Vilnius and Trakai

So Missy from Eastern University and I are called for Boarding to Vilnius, but they load us onto a bus instead. Ummmm. So this bus takes us to the tiniest plane ever. Like the ones with one row on each side of the aisle. The airline gave us all warm muffins. They were great. We arrived in the capital city around 9:30pm and walked off the plane into the airport. We kept following signs for arrivals, and must have went too far because we totally missed baggage claim. We had to get security to let us into the claim area. After getting our bags and meeting the program director, we rode to the hostel where everyone else was staying. We settled in and hung out with other study abroad students and then got a good nights rest. In the morning we traveled in small groups to each breakfast downtown. We ate at La Crepe. I actually got a potato pancake instead of a crepe though haha. 

After breakfast we walked to the KGB museum of genocide victims. It was the site of an old KGB headquarters that they held prisoners in during occupation of Lithuania. Many families were sent to Siberia and other similar places to live. People placed in prison were mostly freedom fighters or priests that were a threat to the Soviet Union. Over to course of 2 year, over 1000 prisoners were executed in the building.  There are still prisoners alive today that have told horrifying stories about their stay.

We then took a walking tour of downtown and learned about every statue and building and lots of history that goes along. This picture above is the central square cathedral. After the tour we had free time, so some of us walked to the castle on the hilltop to get a good view. We then ordered coffee using only Lithuanian words. She just laughed at our efforts. For dinner we all went to a pizza place. They make very thin pizza here, with all sorts of interesting toppings. 

 After dinner some of us walked up to "Three crosses on the hill" and got the sunset view of the city. We walked around town after it got dark, and ended up in a quaint tea house.

 The next morning we traveled to the formal capital, Trakai. This is where the awesome castle and beautiful lakes were. We had about 3 hours to roam around. We took some boats out and just enjoyed the nice weather.

My next post will be about the campus!