go to Lithuania, its so pretty!

hello!!!


So I left Russia on Sunday...we got to the airport at 3am (!!!!) and then our flight was supposed to leave at 7am. GAlina stayed awake with me, and then told me that she didn't think the lift in our building worked at that time of the night recently...after failng to convince me to lug my bags down the stairs, we compromised that she would walk downt the stairs with my important documents while I took the lift. I didn't point out that it didn't matter if my documents were ok if I ended up stuck in the lift myself, but oh well, it turned out ok.



Our flight didnt leave until 1130, so we were stuck in a terrible Russian airport for about 8 hours. We flew to Kaliningrad (that crazy random piece of Russia that is not connected to Russia at all, and therefore much better and much more normal than Russia). One of Chase's friends' dad's picked us up at the airport and brought us to the bus station. He was really awesome and put up with having to take us from one bus station to another and then back to the first, etc.

Part of the spit looking out to the lagoon behind it

We took a four hour long bus ride up to Klaipeda, Lithuania across the spit that connects Kaliningrad to Lithuania. It is seriously one of the most beautiful places I have ever been! It is birch forests sprouting out of sand and then leading up to the beach and then the Baltic Sea. When we got to Klaipeda (Chase studied there for a little while) his friend picked us up and brought us to her mom's house where we would be staying. That night we met his friend Fatjon, from Albania, and grabbed some dinnner.

Monday we went to the beach on the spit and layed out on the sand for a while, which is also what we did on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday, though different beaches. Its been really good weather, warm but breezy and sometimes a few ominous clouds but not too bad. Tuesday night we all met at Vilma's to make hamburgers, and then Thursday we took an hour long bus ride back down the spit to this tiny resort town called Nida, where there is a giant sand dune and a beautiful beach!

This is John, Fatjon, me, and Chase

The beach at Nida

John and I finally ended up leaving for Riga this morning, and arrived this afternoon. So far I'm liking it, I'll have to update that assessment later perhaps though. For the most part it is going to be hard for me to switch back into tourist mode because Lithuania was just five days of relaxing and hanging out which was a very good break for me.

*also, when you look at my pics from my webalbum, or here, I have some scrapes on my face - I'm fine, jsut took a very bad fall the last day in Russia and couldn't stop myself with my hands in time. I experienced a Russian clinic, ha, and lots of crazy Russians staring at me, but it's all better now!






This video is from the spot just before coming to the ledge of the beach at Nida.