One of our
special courses in FES is a geography course no. 15 in which we deal with
travelling. The course also includes a trip to somewhere nearby, this time to
Kaunas, Lithuania. I think it was a good choice because no one had been there
before (expect for the teacher and her husband), and it was an amazingly cheap place
to visit! At least I was quite excited already before the trip because of the
shoes I was going to buy there…
So, now I’m
going to tell you via pictures about what we saw and experienced in Kaunas. But
first I would like to tell you about our experiences and feelings when arriving to
Kaunas. Well, after surviving the flight by Ryanair we stumbled upon the
language barrier and also the angry behaviour of some Lithuanians. After this I
noticed that we Finns are actually really friendly in spite of our different
fame.
The sights we
visited: some monuments, the Ninth gate (a former concentration camp), the Devil museum
(the only one in the world!), the zoological museum, Resurrection and another church
and two shopping malls, Akropolis and Mega (Mega only briefly).
Kaunas city, the main shopping
street called “Laisves aleja” and our hotel called “Kaunas city hotel”.
The longest (1,6km) pedestrian
street in Eastern Europe!
The old town of Kaunas reminded me quite a
lot of that in Tallinn.
There was a huge, about a 10-meter-high aquarium at the Mega shopping mall! You could also see
little sharks there, it
was quite amazing!
. “Our hotel room”, we were joking. But in
reality, it was so shocking to see how cruel people
have been to each other –and
still are. This was in the Ninth gate (a former concentration camp).
And when the evening came, we were
playing young and wild souls in the streets of the Kaunas city! Unfortunately we
couldn’t ease our “homesickness” by watching the World Championship ice hockey,
because they didn’t let the interested ones watch it in the restaurants.. It
seemed the Lithuanians preferred watching fashion shows or Elvis… and on the other hand, aren’t the pubs usually
the places where you watch sports?
Views from the bridge of love in
Kaunas in the evening. Gorgeous!
We were entertained by young
street dancers in the streets of Kaunas! This little boy in the picture
wanted
to join the dance, too ;)
There we were, on the roof of the
Resurrection church, at the vantage point!
…and saw the best and the largest
views of the whole of Kaunas.
We also met a sweet old Russian man
who had been in Siberia for a really long time, about 40 years! He just kept
talking to us even though we could only understand a few words in Russian. He
also showed us his great skis made of bear or some other animal skin. And
absolutely wanted a picture of him with his great skis!
The best students, as our guide said
in the very beginning!:)
Great and
large shopping malls, small and sweet boutiques, delicious ice cream, lots of
amber and shoes, and even more beautiful views and new tastes and experiences! Emphasis on the word “ice cream”.
So, overall
we had a really successful trip in Kaunas, the mood was great and at least I had really
fun and an exciting time! And this is the saldo of the 4 days: cheeks aching from
smiling, feet aching from walking, lighter wallets but heavier baggage and memory
full of unforgettable memories (and shoes and ice cream…)!
…but
finally Finland with its thousands of lakes was calling us again. But, I really
would like to get back to Kaunas, who will come with me?
Written by Janette Välimäki, 2B
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