This morning I was reading email and lost track of time. Linda knocked at my door ready to go to breakfast. Oops….she went alone, and I arrived about thirty minutes later at the same time Miina arrived.
It was drizzling outside, so everyone in our group was wearing rain gear. This time we have a male city guide to show us the local sites during our stay in Vilnius. It was fun walking along the streets and through the old churches in the rain. Next we got on a full-sized bus where each of us could have a window seat.
Just Walking in the Rain
Chapel
Door knocker
After the bus tour, we explored on our own. Linda and I followed Miina’s advice to have some local food, so we had lunch at the very busy traditional restaurant that served cipelinai (potato dumplings). We shared three plates of cipelinai (2 per plate): pork filling with mushroom sauce, pork filling with cream and herb sauce, and curd filling with cream sauce plus a glass of white wine each. The dumplings we twice as big as we thought they would be, so we didn’t belong to the “clean plate club.”
My lunch: Cepeline
We went outside and were enjoying music played on the birbyne, a traditional wind instrument (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKJIRix3trA ) when Miina showed up. She volunteered to take us to the chocolate shop and help us order demitasse cups of hot melted milk chocolate. How decadent!
Byrbine ~ traditional Latvian instrument
Enjoying very high quality melted chocolate in a demitasse cup
Next, we walked into an amber shop across the street where I saw a beautiful triangular Amber stone set in a silver filigree-type adjustable band. I decided to buy this very artistic-looking ring. We walked into several other shops, and we stopped to listen to a man playing the Bandura, national instrument of the Ukraine. Then we started walkng back to the hotel. On the way, we saw a young woman selling souvenirs at a table she had set up on the sidewalk. I purchased some beautiful Amber sun catchers. Now I have to convert more dollars into euros to be prepared to buy.
Bandura
My new amber ring
This evening we attended a glorious free organ concert at one of the Catholic churches we saw today. Bernhard Gfrerer from Salzberg, Austria played their glorious pipe organ for over an hour. Even though he played Mozart, Mendelssohn, and other composers, neither Linda nor I had ever heard any of the pieces he played! The packed audience in this church, many sitting on the floor or standing, gave him a standing ovation at the end of the concert. He played two encores. Afterward, ten of us went to a French restaurant for supper. Linda and I ordered the same thing except for different wines: French Onion Soup and bread, creme brûlée, and champagne.