My first Lithuanian Baptism

Like Virgil to Dante or the Mad Hatter to Alice, my Vilnius friend took it upon himself to guide me through the wonders of my long weekend. My first Lithuanian baptism felt a bit like Alice in wonderland. Beautiful and eventful but also somewhat upside down. Counter-intuitive, so to say.

Quick was the baptism itself, celebrated in some fairy tale (sort of) language in which I caught barely the name of my god-daughter. 

Anyway I must have accepted my responsibilities of godmother, since I signed some paper, to be stored for eternity in the archives of a church in some remote Lithuanian village where the ancestors of the baby girl were born. An image of the world upside-down was returned by the pond close to the Panemune castle where we had our lovely post-Baptism picnic, before proceeding to the final destination in Sturmai. 

Not sure if Sturmai is a village or simply the name of a small pier on the lagoon with a couple of boats, a hotel and a restaurant. More than enough of the good stuff anyway: sunshine, fresh fish and wi-fi, all while sitting at a table and sipping white wine facing the sunset. 

Strict rules apply here: only catch of the day can be ordered (hence pike-perch everyday); only Austrian Riesling can be served with Lithuanian fresh water fish (no French or Italian wines can ever match); no lemon can be put on the fish ("In Italy, would you allow Parmigiano on fish? Same here: if you put lemon on fish you go to hell").

In an upside down world, an Italian can happen to be stopped by a Lithuanian restaurant owner before breaching a food-related rule.

In the same counter-intuitive world, the same Italian can get a tan from laying in the sun and bathing in the Baltic sea in cute Nida, on the other side of the lagoon. Admittedly "bathing" may be an optimistic description of getting into the 19 degrees water for a couple of seconds.

Top 5 differences with Italian beaches, my personal "Virgil" asked.

1. Water is cold; 2. water is not very salty; 3. open air changing booths; 4. kids are not screaming; 5. No, thanks I really do not need an umbrella at 55° 18' 29" North.

Five days later

 It took five days, a weekend at the Curonian lagoon, fresh water fish for dinner, a few bottles of Austrian riesling and French cider and that strange anxiety I harboured upon arrival has disappeared.


Vilnius oggi è inondata dal sole, semplice e imponente. E soprattutto accogliente e rilassante. Come quando sono arrivata, non e' cambiato granche'. Ma Vilnius è la scusa perfetta, allora perche' non usarla?

Different eyes and different perspectives: today we climbed two belfries and one (Gediminas) castle hill, to decide which one held the best view of the city.

And the winner is ... the University's St. John church in the old town: for there you can get the most central view of the city (the jury's motivation).


But I need to learn more: now I have a little girl to visit in Vilnius.  

Vilnius again

A small airport with a feeling of a train station. Wide streets, northern lights, old style buildings and not so many people around.

It feels bizarre entering Vilnius once again. A feeling like the end of the world is approaching. Of course Vilnius is only the excuse, not the cause. It is me generating these feelings.

Or perhaps it is also the bath tub parked in the garage.

But the first memory of Vilnius soon comes back, that of Captain Ramius of Red October. Handsome, smart, in control. And native of Vilnius, that he abandoned forever. That Vilnius was an exotic place behind the iron curtain, mysterious. 

Today's Vilnius, the only one I know, is richer, clean, growing. EU flags show the renovation projects funded by Brussels. In 5 months the Euro will replace the Litas. Euroscepticism does not belong here. Yet.

While reestablishing familiarity with old friends whom I should see more often, the best youth of Vilnius is preparing to hit the town, beautiful, well dressed, queuing to get into the best bar in town, ordering the best Spritz and Mojito. But we are not part of Generation Y, we will go to a much better place just next door.