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Observations 10 weeks in Vilnius
So, I can say I’ve spent 69 days in Europe: tomorrow will be ten weeks in Vilnius. And an hour at Frankfort airport. And about six hours flying over Europe. But I can’t tell what is European and what is Lithuanian. And (first) observations can be wrong...and all absolutes have exceptions...or is that ‘almost’ all?
Actually, I can’t even tell what is Lithuanian--because Vilnius is the least-Lithuanian metropolitan place in Lithuania. The country is 83+% Lithuanian, but Vilnius is less than 58% Lithuanian. There’s the <4% ‘miscellaneous’ [of which I’m in the less than half of 1%: non-European or English-speaking (depending on nationality/language statistic used)]. The remaining percentages are evenly divided between Russian-speaking [from Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia) and Polish.
The country is 99% literate (of those over 15yo). But everyone over c.25 also speaks Russian. In 1991, when Lithuanian became free of Soviet rule, Russian became no longer compulsory (in school, work, government, etc.). All students now study English; some study German, or Polish, or other languages; few study Russian.
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Vilnius is about the size of Quebec (City): ½ million. I live in the Old City which is at least 1 square mile, where all construction is of brick, but virtually-all covered with mortar (interior and exterior), which is painted in pastels. Often the floors/ceilings are not of wood; they are vaulted, of brick; this may explain why the building is still here: it’s fire-proof.
The mortar decorates in the various styles: Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Byzantine, Classical [even Mannerism(!), Art Nouveau/Deco, Modern, mixed, monumentalist, ‘Soviet’, and ‘Neo-whatever’]. Deceivingly, it’s just the ‘frosting’ (protects the bricks) that changes, and it lasts only about 100 years (with repairs). So, when something is going to be ‘restored’, the question arises: “Restored as to when?”
This place is old. In 2009, Lithuania celebrates it’s 1000 years as a country; it was occupied since the Stone Age. Vilnius was founded in 1323 as a city; a castle was here before 1000AD; settlements were here well before Christ. Vilnius University was founded in 1579, before which it was a college. But the campus church was there two hundred years before.
All roofs are red/orange clay tiles. I haven’t seen any sign anywhere of any building insulation. Most of the restoration has been done (since 1990). But everywhere there is still much that looks like it is falling down. Some of my favorite buildings are ones that haven’t been repaired since Napoleon ruined them.
All buildings are part of some ‘courtyard’ : my school campus (1 of 5) has 12 courtyards, and occupies a large city block. There is absolute silence of city-sounds in the courtyards and in all of the buildings. Everywhere there is the absence of wind. The Presidential Palace is across the street (which makes it about 20 feet away); Napoleon spent some months living there before he returned to Paris–before his remaining army returned to Vilnius so 40,000 men could die here that December 1812, when the population of the city was 30,000. Construction projects today are still discovering his soldiers’ remains.
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Security is an issue; apparently it has been a concern for centuries. Dozens of armies have marched through here. No one lives in basements. All ground-floor apartments (which are cheaper than higher floors) have window bars and/or shutters (not just decorative/closed at night). All courtyards had/have gates. Most all streets are narrow and curved; doubtful that a tank would be able to drive most of these streets; or a man on horseback ride through the elongated low archways, or race down any street. Except for the three wide streets (2 of which are not long), sidewalks are at most 1 meter wide, and often ½ that. And other than those 3 streets, all are stone and/or brick paved and not lit. It is very easy to get lost and easier to become disoriented. Landmarks are not visible from street level. Sun is rare in winter and the entire country is known for its rain during the other three seasons of the year. [Remark by Ramunas: here KR Slade was talking about Old Town (Old City) streets]
The Old City is flat, with the notable exception of the Castle Hill. All doors have very large locks, of a type which I have never before seen; large and strange also describes the keys. All hotels advertise “guarded parking”. I’ve found myself in a couple of uncomfortable places that I was soon determined to quickly leave; and I’ve never been out after 11pm! (I’m usually in bed by 10pm!)
Tourist brochures warn to “avoid narrow, dark, deserted streets”–which is absurd, since you wouldn’t be able to go anywhere... And in January/February it is dark 4pm to 9+am! Better is to just not stop if a stranger wants to talk to you (especially to ask for a cigarette, or for information, etc.). I never stop; but I do speak to them; I always answer them; lest they think me rude. Or scared. Of course, I always speak in French...
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Food is cheap, unless it’s imported from the West. [Remember: if you’re reading this, you’re (probably) in the ‘west’!] A kilo of good hamburger is about $4CAN; bread $.75; 300ml yogurt $1.35CAN; 1 liter milk <$1CAN; 2 liters Coca-Cola <$2CAN. I pay $4CAN for a hot lunch at school; but if you arrive after 1:30, there’s no more cake ($.40). Milk in a plastic bag is the norm; it is $.05 cheaper than a container. Meat is: 2x thicker than US, 4x thicker than Quebec. Meat markets are huge; nothing is pre-packaged. Marlboro’s, $2.25CAN. Bus is $.40-1.00CAN.
Men wear their hair short, about ½-1 inch long; no facial hair. Their winter coats are diverse, but always black and leather. Pants are black, or any dark color. Shirts are usually a dark color. Shoes are blunt-toed boots/shoes which strongly resemble my grandfather’s wedding shoes, in 1915. No one wears ripped clothing. Pants are not baggy nor tight. Paints with crotch down-to-the-knees are unknown (thankfully). Body piercing /tattoos are rare.
Women wear pointy-toed shoes that are extremely exaggerated. There are more women’s shoe stores in Vilnius than any other kind; cellular phone stores would run a close-second. Women look great in their fur coats of which no two are the same.
On the coldest day, only 50% of people wear hats. 57.8% of the city’s population is very good looking; few people are fat; everyone has nice skin, acne is rare, as is makeup/perfume.
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Bars close when they want. Buses don’t run midnight to 4am. [It must be interesting in the bars between 12-4.] Post Office closes at 7pm, but Saturday at 4pm. Banks are open until 7pm weekdays. Most offices are open from 8/8:30am–5:30/6pm. Malls/large stores open 8am–midnight, every day.
Movie theaters show films in their original language, with Lithuanian captions. So I’ve seen “Lord of the Rings” for $6CAN at 11am on a Sunday with 12 people in the theatre. TV shows are in Lithuanian on 5 channels; but often the original language (and sound) is muted and ONE narrator reads ALL the lines of ALL the characters; sometimes there is a male and female narrator. The other channels are Polish or Russian; there is BBC (but is it English?). “National Geographic” and “Discovery” arrive in Russian! Video’s rent for $2Can; I see 4 on weekends (narrated in Lithuanian); thankfully, good films are like operas: words aren’t important. I saw the grand opera “Masked Ball”, for $12.50CAN, in what was a modern version that was both original and memorable.
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Either these are VERY GOOD IDEAS, or I’m just Lithuanian:
- There is a popular street (the widest, longest, richest), which is sometimes a street for vehicles, and sometimes a pedestrian mall. In the pavement are steel cylinders the diameter of a dinner-plate, four-feet apart, which rise upwards hydraulically to a height of 1 meter; they have lights 360 degrees at the top.
- There are telephone booths, with doors; all-glass; about 1 meter square; with a shelf to put things on. The telephone takes calling cards (sold everywhere) only; no $.
- There are public buses, but electric trolley-buses in the city-center . There are also private mini-vans that go where the buses don’t go. If you forget to buy your ticket, you can buy it on the bus; yes, they make change for you. You have to punch your paper ticket on the bus, but if over-crowded you can’t get to the puncher, which makes the ticket re-useable. Who can complain about a crowded bus if it’s free?
- There are no parking meters. You give $ to people wearing florescent vests and they give you a ticket to place on your dashboard. [Remark by Ramunas: As well you can pay for car parking directly from your cellular phone and get SMS message informing that paid parking time has run out. With cellular (in Lithuania everyone has one or two), send another SMS and prolong parking without returning to your wehicle.]
- No one uses the horn on their vehicle. Ever.
- There are no fire hydrants.
- There are no poles with street signs. The street names are on the buildings’ corners at every intersection of streets.
- Mail is delivered 6 days a week, by noontime. Ours comes by 7am. There is no bulk/junk mail.
- Dogs wear muzzles when on the street and must be leashed.
- There is no garbage/trash sidewalk pick-up day/time. You bring your trash to the end of the street and throw it in the dumpsters and it is taken away daily. Or several times a day...
- You bring your own bag when you go to a store. Otherwise you pay $.15-.25CAN for a bag. If you forget your bag, take a free box, which they want to get rid of...
- There are no pedestrian crossing lights/buttons. When the light is green, you cross. The cars that are turning have the responsibility to give the pedestrian the right of way, if they assert themselves.
- There is no public snow plowing or salt on inner-city streets (except highways). The snow melts because there are hot-water pipes under the pavement. The city provides (but charges $) for hot water, because it is more efficient to boil water centrally for heat/washing/drinking than any other method. The city pays some people to hand-shovel/sweep sidewalks; but they have to use their own shovel and make their own broom.
- The courthouse is next-door to the prison.
- The airport is five km from the city, and separated by hills to reduce noise.
- Taxis are ½ price if you order one by telephone (but they take 20 minutes to arrive).
- The train station is across the street from the bus station. And that’s where there are 3 hotels, a hostel, a post office, food and goods markets and one of the two MacDonalds. (And the usual thieves, beggars, drug dealers and prostitutes, according to the world-wide standard.)
- The City Hall hasn’t been used for 100+ years, except daily for: weddings, plays, art exhibits, ballet lessons, concerts, receptions, etc. It has a fine restaurant, and an equally-trendy basement café. The City’s business is carried on at the Municipal Building; it used to be next to the Parliament; this summer it moves to the new, tallest building, across the river.
- All pharmacies/drug stores/chemists have seating for customers; as do most banks.
- Pet stores don’t sell cats because there are already too many.
- Milk is sold in 1 liter, .9 liter, and .5 liter. It doesn’t have preservatives so it goes bad quicker. There is no ‘processed’ cheese sold. Mushroom soup is the only kind available: “one makes soup, not buy it.” Stores selling bread have at least 15 varieties, but none with air-added. The loaves are small because there are no preservatives. Cost $.60-90CAN.
- Food stores have free lockers at the entry. You can put whatever you are carrying into the locker, and take the key (on the piece of wood), until you are ready to leave.
- At the community swimming pool: Everyone has to have their feet and hands inspected by the nurse before going into the locker room; any fungus and you can’t enter. In the locker room you give your nurse’s pass and cashier’s pass to the attendant (who sits at the desk in the middle of the room); he gives you your locker key. You have 45 minutes in the pool; but you don’t have to enter at any particular time. Cost $7.50CAN; $6student; or frequent-user rates. Sauna/gym = extra $. Everyone must wear their bathing cap; and sandals to pool-side. There is one monitor and one instructor. Children do not need to be accompanied by an adult. The companies that donate $ can put their signs/names/logos on the outside of the building.
- There is no trash on any street/sidewalk/private property, anywhere, ever.
- Electricity is cheaper on weekends because of less industrial use and there is no way to make less electricity because it is nuclear. So people wash their clothes on weekends. The washing machines are energy efficient: cold water only, front-loading; washing spins twice then rests to allow soap to work before continuing.
- Refrigerators have the freezer on the bottom: because on this planet hot-air rises. In the freezer, there are drawers; colder is on the bottom.
- Public schools for older children: regular school; technical schools for kids that don’t want to go to university or who don’t want to finish 12th grade; ‘gymnasium’ for kids who do well in school and want to go to university.
- Tipping is entirely optional. Taxi drivers, restaurants, bars, and many stores ignore and refuse to accept 1-10 cents of the charge; ‘close-enough’.
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Chief complaints/annoyances:
- Lithuanian bureaucracies: especially university administrations and government immigration office types. [Although most individuals are very kind, especially considering that they don’t know what I’m saying/wanting. And some are willing to ignore the ‘rule’ because they want to help.]
- Any toilet paper that is not: pure-white and softer than newspaper. University students who steal toilet paper.
- Icy sidewalks; missing or iced gutters; ceramic tiles on exterior building steps. Pigeons: who slip on the ice just like the rest of us, but don’t fall because they’re so quick with their short/little legs ... and unlike us, if they did fall, it wouldn’t hurt them because they are so fat and feathery.
- Dictionaries that don’t have entries for names of foods; foods that do not have existing English word-translations.
- Supermarkets selling dead fish, with heads, with big eyes.
- Why anything that could possibly be sold in a pharmacy seemingly must have a label written in German. And no www address for a translation (that must surely exist).
- Listening to the phrases: “impeachment of the President”, “Russian organized crime/mobsters”, “Lithuanian gangsters”, “Vladimir Putin”, “Russian election”.
- Facial tissues are available in pocket-packets of 10, but sell for $.25-.35CAN per pack. The boxed facial tissue is virtually unheard of and is 2x the price of North America; the companies have the same names as in North America; the paper is from Europe. The box is the same size, but only 2/3 the contents.
- Beggars, everywhere; especially the ones from the villages who take the bus to ‘work’ in the city.
- Street numbers: one number to each building (never on any doors), in no rational assignment.
- Our neighborhood (teenage?) graffiti-st [it’s NOT art] who writes in English (especially rock-and-roll lyrics), and, more ‘specially’, misspelled words.
- Unfiltered, ‘fancy’/European coffees. And having to pay $.05-.10CAN extra for milk (2.5%, not even 15% cream) for coffee.
- junk (manufactured) products, usually from China.
- international mail that can take 7 days, or 7 weeks, or never arrive.
- Bad European handwriting/penmanship (in any language).
- Bad English translations, especially by people who call themselves translators ... and worse: writers/publishers who don’t (want to) know that after a translation, the document needs to be edited–by someone other than the translator. {This annoyance I intend to do something about...}
Having a great time; Wish you were here!
© 2004 KR Slade
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