had been saving for the summer when I would not be working. This post is of my last weekend in Lithuania.

On the way to another cousin's house on the coast, the fields were filled with purple lupines.

We had a huge lunch and dinner at her house. This is wild boar hunted nearby.

And these pieces are what is left of the rabbit we ate.

Here is Justinas, the cousin's son, who just graduated from the US Naval Academy. He is with his girlfriend serving us the fish, seen below.

Here are just a few of the rabbits in the pen. I think they had at least 20. And yes, that is where our rabbit from the meal came from.
My cousin's house is only about 9km from the shore. This was taken at about 10:30pm close to when the sun was finally going done.
Justinas's captain's bell.
The family dog.
The table was littered with all kinds of different Russian and Lithuanian liquors, some which you mixed with tea, others which you drank outright like a shot. They were definitely very intersting.
Traditional Lithuania cake already broken apart.

Traditional cheese with caroway seeds. This is so good with honey.

Cartons of Juice. I thought the names were funny. I think I will miss the fact that most food labels are in a variety of different languages. Every meal you learn a little bit more about another language. For instance, now you know that pfirsich probably means peach or nectarine in German.

The following day, we went to mass at the same church I visited before where my cousin, the monk, was living. It was special because it was the day after St. Anthony's day and many people had come the day earlier as well as for this following day. As I said in an earlier post, behind Padua, this is the place with the most visitors to St. Anthony and has the most miracles attributed to St. Anthony documented.
The entrance of the church had this banner.
The picture of St. Anthony with his relic. Anthony in Lithuanian is Antanas.
At the end of mass, the monks distributed a special bread to the congregation which was shared with everyone by breaking off a piece and passing it along.
Many people were also lighting candles.
As you can see, the church was decorated for the occasion. The garlands are strands of evergreen tree branches.

After mass, we ate a little, and then went to some parks, where the main attractions at both were the wooden sculptures.


Birute got a little scared on the teeter-totter.
By my calculations, it weighed about 1000 lbs.

Ignas, Karolis, and I.

This was the first of 2 times when I tried to make Karolis barf on the merry-go-round.

I was unsuccessful both times.
I think this is a punk-rock breed. The meat is a bit stringy (like a guitar) :)
There was also a small zip-line.
Ignas loved all the animals, even the goats.
Ignas, Karolis, Birute, and I
Karolis and the windmill.
Plants which will sprout summer wild blueberries. Yumm. I had been eating blueberries all winter long in my oatmeal in the mornings.
This was a bunker made in the forest where rebels during the Soviet occupation lived. It was very small and probably could only fit 5 people only a little bit comfortably if they needed to live in there.
Some of the wooden carvings were just huge.

Bonzai plants. We went to a place that is just starting to construct what will be the largest Japanese garden in Lithuania. We did not stay long though since the weather, at 10 C with wind (50 F), was so balmy.
An old Russian car. Stop in Lithuanian means, yes, go on behind the yellow and red tape.
Joseph beer. Karolis is contemplating which one he will try, the dark one, or the lighter beer. They both have to be good, though, because I mean, hey, it's Joseph beer.
If you look close enough at the mug, you will see it says Juozo or Joseph's beer. Also, the pitcher pouring the beer looks like it is floating.
Ignas also loves the water. This was another visit to the local park. I had to hold him over the water to play with it. The only bad part was that we had to leave, which made him rather unhappy.

Juroje

Here are a few pictures from a weekend trip we took to the Baltic coast.

So our first stop was a church and monastery where one of my cousins is in Kretinga. He gave us the tour of this beautiful church built to stop the spread of Protestant religions at that time. This cross was the cross used to "baptize" Lithuania into Catholicism.
This is the oldest organ in Lithuania.
This is the altar. Look closely at the statues. They look so good and yet they are hundreds of years old and made of wood. Just look at the picture below to see the back of the altar and see what the statues look like from behind.

My cousin the Franciscan with Ignas and Ričardas
So in the background is what was used for the choir originally during mass. These wooden pieces were moved to the current room now and will be restored by my cousin's (the monk) father. If you look closely at the pictures, you can see Franciscan martyrs throughout history. The pictures are a little gruesome.
Here are the caskets of the original founders of the church here in Kretinga. It is part of the catacombs of the church.

This is an altar made in the catacombs. As the story goes many people told my cousin when he came there that there had been people burned alive in the church by Sweeden as a revenge against Lithuania and its ruler. When my cousin started remodeling the church, they found that the story was true when they broke through a wall and found many skeletons. The altar was put at that spot and the skeletons were put into the altar as you can see from the picture.
beautiful woodwork in the church

After the church, we went to a museum and winter house.
Taking an illegal picture.

An interesting plant
Oops... more pictures of the church. Here you can see it from the outside. There was a wedding that was about to take place. The bride is waiting for her groom to ride up in a motorcycle.
A beautiful picture of Mary
A picture of St. Anthony with a relic of his. This place is actually only behind Padua for having recorded miracles attributed to St. Anthony's intercession. Many people would make pilgrimages here but since after World War II, they have declined.
Finally, after the winter house and museum, we went to the seashore at Palanga, a beach town nearby. Here my cousins are on the boardwalk.

There was a display of Easter eggs from around Europe on the walkway.
Ok, so I guess I really had this all out of order. Here is the winter house again. I took a picture from above and got 2 newlyweds with it too who were taking pictures of their own. I guess that was the day to get married.