The first indication I got that I am travelling to a cold country was when the stewardess welcoming you in the plane had a thick fur coat on. I was still feeling quite warm. Got to my seat and the FlyLal plane started to taxi towards the runway. And it seemed the pilot loved taxing, the plane went on and on and I almost felt that the pilot intends to drive to vilnius as also the next 4-5 aircrafts behind us to their respective destinations. Anyway I was deprived of a good view form the plane as it was quite cloudy. Finally after few hours we landed in Vilius. And it was not difficult to find J, my host in Lithuania. As we came out of the airport I was tempted to get a handful of snow but then resisted the urge. I started on the wrong foot by trying to approach the drivers door. British colonial remains.
So after a short drive we reach J's apartment. She proudly showed off her steel door with triple locks. I never felt more safe in my life. The flat was far nicer than the one I lived in in Singapore. And it had a bath tub. Made a mental note to finish reading my book in the bath. The first thing noticeable was the food. It's rare for Indian food to be cold. But as I had read about it before coming I expected it. And in the evening went to try '
cepelinai'. It's named so because the shape is similar to Zeppelin. I was wondering how did they make a whole potato with a text like that. It had the same answer to another potato question I had for a long time: How do all the chips in a Pringles can have the same size and shape? Ans: they are made from a mashed and grated potato. Its not cut out from a raw potato. Coming back to the cepelinai, it's heavy food. One jumbo sized cepelinai was enough to make me feel full. The restaurant itself tried a bit too much to recreate traditional Lithuanian setting by putting some chicken in one corner. It resulted in the place being more touristy than real. And it was the start of my ritual for any meal in a restaurant. Take off jacket, take off scarf, take off gloves, eat meal , put on each of them back again. Meals were never such an elaborate affair in Singapore thanks to the climate.
Next day we drove to Trakai Castle. On the way J had a gut feeling that we were driving in wrong direction, which was confirmed by a sign board pointing towards Minsk. So we drove another 100 mts towards Minsk so as to do a u-turn. Eventually (okay it was not that bad), we reached the destination. Its a nice red coloured castle built on a landmass surrounded by lakes on all sides with a bridge connecting it to the landmass where we parked our car. J's car rather. On the way to the castle, there were old ladies selling trinkets like old russian military hats (maybe next time I go I wil buy one). Inside is a museum with some memorabilia typicaly swords, armors, porcelain (i think) bowls etc. I was surprised to find one small replica of
Lion Capital of Ashoka. The lake was half frozen. Took a short walk around the castle and on the way back saw a few newly wed couples who probably came after their wedding to take some wedding pictures. Also experienced one lithuanian custom, the groom carried the bride over the bridge. They were joking, the translations provided by my guide
groom: You are very heavy.
bride: There will be far more problems darling.
After the castle, we went to try kibinai. Kibinai is not a Lithuanian dish. Its what they call
karaim. I don't really remember the taste now but I remember it was quite hot inside and I had to wait for it to cool down. That being done we proceeded back home. I am not the kind of person who wants to go to see everything one after the another.
