Vilnius Lithuania

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My e ticket said I was leaving Europe from Vilnius, Lithuania on Monday morning.  However, Iceland has been erupting for the past several days and when I arrived at the airport I found only one flight leaving; all others were grounded.  The flight was going to Moscow,  I had just spent three weeks in Russia and had no desire to return so soon.. Also it was a one way trip and no connections to USA from Moscow on this day.  Lot airlines as an affiliate of Star Alliance was very nice, and Ilona re-did my ticket making sure to take all my contact information just in case they are still not flying a week from now.  Ilona was very pleasent and very professinal, of course I was only her second passenger of the day, and literally millions of people are stranded due to the Volcano.  I prayed that Ilona keep the same pleasent smile at 8PM this evening when she will be dealing with her 300th + customer of the day.
So ticket in hand I decided to head back to Kaunas ans see if I could get back into my old flat for another week.   I knew Arvytas had not yet rented it.  He was looking for a May tenent.  Afer much haggling and a lot of help from my Lithuanian speaking friend we convinced Arvytas that for the right price I would stay another week.  He is a good guy and said OK!.  I was blessed by God in this respect.  I had just heard at the airport that morning many horror stories from fellow travelrs stranded in Europe.
One family paid 138 Euros for a room and when the delays were announced the hotel raised the rate to 300 EUROS!  Others could not even get lodging.  The man ahead of me at the Lot office was traveling with a group of students from Chicago.  They were all out of money because like me they had planned on leaving on a certain day and had used their funds up thinking they were headed for home and a new source of support.
Now they had no money for food and another week in a hotel.  I asked him to contact my friend in Vilnius at Campus Crusade to see if Dorms were available.  I said a prayer for him and the kids and he went back with at least a ticket in hand and the hope he'd make it through the week.  This story is multiplied a thousand times over as all of Europe sits on the ground unable to move.  Some are taking trains and buses or renting cars if they have the resources, but that is only if they live on the continent. We cant drive to America!

I was blessed to have two friends in Vilnius who allowed me to stay overnight while I got my tickets and travel plans in order.  However, I did not want to impose on them for a whole week so I came back to Kaunas once I was fairly sure I could get back in my flat.  Also this gave me another week of teaching opportunity with the students and perhaps the opportunity to serve more. 
I was also fortunate that the evening prior to my canceled flight I had the opportunity to see The Old City in Vilnius. My friends there Gedis and Vytenis provided me with a map of "Old Town" when I arrived.  Their flat was only two blocks from the Neris River and Old Town was just over the bridge.
Old Town is about one square kilometer and packed with many many wonderful old churches and buildings.  It is the largest-densest  historical square in all of Europe.  In 1994, the Old Town of Vilnius was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

I set out on foot[best way to tour Europe] and I tried to hit all of the highlights my friends had circled on the map,  I saw many but this area is so packed with old chruches and Historic treasures it would take several days to see it all. My first goal as to go up on the Fortress Hill built by Mindaugas  the church with its separate bell tower at the foot of this steep hill fortress dates back to his reign.  I arrived too late only to find the fort was closed at 1800 to visitors. 

The site link "Photo Journal" will take you to the photos I shot while in Old Town.  You will see a variety of old architecture from old Roman to middle age Gothic and byzantine influence while Europe was under the Turks. The largest Old Town in Eastern Europe is architecturally the richest part of Vilnius. Almost every style of architecture can be found: from Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classicism to Post-Modernism.  Lithuania has been a land ruled by many varied cultures and powers.  As an agrarian farm community on the Neris River the Romans set up an outpost and traded for amber and food supplies for their troops.

In the 1100's Mindaugas and Vytutas gathered strong armies and became a force to recon with during their day.  They pushed back the Russian hordes and subjugated the Polish Princes and for a short time they could boast ruling from the Baltic to the Black Sea.  However, since those days Lithuania was ruled by the Dutch.  ]See the noted Dutch architecture in Klaipeda and in some parts of Kaunas].  Then the Germans ruled for a time.  Prussia which is now Kalinengrad had strong influence over much of Lihuania under the Hapsburgs.  Recent 20th century rulers were the Poles, Germans and lastly the Russians.  Each a worse taskmaster than the previous.  Truly this country has suffered much death and destruction over the years.  Their greatest atribute is their ability to maintain a strong national culture throughout the many attempts to destroy thier culture and language.
In Klaipeda a few years ago I found out how they do it.  I was staying with an elderly Lithuanian woman and her sister was visiting.  They began to talk of when they were children [WWII era] Stastia looked out the window and told of seeing German troops and tanks rolling past her home which was close to the Commercial port and Ship yard.  Then they began to sing some old childhood songs, I was in tears to see these old sisters recalling the past.  Then Stastia reached into a drawer and burried deep under a pile of old papers and photos she brought out a little blue notebook.  She opened it with reverence.  Her sister, Danute, gasped.  She could not believe Stastia had preserved this old book from their childhood of Lithuanian folk tunes all those years.
Then they explained that under the Soviets for 50 years reproduction of Lithuanian literature music or an Lithuaninan culture was banned.  Everyone was to learn Russian an be absorbed into the Russian culture.  During those 50 years many writers, professors, teachers, artists and poets suffered torture and death at the hands of the Soviets.  Yet the culture never died  I was seeing here between these two sisters why.  They had the tenacity to endure and preserve their culture and heritage. 
So when I visited Old Town I was seeing more than just buildings and churches I could see generations of Lithuanian Culture influenced by many other cultures yet preserved by the people who had the will to endure and preserve their integrity and identity no matter who thought they had control over this tiny nation.