Day 29 - Vilnius, Lithuania- Waving Goodbye to Vilnius via the Portal

Joan's View

We ventured to a new bakery today, Crustum. The DeLands got some quiche pastries along with everyone's sweet pastries.

From there we walked to the Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights. It was the former building of the KGB. We learned about the Soviet occupation of Lithuania and the methods used by the Soviets to try to control the Lithuanian people.

The numbers tell the story

Bud & Tony doing their time

Bullet holes in the wall of the execution chamber

Our first church for the day was St Philip and St Jacob Church. There was a large portrait of Bishop Teofilius Matulionis on a side altar depicting his time in a Soviet gulag spent there because of his faith.

Bishop Matulionis 

Another beautiful pulpit

Listening to the 1:00 carillon of bells

From there we did our next stop on the Catholic World tour at St. Francis of Assisi Church. This modern sculpture of St. Francis stood out in that older gothic church.

In between planned sightseeing, the DeLands also got their first Lidl experience when we walked by one. We are now stocked for tomorrow's breakfast. 😃

We next made a stop in a square that we pass often to do some greeting to another city. It has a "portal" where the screen is shared between different countries. The city that you interact with changes after several minutes. I taught the DeLands how to do the "Peterson Wave."

Waving at some city in the US

We proceeded to the next church, St. Therese. It had a beautiful Madonna.

Our last stop was the Gates of Dawn. It is considered the holiest place in Vilnius. It is really one of the old gates to the city and has been there since the 1700s. Many miracles are attributed to this shrine. Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis have also visited this site.

The shrine inside the gate

Dinner tonight was at Socialinis Restauranas where they focus on social integration. They aim to keep it simple for the servers, so one person fills out an order form for your meal. Their potato pancakes were very unique.

A few other noteworthy photos:

The wording displayed on most buses sends a clear message.

One of Nick Balog's friends is in Vilnius!

 

Theresa's Extras

Ditto