Mari & Elena in front of Man, our favorite statue. He's quite cute.
Elena & Mari levitate a statue. OK, not really. But it sure looks levitated.
I sure must have been tired. Vikki & Mari came in, they moved Elena into Mari's room, and Vikki got into bed. And I slept through it all. Finally got up at 6:30 and went out for my last run in Lithuania. Cold and windy! My 3 guys cheered me on - and were disappointed when I said it was my last day. I think they liked my Obama T-shirt (over my long-sleeved one).
We all met for breakfast. Then Sharon & Vikki had their own plans. Mari, Elena, & I went for a last exploration. We headed through Nepriklausombyes square - with Saint Michael's church in the middle.
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Mari & Elena in front of Man, our favorite statue. He's quite cute. |
Elena & Mari levitate a statue. OK, not really. But it sure looks levitated. |
Mari decided to visit the Museum of Exiles & Political Prisoners. She was glad she did - but glad I was there to take Elena into Rambeys park to see a war memorial, the grave Darius & Girenas (I still think the Germans shot their plane down, so there.), and a 1941 memorial that notes Antanas Kazlauskas - father of Ona, Roz^e, Antanas, & Jonas.
Then Mari came out of the museum and we headed back to Laisves al. and up to Vienybes square,
Another curious Lithuanian sign. It seems that one can park on the sidewalk here. |
The Freedom Monument. Built in 1928 to celebrate independence from tsarist Russia but destroyed by the Soviets. Rebuilt in 1989. |
Back to Metropolis to check out. As we brought our suitcases down to store by the desk, they were moving our furniture out to renovate our rooms. Efficiency?
Elyte & Vytas arrived on their lunch break. They did so much to organize our visit. It is so neat that Mom was the oldest of her generation and Elyte is the youngest - and almost exactly 2 months older than I am. It's hard for us to understand a family that large. Even counting cousins on my father's side (neither Babs nor Milly have nieces or nephews other than us), there are 9 of us in this generation- from 68 to 50. We have been so amazed at the size and closeness of our family in Lithuania. We feel like we finally belong.
We each went off to say good-bye to Kaunas on our own. Well, Mari & Elena went together. A slow & sad farewell - but with a promise to come back. With luck, on our own, with our husbands et al. It would be hard to let the family fall apart now that we've been put back together.
Eventually, we all met back at Metropolis and headed for a late lunch.
With a stop Miesto sodas, with its little playground. Elena & the others may not have been able to speak each other's language, but they communicated enough to play. |
We finally found Avyles kavina, the one we couldn't find on our first evening, in Old Town. A lovely dim cellar with honey beer and beer soup with hop butter. And those toast strips with cheese we loved on our arrival. |
Then we each headed to email our husbands and spend our last litu. Well, we each kept a few for souvenirs. And wandered around saying good-bye to Kaunas - for now. We all met back at Metropolis. Just before 6 PM, Kestas & Aldona arrived. And introduced us to Vaclos, Roz^e's husband who evidently organizes conventions at Metropolis. But it was time to head to the airport.
Which was filled with family. Quite a send-off. We invited them to come to the US, so we can return their hospitality. Elena realized this was really good-bye; that it will be quite a while before she sees her new family again. And she'd really fallen in love with them all. There is no language barrier to love.
Roz^e, Sharon, & Ona |
Elyte, Vytas, & Vikki. |
Mari, Dalius, & Elena, with Kestas, Vytas, & Elyte in the background. |
Kestas & Elena. |
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The whole bunch of us: Kestas, Ona, Dalius, Aldona, Antanas, Darius, Elena, Elyte, me, Vikki, Vytas, Roz^e, Sharon, Laimis, & Mari. |
Finally, we had to go through security for boarding. We looked back as long as we could - and then we couldn't see our family any more. Sad. But we had a wonderful visit. And we all plan to return.
Back onto RyanAir - which was just as cramped and rude as before. But it was the only option for Kaunas, and we didn't have the days to land elsewhere. And it sure is an "adventure" to fly Ryan. It was late - after 10PM, when we landed in Dublin. This time we stayed in Bewley's Hotel, close to the airport and with a courtesy shuttle. The girls explored the hotel a bit, then headed for bed. Sharon & I opted for halves of Kilkenny in the lobby. Then we went up, too.
I woke early and was all packed, so I climbed to the top (8th) floor for some neat views of juxtaposed industry and farmland. I went back to the room, helped Elena pack, then gave the other space and time to get ready. I took Elena to explore the neighborhood - through the windows, of course.
| We got views of these - and other - sturdy farm horses just across the parking lot. Elena got to see the very-new foal, too. But he was clearly camera-shy. |  |
We all had the breakfast buffet. Wow, my full Irish was right up to Yorkshire standards. Even sausage that could be Cumberland. We each ate a good meal - enough so we could skip lunch. And then, all packed and onto the shuttle to the airport.
It was an easy afternoon flight back to Boston, where Sharon ran for her flight back to California and Kent. We took our time through customs. And, there as we left customs, Ian met Vikki, with a rose, right at the door. They headed home - and we followed the sea-creature trail to Terminal A. Even though we ate on the plane, our stomachs were on Dublin time, so we got a small pizza, with lemonade and Octoberfest beer. And then onto our flight to RDU. I watched the city lights down the coast to home. At RDU, at the bottom of the stairs, Keith & Ardyn met Mari & Elena with a flower each. But I had the best greeting. Right out the door, Chuck drove up - with Fergie and a ton of puppy kisses.
We were all glad to get home. But we already missed our Lithuanian family. And we each vowed to return.
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