"We went further and further... When, whether you expect it or not, you turn twenty, life must be lived. However, it doesn't go upwards or downwards: it wants to go broader, and further. It wants a direction. It doesn't matter which; it's just having a direction that matters. I can't say why we chose the east..."

---
On the cover of my travel journal, this time a kitschy, little spiral job, I wrote: Lithuania 2005

Goals:
- Frank Zappa statue
- Soviet nuclear plant
- the Dunes
- chateau de Trakai

Of these, I am sorry to say that the first two goals were not attained. The Frank Zappa statue is actually located in a small town outside of Vilnius, erected by an repatriated Lithuanian artist who believed is quaint little town was just the right place for the only existing monument to the rock star.

As for the power plant, it was just not in the cards. Traveling around Lithuania is still a bit, well, shall we say inefficient, complicated by those of us that are linguistically challenged, such as foreign tourists and bus drivers, who can barely manage monosyllabic utterances even in their native language.

The Chateau, which is actually a medieval fort built on an island, was certainly beautiful, but not as beautiful as the surrounding lake region where Stephane and I were lucky enough to camp. Perhaps the real highlight of this part of the trip was meeting our Polish friend Boguslav, who asked us to call him "Bogus" for short. "Hey Bogus! I really like your shiny white velcro sneakers!"

The Dunes were, as expected, amazing. After climbing the 150 steps you can run free in the dunes, seeing the lagoon and the little town of Nida on one side and the forest and Baltic sea on the other. In certain spots, all of this is invisible and all you can see is sand. Lots of sand. In which I bounced, rolled, and sculpted. Sand that stayed with me for days, in the oddest of places.

Unfortunately, we forgot the charger for our camera so we only have photos from the first week of our trip (which I will post eventually). The Dunes are not included, but I will try to procure some things.

But as with any adventure, it is not the expected that you cherish afterwards as much as the surprises. AssRay and I were lucky, the weather was pretty much perfect every day except for one, during which we spent half of the day on buses and ferries (it was a travel day) and the other part holed up in this great Soviet art deco movie theater in Kaunas.

Here is a brief list of lovely, little things that I "discovered" (kind of like how Columbus "discovered" America) in Lithuania:

- already mentioned our friend Bogus
- old ladies wearing knee high hose and sport sandals
- geometric, Howard Roarke-like statues scattered throughout Vilnius
- the hip/not-hip dynamic of the Contemporary Art Center cafe where I seemed to spend too many nights, each drunker than the last.
- The Usupis Republic, a neighborhood of Vilnius where you have the right to squat, where you have the right to sleep where you like, where you have the right to have a name, or to have no name, where you have the right to have no rights. Plus it is full of cafes with back terraces that jut out over a hill the overlooks the whole city.
- the Galerija Vartai, where our Italian painter friend had a retrospective of his work being shown
- male beer glasses and female beer glasses
- MACHUNAS (this one will get its own entry)
- Lithuanian pagan folklore and Witches' Hill which has incredible powers over the creative mind and imagination. Stephane and I experienced this first hand (also more on this later)
- beer snacks. on every menu at every restaurant. beer snacks.
- Lithunanian art critic, poet, essayist Alfonsas Andriuskevicius, responsible for the opening quotation
- a soviet beach resort
- the Baltic Sea!

Oh, and so much more. I really hope to be able to write more meaningful posts about this experience, which was, as every travel experience is, very formative. Right now though, I am relieved to be home after a harrowing travel day that started in Kaunas and ended in Paris via Vilnius and Amsterdam. I say good night and I promise pictures and more in the coming days. Plus a lot of interesting stuff found it's way into my inbox, which I hope to get out there as well. Gotta keep those memes buzzing.