On Thursday morning, we woke up to partly cloudy skies. The weather was still a bit chilly, so we put on long sleeved shirts and pants, and then went down to breakfast. The hotel offers a very generous buffet with all kinds of cold cuts, fruits, vegetables, breads, hot breakfast items, and a few things you can have made to order. They even had little cakes and candies, some of which were gluten free. Naturally, there were also juices and cava– sparkling wine from Spain.

Bill and I sat in the restaurant, and I noticed I didn’t like the chair I was sitting on. It was one of those small chairs with a rounded back that didn’t quite have arms, but was still a bit confining. I also didn’t like that there was a huge mirror right next to our table, and many of the others.

Bill and I both tried the Eggs Benedict, which were good. Maybe I shouldn’t have, in light of my expanded ass. After breakfast, we headed over to the cathedral… a place that had served as a picture gallery and concert hall in the Soviet era, but actually has a long and fascinating history. I took lots of photos… Later, when we toured the crypt, we learned more about the history of the cathedral

We were about to walk out of the cathedral, but the organist started playing, and I had to listen for a few minutes. I got a short video, which I will include with another I got of Bill in the tower.

After we walked around the cathedral, we headed to the cathedral bell tower, which stands at 45 meters and dates from the 13th century. Bill bought tickets for the tower, the English crypt tour, and the church treasury, which was in a different part of Vilnius (easily reached by foot). The triple ticket was 20 euros each for both of us. After we got out tickets, we went down the basement of the tower and watched a very cute little video starring a cartoon pigeon named Pranas, who explained the tower’s history and showed off a special tile in the area near the tower where, if you jump in a specific sequence and make a wish, your wishes will come true.

I didn’t have the chance to try the tile, because when we were by the tower, the tile was commandeered by a couple of Asian ladies who were fascinated by it and were taking many photos. Then they were displaced by a large tour group. We never did manage to give the tile a whirl, or even get a picture of it. Oh well…

We ran into a couple who were curious about where we were from. They were watching the video at the same time we were. They had accents that suggested they came from Eastern Europe. I guess it’s a compliment that we weren’t immediately recognizable as Americans. They didn’t have anything else to say to us, once we told them we are Americans.

Anyway, after the video, we managed to climb the tower steps. There were two very narrow bricked flights, which stopped at interactive exhibits that included headsets telling the story of the tower, video monitors of the conditions around the tower, and a large horseshoe shaped table. The table had drawers that could be opened and showed different aspects of how the tower came to be and how people lived. Each of the headsets had little boxes with doors on them that could be opened. They shared quotes and interesting facts, all of which were in English and Lithuanian.

Bill also rang the bells…

After Bill rang the bells, it was time to gear up for the steep climb. The tower isn’t that tall, but it does have very steep, somewhat rickety steps that are only a little bit deeper than a ladder’s. I’m not in great shape, so I was hanging on for dear life as we climbed up and down the tower. A fall would have been a disaster! Fortunately, we made it, although I did give thought to not trying to get to the top. Happily, I went for it and made it, even though there was a “steep” price to be paid the next day… Below are some more photos from the tower.

As you can see from the photos, the observation areas are behind wire. They do allow you to open a part of the wired in window, so you can take pictures without the grate destroying the view. I read in a review that there are other observation opportunities in Vilnius. The university also has a bell tower that looked even taller than the cathedral’s tower. We didn’t try that one, though, because we found it on Sunday and weren’t really wanting to be sore on Monday. ETA: I looked up the bell tower and discovered that it has an elevator for those whose flesh is as weak as mine. But it wasn’t a really clear day, anyway, so it was no big loss not going up that tower on Sunday. Maybe if we go back, we’ll try climbing it on a clear day.

One guy who was at the top of the Cathedral Bell Tower with us rang the bell, scaring the ever loving shit out of all of us on the observation deck at the time. It was LOUD. I’m not sure he was supposed to do that, either. But it’s not like anyone was going to come storming up to reprimand him, or anything. Climbing above the first two levels is a slow process, even for the fit types. You really have to be careful going up and down the ladder like steps!

Once we managed to climb down the tower and stand on firm ground again, we decided to walk around the cathedral grounds. There are a couple of museums there that we really should have toured on the next day, since it was a rainy day. We didn’t get there, though, because we were hurting… but the pain didn’t really set in until we’d had a sleep. We had enough strength and energy to look around some more, take photos, and find our way to the main shopping drag. We stopped in one more Catholic church and an Orthodox church before we found lunch.

Before we started our day’s activities, we ran into a couple of Air Force folks with instruments. I was curious as to why they were there, and found out through Google that a quintet had come to perform with a Lithuanian band in the town square. We passed the area where they were setting up. The crew was playing Billie Holiday as they put up the equipment. The concert was free and open to the public, starting at 6:30 PM. I hoped we’d be able to attend and mentally made plans.

I was about to settle for a lunch of fish and chips, when I noticed a quiet side street. I saw tables and chairs, and since experience has taught me that restaurants off the main drag are often better, decided to turn right and investigate. That’s where we found the cute little French place called Balzac.

Of course, the restaurant was named after a French book, but that didn’t stop some of my Facebook friends from making the obvious jokes and warning us against ordering hot tea (which I’d never do, anyway)… Balzac turned out to be a nice place for a leisurely lunch. I had duck and Bill had lamb, preceded by starters… I liked the clever use of corks on the beams in the ceiling.

Oops! Can’t forget the wine!

After our leisurely French lunch, we headed back toward the hotel. Our tour of the crypt was set to begin at 4:00 PM, so we had about 90 minutes to kill. We stopped by another Orthodox church, and then went to our room for a short rest. I was already starting to feel the soreness seeping into my muscles. I’m not sure what the second Orthodox church was about. Photos were allowed in there, but not in the first church we visited. I watched a woman in the first church very reverently performing rituals, showing deep faith. Again, I was very struck by how faithful and religious the people in Vilnius seemed. We would later find out why religion seemed so prominent there.

This post is getting a bit heavy with photos. Because the crypt tour involves many photos and stories, and we didn’t do that much on my birthday, I’m going to save that story for the next part. Stay tuned!