A history lesson

Friday May 22, 2009

We set the alarm for 7 am, but lied in until 9, waiting for the morning rain to end. As we began to pack up we were invited insdie the house for coffee. Three generations of women were sitting round the table, I guess the men had gone off to work/ school.

We navigated our way through Kedainai and out onto a small road with the help of the tourist information lady, no one else seemed to know how to find the road we wanted.

We stopped for food and to use the internet at Babtai, a small town. The lady in the library was very interested to speak to us as few tourists visit the town. She invited us back to her house to meet her children who spoke English. A birthday party was taking place and we chatted with a guest. he was from Vilnius, studying at the top school. He spoke excellent English and filled me in on Lithuania's culture and history. Lithuania was once the largest country in Europe, and was the last country to give up Paganism.

I had a mid day beer with him, as he helped us to plan a route to Poland. I said that I didn't want to accidentally end up in Ukraine, he replied that it was unlikely as Lithuania doesn't border Ukraine. I really need a map of Europe.

We left the party and cycled on into Kaunas, a city where a large festival was taking place, to celebrate the town. I asked a policeman for directions, again for a small road out of town. He pointed us back where we had come from. I decided to use the town map I had got from the tourist information in Kedainai, aligning it with the map of the country by the river flowing through the town.

Amazingly I managed to find the correct road, this was confirmed by a local who told me that I must take a right turn further down the road. Approaching the turning I asked another local, who said to turn right after 3 traffic lights. We reached the third set of lights, there was a road, but no sign post, so I asked another person, it was the right way.

By the time we were out of Kaunas it was gone 9 pm, we made camp, exhausted, at the first field we found.