Visas, customs and other formalities
My husband and I decided to spend a vacation in Lithuania, saving on the flight and services of the agency. On the Internet booked an apartment in Vilnius and a hotel in Trakai (this is a small resort town near Vilnius, in the lake district). Visas in the Lithuanian consulate were easy: they collected documents, provided a letter from the hotel confirming the reservation and honestly admitted that the purpose of the trip was to satisfy the tourist itch.
From Kiev to Vilnius through Byelorussia 740 kilometers, trivia, if not for two borders. But there were doubts about Belarus. This is the shortest way, through Poland is longer by 400 kilometers, in addition, our through Poland, claimed that it regularly stands idle on the Polish border for six hours. At 30-degree heat? With my three-year-old son? Not funny. At the same time, Belarus is a mysterious country, bikes speak of it, like the Bermuda Triangle.
On the whole, the borders were not so scary: we never lost more than two hours on the way back and forth. Fortunately, my husband guessed to buy a compact CD player with a screen on which Vanya watched cartoons while we presented documents and showed the trunk. In general, an important advantage of the car - the trunk, where you can shove everything: from the pot to a pile of favorite toys.
Belarusian roads are impeccable, signposts, although "Kalhoz im. Alexandra Nevskava ". The longer you look, the more you rejoice. And the grammar is wonderful, and the name was given to the collective farm, not to mention the fact that the collective farms on the planet have survived, apparently, only here.
As if the collapse of the USSR occurred yesterday. Despite the pointers, we managed to get lost when we were in the morning to the Belarusian capital. I was the navigator, and on the map it all converged: here we went to the roundabout, and then we have to turn right, there must be a pointer to Vilnius - or at least to Grodno. There are as many turns as possible, but there is no sign for Grodno! The husband nervously expressed all that he thought about my navigational abilities. We drove around the full circle on the roundabout, and in confusion rolled on. And then it turned out that the right turn was missed because of her husband. It was at that moment that he turned his head to the left and exclaimed: "Oh, how many cranes! Vanya, look! "My baby boy is a fan of heavy cars, especially construction, so while we were examining the herd of" giraffes "grazing on the outskirts of Minsk, the necessary turn flashed unnoticed. Having dealt with the situation, we noisily exhaled and turned, finally, where necessary.
Gediminas Tower
Our apartment in Vilnius was right in the Old Town - as it is written on the website of the Algis House apartments. Vanya immediately began to master the building - a boon in a two-room dwelling complex, unusual layout (through the bathroom you can go to the kitchenette, from there - to the living room, bedroom and again to the bathroom) there were many corners that curiously were interesting to explore the Old Town - so I'm in the first the same evening, went, wander through the narrow streets.
Most of all me and my child liked Vanya:
a) the wall of a cafe on Pilies Street, inlaid (with another word you will not find) with large porcelain teapots and cups;
b) Gediminas Tower, which offers a tourist view (but the main thing is, of course, the layout of the old city on the first floor of the tower, which, alas, can not be touched with hands, for which we are very offended by the aunt-minister);
c) rehearsal of the military parade in honor of the 1000th anniversary of Lithuania (played on the pipe and went out of step - it feels that the Lithuanians do not like drill);
d) the bridge across the river Vilenka with locks of different types fixed on the railing (they are hung by eternal love);
e) pictures on the walls of houses in the Bohemian district of Užupis.
Užupis declared their quarter the Republic, it has a flag, president, ministers, ambassadors in 200 countries.
Incidentally , a good constitution. Paragraph 3: "Everyone has the right to die, but this is not necessary." Ah yes: f) the peasant market in the same area of Užupis, which operates only on Thursdays. Homemade gray bread with dried fruits and nuts, hearty as grandmother's Easter cake. Cut the hunk and eat with the butter. And crying with happiness. Still there were cheeses - and with a mold, and sharp, and sweet (which my child Vanya appreciated at its true value).
House by the lake
Four days later we left Vilnius for Trakai, a tiny resort town 30 kilometers from the capital, in the lake district. He is famous for his castle - the largest in Lithuania and the "only island", as they say in the guidebooks. The castle did not impress Vanya on the child. But there was a lot of classes there. We fed ducks, fish and swans. The daily ritual also included a walk along the embankment, padded with trays of amber and linen bags; admiration of yachts and boats; a trip on rented bicycles around the city and around it (the child Vanya was sitting on the child's seat and chewing the strawberries torn along the way). Then we got into the car (where the son used to fall asleep, tired of impressions) and went back to the hotel, which was very far from the wilderness, seven kilometers from Trakai, on the Margis Lake.
Kaunas, for 65 kilometers. Although, of course, they could get to Klaipeda, and to Palanga - in Lithuania everything is close, the roads are excellent. In Kaunas, Van very much liked the Museum of Devils (a collection of figures of devils made of wood, ceramics, glass, etc., occupying three floors). He still remembers "a little devil who grabbed a goat by the horns." In the evening before leaving home, the husband, standing on the balcony of the hotel, was looking through binoculars a wooden house with a berth, near which stood a boat. "Probably, it's not that expensive to buy such a hut," he said thoughtfully. And I realized that the vacation was a success. In vacationing abroad with a baby, everything was perfect.