WIZZ AIR

Never heard of it but it was the airline that took me to Lithuania. My first flavor of what Lithuania might be like was in the airplane. I found my seat and after noting no more passengers getting on I fastened my seat belt. The stewardess came over and with a heavy accent and very demanding voice said “Take off your seatbelt!” I was a bit confused and was not sure I heard her correctly so I said “Excuse me?” and she repeated louder and stronger “Take your seat belt off!” I replied “Off you want me to take it off?” She almost screamed at me “YES, off and do not put it on until we tell you, that is our procedure!”. So I unfastened it and about five seconds later she made an announcement” You may fasten your seat belts.” At which point everyone did.

I was a bit intrigued by Lithuania because we had a Lithuanian Catholic Church in my home town of Dayton, Ohio, Holy Cross and they had the most beautiful intricate crosses I have ever seen. My sister’s best friend is Lithuanian and her mother opened up a Lithuanian restaurant in north Dayton.

For the most part I did not experience that happy carefree atmosphere that I do in many European countries, but sometimes you just can be in the wrong places at the wrong time.

I visited the Hill of Crosses which is a pilgrimage site. The origin of leaving crosses at this site did not seem to be well understood. But they know the first ones were put there in the 1800’s. The exact number of crosses put at the site is not known but they estimate over 100,000.

A beautiful baroque church dedicated to St. Theresa of Avila is in the middle of old town. The art work around the Saint was beyond description.

I did have a chance to sit with an older gentleman, – again an incident where the waitress told me where I could and could not sit, in any event this gentleman was English and was there with a “train enthusiasts “ group. It is an exclusive club of mostly men who travel the world looking at “trains.” He had been everywhere, places I did not know even had trains. They were interested in all kinds and ages of trains, we are not talking model or toy trains. These Railway societies are for those who have an interest in railroads and trains. They have club meetings, magazines, trips, annual national forums, libraries about trains and online forums. The UK itself has about 3K members. Who knew? The things I learn traveling!!!

I stayed in the capital, Vilnius, which is very close to Belarus. It is a small country with a population close to 3 million. The weather was pleasant and it was much less expensive than Norway. I could get 4 glasses of red wine for the price of one in Norway. No worries I always just have one each evening.

Anger kills wisdom

Fear kills dreams

Jealousy kills peace

Now read it right to left!