Good luck again! We awoke to a dry morning, last night’s rain having cleared up nicely, as per our wishes. We certainly can’t complain about the weather we’ve had on this trip.
It was also several degrees cooler today, which was a very pleasant change. Frankly, we’d rather walk around in 18 or 19°C than in 25°C or higher. After an uninterrupted week of the latter category, we were more than ready for cooler weather. We’re not complaining, though — it’s better than rain — but cool temperatures are more comfortable for the whole family.
The Old Town of Kaunas is quite a sleepy place. You’d think it was Sunday, not Wednesday, judging by the number of people milling about, vans making deliveries, etc.
Shops, too, confound our habituated minds. We’re accustomed to shop fronts that blare about their merchandise and their supposedly bargain prices, but retail outlets here are dimly lit affairs, almost free of advertising banners and therefore appear closed; until you try the door, that is, at which point it swings open in your hand.
Like everything else in the Baltic countries (outside of the capitals, at least), shops are understated, their staff reticent and unassuming. You have to remain conscious of this, though, or else you risk walking past everything without looking.
Via a series of churches, where tourists armed with digital cameras mingle amongst the genuflecting locals, we eventually wound up at pretty Rotušės aikštė, the heart of the old town.
After a cepelinai lunch (not for Sarah, obviously), we headed for the Aleksotas funicular railway, which turned out to not be running, although we have no idea why. This meant we had to climb the neighbouring steps to the top, so we left the buggy at the bottom and hiked to the top for splendid views over the old town rooftops.
We had more or less covered the old town at this point, so we decided to wander back down Laisvės alėja in the new town for some coffee and cake at Vero Cafe. A passing shower pelted the street outside while we sipped our drinks.
With energy and spirit replenished, we popped into the local Maxima (the Lithuanian Albert Heijn) and then wandered down Karaliaus Mindaugo prospektas to the very large Akropolis shopping-centre (or mall, if you must). I was surprised by the variety of shops and goods available. It’s definitely one of the better shopping-centres I’ve seen outside of Dubai.
Sarah bought Eloïse a skipping-rope and, for herself, a book to read on the ferry this weekend. I bought a couple more CDs and then played a game of air-hockey with Eloïse.
Dinner rounded out the day, this time at Presto, but was nothing special. We weren’t in the mood for anything too drawn-out, anyway.
Tomorrow, we head north to Šiauliai.
Šiauliai will be our final overnight stay in Lithuania, which coincidentally makes it our last night in the Baltic countries.
My laptop remains functional, but probably only because I have continued to suspend it each time we hit the road, rather than shut it down. It’s not just the device I use to blog; it also provides us with evening entertainment once the children have gone to sleep. We’ve been using it for five and a half weeks now to watch the pile of DVDs we brought with us. I estimated the amount just right. We’ve got just barely enough to see out the rest of the trip.