On June 18th, it was finally time to be on our way to Vilnius. Bill took Charlie and Noyzi to the Hundepension. I made a video of that… It’s kind of cute, because the dogs were pretty excited to be going. Noyzi is especially delighted whenever he gets a chance to ride in the car. Charlie doesn’t like getting in the car, but he does seem to enjoy the Hundepension, and being looked after by Natascha.

Once the dogs were taken care of, I did the usual Wednesday chores and packed a couple of bags. Then, at about 1:00 PM, a friendly cabbie came to fetch us for our ride to Frankfurt Airport. We were sitting in the back of the cab, and I got a comment from one of my older sister’s friends. It was someone she knew when she was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco… a Moroccan guy I think still has a crush on her.

I guess the cabbie overheard me say “Morocco”, because he asked us if we spoke Spanish. It so happens, Bill and I both studied Spanish for years, but neither of us speak it very well at all. I know… I know… typical Americans. 🙄 Anyway, the cab driver said he was from Morocco. He spoke Spanish, French, German, Arabic, and Berber… We were able to communicate with him using our rudimentary German skills. The guy was very cordial and seemed quite pleased when Bill gave him a nice tip and a five star review. As we say in Armenia, “Apres!”

Check in at the Lufthansa business class desk was a breeze. No one was in line, so we walked right up and dropped off our bags. Then, after a super quick trip through security, we headed to the crowded business class Lufthansa lounge, where there were few seats to be had, other than stools at a table at the back of the room. I took the opportunity to take obnoxious selfies.

About 90 minutes later, we went to our gate. The flight was almost full, although no one was sitting in the row in front of us. That was nice. No one reclined in my lap! I got a kick out of the flight attendant’s glasses. They were round and green, with wide, quirky frames, and they really suited her. She had the kind of face and haircut that looked good with those glasses. If I’d been wearing them, I would look like I’d dropped in from outer space, or something. She was very nice to us, and kept us refreshed during the whole 100 minute flight. I took a few photos, but got caught in a reflection or two…

Lufthansa offered us some food, which wasn’t too terrible. On the flight over, Bill and I both had ham and asparagus. I don’t remember what the other choice was, but the ham and asparagus weren’t too bad. As airline food goes, Lufthansa usually does alright. They even gave us Neuhaus Belgian chocolates at the end! Fancy! Years ago, I used to sell Neuhaus chocolates. They are excellent, and in fact, Bill often order them on special occasions.

We landed in Vilnius at about 6:15 PM or so. Vilnius is an hour ahead of Frankfurt. Our bags appeared very quickly, and soon we were in a cab, speeding toward Lithuania’s lovely capital city. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer flight. Way to go, Lufthansa!

Once we got to the Grand Hotel Vilnius, Bill tipped the driver, who was shocked by his largesse. We learned on this trip that tipping is not much of a thing in Lithuania. The locals do definitely appreciate tips, but they aren’t necessarily expected. I find that a very refreshing attitude.

A doorman took our bags, and we headed to the reception desk, where a lovely young woman found our reservation and asked me for my Hilton Honors number. Remember in the previous post, I wrote that the reservation was under my name, because booking directly with the hotel would be more expensive because of the flights. I am a Hilton Honors member, but I don’t think I’ve ever used my number for anything. When we stay in Hilton properties, Bill usually does the booking, because his job has led him to do a lot of business with Hilton.

I wasn’t expecting to use the number, either, since I booked through Expedia. I had read that Hilton doesn’t take the number for third party bookings. Nevertheless, she asked for the number, and I couldn’t find it. I had one ad from Hilton in my email, and my member number wasn’t on it. And Bill couldn’t use his, because the reservation wasn’t booked under his name. She advised us to drop it off later, if we found it, then gave us glasses of sparkling wine as she showed us to our deluxe room with a balcony…

It was a bit chilly when we arrived, and we were a little tired, so we decided to head down to the bar area for a drink and a light dinner. We shared a bottle of white wine from South Africa, and Bill had a tuna salad, while I had salmon soup. The hotel has a restaurant called Telegrafas, which supposedly gets high marks. We didn’t eat dinner in the restaurant, mainly because I didn’t like the chairs. We did eat breakfast in there a couple of days. I wouldn’t call it a particularly special looking restaurant, although they do have a cool glass covered view of the city’s old wall in the floor.

Once we were finished with dinner, we decided to go to bed. It was still pretty light out at about 10:00 PM. But then, after all of these years in Europe, I’ve gotten pretty used to long summer nights, even though technically, it was still late spring until the solstice, which happened on my birthday!

More in the next post!