Day 10 Riga to Vilnius

By express bus it takes 4 hours to get to Vilnius, Lithuania. It costs $20. The boarding scene is one of total confusion. Although we're assigned seats, passengers, push and shove to get in front of the line, many are in the wrong line, cannot read their tickets, and must be redirected through hand language or some broken form of their native language to some other platform. The agent adds to the confusion by standing in the way of those who have checked in and are pressing to board. In the end, we all find our seats and the bus leaves on time. I remember living in Germany where line crashing was the norm although often there was no apparent advantage in doing so. The practice persists here and I wonder what compels people to be so rude. At least, in this regard, Americans are far politer. But Europeans protest, "Americas are only friendly on the surface. We Europeans know how to establish true friendships." I have yet to meet a European who doesn't feel this way but I don't believe it and wonder if there's been study done on this.

Apartment Buildings

The trip from Riga to Vilnius is through rich farm land with large fields of wheat or barley. It looks like southern Minnesota, but without the corn, large farm houses, barns, or silos - only an occasional small home or cluster of homes. On the outskirts of Vilnius, we encountered the large and very ugly run down, soviet era, concrete block apartment buildings. As the Soviets collectivized the farms, the occupants of the large farms were sent to Siberia while the rest were forced to live in these dwellings - only so many square meters per family - all in the interest of equality - you understand. 

600,000 of the 3.3 million Lithuanians live in Vilnius, 88% are actually Lithuanian, and their currency is the Lita. One dollar will get you 2.4 Lita. Prices are higher and the standard of living lower than in Tallinn or Riga. The Old Town doesn't have the vitality that Tallinn or Riga had although there are a lot of weddings and hence bachelor and bachelorette parties. I guess it's something  done in other parts of Europe, but I found it unusual and amusing; groups of anywhere from four to a dozen young ladies roaming the streets. One of the group, the bride to be, would be dressed in some weird white outfit, often covered with candy and the rest would be dressed in black or red, acting like little devils. For a small donation you can kiss the bride or select a piece of candy from her dress.