Discovering Moments: Lithuania Part 1

Highlights

Meeting an old friend for the first time, exploring all the little alleyways and abandoned buildings, visiting a republic with an amazing constitution (one of which is everyone has the right to die but it is not compulsory), having a very positive couchsurfing host, having my plans change and then things just work out, giving direction to tourists (and yes the direction were correct!), a day spent around some beautiful lakes.

To expand a little further on plans changing, I had been trying to get back into the swing of travel but part of me was still trying to control everything. It was really great for me to have a change in plans (basically a complete change within a country) but see just how easy things can be solved. One more step towards the ‘backpacker spirit’.

An Old Friend Who I Only Met for the First Time Today

I had organised to meet with Elze through couchsurfing. It is actually an interesting story as I had contacted her during my trip in 2006 because I had intended to get up into the Baltic States but my plans changed at that time and I ended up in Western Europe. Before I left Brisbane for this trip, I had been cleaning out my emails and came across those that we sent each other. On the off chance that she would remember me I sent her a message. To my delight she did remember me and the timing could not have been better as 1 week after my arrival in Lithuania, she was moving to Holland to live. It seemed fate was conspiring for us to meet.

We had agreed to meet on the stairs of the town hall and as this was my second day in the city, and my first in the old town, I was curious to see whether I was able to find it. I gave myself some extra time just in case I was not able to find it however, despite one detour because I thought an alleyway looked interesting I went straight to our meeting place. I arrived early and as I sat on those stairs I started to get a little nervous because I did not know whether I would recognise her from the photos on couchsurfing. It did not take long for my question to be answered because I saw someone walk around the corner and despite us never actually meeting it seemed that there was an immediate recognition there.

During the first few moments there was some slight awkwardness as we were searching for things to start the conversation flowing. But with relative ease it seemed as though we were simply catching up after not seeing each other for a while. We went and had some traditional Lithuanian food for lunch and then decided to head off into the old town.

Our first stop was the Independent Republic of Uzupis, which as the Lonely Planet describes it was declared a breakaway republic ‘by artists, squatters and drunks’. This little island held a lot of magic for me. Elze and I explored all around the island, easily chatting as we went. We would walk down little alleyways just to see where they went and poked our nose through closed doorways which in most cases would reveal a lovely garden area. There were abandoned buildings to explore and overgrown tracks that demanded our attention. The whole time I was amazed at the comfort I was feeling with this person that I had only met a few hours early.

We progressed into the old city and simply walked those cobbled streets that would have no doubt been walked thousands of times before. However, it did feel that we were discovering something just for ourselves. As the day progressed, we began to share more things about life and why it was that I was travelling and she was moving to Holland. There were numerous times that I said to Elze that the words that just came out from her mouth could have come from mine. It seemed that we had been destined to meet and have this conversation.

With such ease about 8 hours had passed and we found ourselves in the last location for the day, a small forest just outside of town. There in the quiet surrounds of the forest, with the sound of a stream in the background, seemed the perfect place to end a day where I had met on old friend for the first time.

The following photos were taken in Vilnius