Decided to take the afternoon bus from Tallinn thru Riga to Villanus in Lithuania! The bus was great as got to see the country side! We got to Riga around 8 PM and had to hurry around the bus station to catch my bus for Villanus and almost missed it! I had sent a text to Arta in Riga to say I was coming thru there again! I don’t know why I was so stupid but was hoping that she would come to the bus station to see me! But what wishful thinking on my part!
Then didn’t get to Villanus till about 11 PM and it was dark and foggy! Luckily the hostel I booked was in Old Town (another old town in an European city as shit all the cities had old towns but I figure all the cities are old towns by Canadian standards) and the Old Town was close to the bus station!
The Vilnius Old Town hostel was small and quite cozy as met some nice people there! There were a group of Erasmus students studing medicine in Warsaw staying at the hostel! They were from all over Europe and could speak good English as their classes were all taught in English!
I got talking to Gustavol, a Portugese guy, who was really friendly and outgoing! When he found out I was heading to Warsaw next well he offered to let me stay in his flat! Cuz he said it’s a long weekend in Poland as the next day was All Saints’ Day! Which is a festival which has been celebrated in Poland and the rest of the Catholic world for many centuries. All Saints Day is a national holiday, and a day when people all over Poland visit the graves of loved ones and to place candles and flowers on graves. The special candles, which can burn for many hours, are placed there so that departed souls can find their way through the darkness. Cemeteries are lit by many hundreds of these candles and at night the cemeteries can often be seen glowing from long distances. Many Poles travel long distances to visit family graves and to remember the dead. The holiday is also sometimes known as the Day of the Dead.
He was in Villanus with 2 other of his flat mates who were from France! He told me the their 4th flat mate was from Vienna but didn’t come as her parents came to visit her in Warsaw! So he emailed or texted her to tell her that he invited me to stay in their flat! The 2 French flat mates didn’t mind me staying in their flat! So later the Austrian flat mate in Warsaw chatted with me on Facebook! We seemed to get along so she gave me her telephone number and address to come and stay!
So other than the Erasmus medical students I met a New Zealand guy who was biking back to New Zealand! He was biking with an American chick and they were headed to Stockholm and to London where they would part company! Then he would catch a flight to Perth Australia to bike across the Nallabar Plains to eastern Australia and back to New Zealand! He came from Nelson in the north part of the South Island! He had a blog: http://bikeeasterneurope.blogspot.com/2012
There isn't much to do in Villanus but did spend a day walking around the Old Town of Villanus which was kind of nice! Also climbed up this hill where there was an old castle which overlooked most of the city! But other than that well there didn’t seem to be much to see unless a person went out in the country!
But since it was fall and getting cool well I didn’t do many outdoor activities as enjoy doing things like hiking thru the hills! Actually I was covering a lot of different countries and climate zones! So didn’t bring a lot of clothes like a coat! I just had a hoodie and a liner for my snowboard jacket which served as sort of a wind breaker! So if I wore both of them together well it kept me kind of warm but not if it got very cold! Also only had 1 pair of shorts and a zip off pair of pants! So when it was cool (not really cold) well wore the shorts over the zip off pants!
So after checking out the city of Villanus and spending time chatting with the people staying there well decided it was time to head out! I like to call the day when I pull out of a place for another place "Moving Day"! Anyway had to get to Warsaw to meet up with Rica the 4th flat mate as was going to crash there!
Here's some pictures posted on Facebook of "OK so have u been to Vilanius, Lithuania? Well bin dar dun dat!|"
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151120771225527.782514.751750526&type=1
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