re: My Summer Vacation Pics-Helsinki, Tallin, Riga, Vilnius, Amsterdam, NYC

So....where was I?.......On to Vilnius,Lithuania......we took the lux-express bus again for about a 4 hour ride to Vilnius. On the ride, I noticed lone people out in the woods picking something. Using the free wifi on the bus, I found out they were picking mushrooms. Apparently their mushrooms are a big deal. We ate some in Vilnius and they were good but not anything out of the ordinary.

This is an internets pic since I couldn't get a good pic from the bus.



We arrived in Vilnius and made our way to the old town where our apt was located.

Lots of weddings everywhere around here.



Our apt was through that gate.





We got settled and then contacted one of the swedish guys who we met in Riga and was now here and headed out to meet him for a beer.




I had a Kaimiskas which is a traditional farm house, naturally fermented beer that farmers have brewed for hundreds of years. It was really nice with not much tartness like a belgian lambic might have. And the wort is never boiled, only heated. So the beer has to be drunk fresh as it spoils quickly.



We spent the rest of the evening with our friend before heading back to the apt.







This is the Old town gate we walked through to get to our apt on the right of this pic.



The next day we headed out to find the Frank Zappa Memorial Statue. Right after Zappa died and Lithuania gained its independence, an artist who was a big Zappa fan convinced the new government to allow a Zappa statue, arguing Zappa stood for freedom as much as anybody.






Don't Go Where The Huskies Go.



We checked out an Old Church....mainly to get out of the rain







When it slacked up we headed to the Užupis neighborhood. On April 1, 1997, the district declared itself an independent republic (The Republic of Užupis). Since the first of November 2014 Jaap van Ark is president of republic Užupis.





Fuzzy pic of a nice river



The Wall of Poets and Artists



It was about beer thirty so we found a little hole n the wall filled with locals including this character.....he had a top hat too.



Street Art including the original Trump-Putin Kiss mural.







Then we walked up a hill and found this bar