4 Days in Lithuania

On Sunday we checked out of our hotel and decided to drive north to see where Mark's family had lived. We drove into the little town of Alknacai and Mark stopped some kids walking along the street to ask if there was anyone in town who knew any of the history. Turns out that the young man who spoke very good English said that his mother was putting together a history of the town and would be interested to talk to us too. We went to their apartment and through his translation found out that she was a cultural teacher at the high school. We ended up going over to her office in the school and she checked with an old man via the phone was had written a history of the town a few years back. Anyway, the whole experience was interesting but really didn't lead to anything.
The Jews in the area had been numbered in the thousands, but had been removed and killed long ago. A good experience nonetheless, and nice to know where the family had once lived.
By the way, Lithuania means wet or rainy place. It was pretty dreary up there, only about 40 miles from the Latvian border. We were pretty far north.
My two regrets of pictures I didn't get were these: One of an old man driving a cart and horse down the road with 3 pigs in the back, bringing to mind the little nursery rhyme, "to market, to market..." and the other was the picture of Mark sitting in the back of a Lithuanian police car after he got nailed for driviing 40 kph over the speed limit. Fortunately for us, Mark can do a supurb blank look on his face and was able to get out of paying the 250 dollars that we would have had to pay on the spot. He is good at putting on that face, wide eyed and dumbfounded, if he is trying to get out of doing something he doesn't want to do. Needless to say, it was obvious why I didn't want to chance taking that one in a million shot....I didn't want to see him behind bars in an obscure dark Lithuanian jail.
So that night, we drove down to the southern end of the country and stayed the night near a beautiful old castle called Trakai. It is very pretty and a unique area because an old Lithuanian Duke had brought back in the l400s 280 Turks from the Crimea for body guards and their ancestors live there still in pretty little wooden houses. It was very cold but we are glad we went there. The kid behind the desk at our hotel told Mark that the hotel had lots to do, restaurant, a gym, a sauna and a bowling alley. Mark told him "he was a great bowler", in which the kid replied, "yes I know, all Americans are great bowlers.....I watch the Simpsons".
Last thoughts on Lithuania, storks, little wooden houses painted green, yellow or blue, beehives.
Lublin
We got this morning and spent the day driving about 400 kilometers to the town of Lublin.
We are on our way to see the painted monesteries in Romania. This is one of the things in the book 1000 places to see before you die. Also, it cost $700 to get a visa to go up to St. Petersburg so we bagged that idea. We will be seeing some gypsies soon, I hope.
Weather is so much better down south, warm and lots of blossoms. If anyone is wondering, gas is about $8 a gallon. Our little fiat gets pretty good mileage though.

Mark says: Please not the last photo it is the major graffiti in the Fishler Ancestral Home.....I wonder if it signifies anything?