Marvelous Madrid

 Saturday, April 11th

Surprisingly, I slept through the night without taking a sleeping pill! Of course, after 30+ hours without sleep, last night may not be a true indicator on the jet-lag app, but I'm hopeful!  We have a cloudy and warm day in the forecast.  The high altitude of the city sometimes gives it huge weather changes in a single day. Our local guide, Nico, joined us to give our tour of Madrid and the Prado Museum.  

Madrid was founded in the second half of the 9th century by Emir Muhammad I of Córdoba.  The city was made the capital of Spain in 1560, which makes it one of the youngest capitals in Europe and the only one with Islamic origins.  Today it has a downtown population of about 3 million people and the city is divided into 21 districts.

Spring flowers blooming!!

We had a short stop at La Plaza de Oriente, the grounds of the royal palace I visited yesterday. Nico told us that the last time the royal family lived in the palace was in 1931, and their family is related to British royal family.  The equestrian statue of Philip IV (Felipe) on top of the fountain in the middle of the plaza had an interesting history.  Sculptor Pietro Tacca created the tribute in 1640, but Galileo's help was required to calculate the stability of the design. "the horse rears, and the entire weight of the sculpture balances on the two rear legs—and, discreetly, its tail— a feat that had never been attempted in a figure of this scale" [source].

Museo Nacional del Prado was our last stop for the morning, and unfortunately you're not allowed to take photos inside the exhibits.  "Prado" means 'meadow' as it was originally intended to be a museum of natural sciences.  We did a very quick tour (under two hours) to highlight the "Big 3" in the museum: El Greco, Diego Velázquez, and Francisco de Goya.  The museum has over 35,000 works of art, and 8,000 paintings so I think our curated tour was perfect. To appreciate these paintings, I've shared some videos I found explaining them.

Doménikos Theotokópoulo, who is widely known as El Greco (which means "the Greek" in Spanish) had a very unique painting style - he elongated & distorted figures and painted without backgrounds. During his lifetime he was not very famous outside of Toledo. He would also paint in a different style for those who commissioned him and didn't like his preferred style.  

Diego Velázquez was born in Seville, Spain and painted during the 17th century. As a court painter for Philip IV, he painted many royal portraits and is best known for his Las Meninas (Ladies in Waiting or Maids of Honor) depicting Philip IV's family.  In addition, he often painted mythological people as real people, such as his Vulcan’s Forge painting depicting Apollo in the forge of Vulcan.  

Francisco de Goya "is regarded as one of the last of the Old Masters and one of the earliest of the modern artists." [source] Because he painted during the time of the American and French revolutions his works reflected those upheavals.  Some of his most famous works, that we saw, included The Naked Maja, The Clothed Maja, The Family of Carlos IV, and Saturn Devouring One Of His Sons.

After our free time for lunch, I joined the optional tour of El Escorial, which is located about an hour northwest of Madrid.  It is a combination monastery, royal palace, and basilica complex erected by King Philip II as a memorial to his father, Carlos V.  The complex is vast, and to not make this blog post a book, I'll keep it limited to the parts I found most interesting.

El Escorial - entrance through the Basilica

Nico was an excellent guide, and he brought us up a staircase and through a small door into the Royal library, and exclaimed "isn't it a wow!?"  He wasn't wrong! Interestingly, all the books are shelved backwards so you only see the golden pages.  The room was incredibly impressive. The sign above the other entrance to the library threatens excommunication if you steal a book!

 The Royal Pantheon of Infantes was very beautiful.  In Spain, only the heir to the Crown is a prince or princess, so they use the the title Infante de España for the children of reigning and past Spanish monarchs.  Among other privileges, the infantes have the right to be buried in the Pantheon of Infantes.  The floors and ceiling are made of white marble and there are multiple chambers.  

Pantheon of Infantes Children's Mausoleum

 The special polygonal tomb for the royal children who died before reaching puberty was unique.  The Pantheon of the Kings (Royal Pantheon) did not allow photos, although I'm really not sure why. It is located directly below the church's main alter and has beautiful black and red marble walls with green marble caskets.  The mausoleum, with the caskets of each king, in order of reign, and their wives opposite them, hold kings from the 1500's of both the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties.  Although, since Felipe IV created the burial place, he cheated the rules and had two of his daughters buried there.

The Royal Basilica of San Lorenzo de El Escorial 

 

The father and mother of King Juan Carlos I, are awaiting interment, which is anticipated to happen within the next 5-10 years.  Once that happens the marble caskets will all be filled. No decision has yet been announced as to the final resting place of now-abdicated Juan Carlos, Queen Sofía, Felipe VI, Queen Letizia, and any future monarchs and consorts.

 We also visited the Palace of Philip II, which compared to my visit yesterday at Palacio Real, is very austere!  It's a bit shocking when you think about the size of his empire (from the Philippines to South America, the sun never set on his empire), but he was deeply catholic and only spent a few months a year there since it was a seasonal palace.

My Spanish Adventure Begins

Friday, April 10th 

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been trying out an app called "TimeShifter" to help me have less jetlag. I started on Monday, and by tomorrow (Saturday) I'm supposed to be completely adjusted to Madrid time.  It's a bit too early to tell if it worked, in part because on the flights yesterday I was to get some sleep, but I can never sleep on planes.  

My flight out of Pittsburgh was delayed by air traffic control, so by the time we landed in Philly my flight was to begin boarding and I wasn't off the plane yet and still had to get to the international terminal.  Oddly enough, the couple int he 2 seats next to me were also on the flight to Madrid.  He was very polite, yet also bold enough to keep speaking up and asking people if they would allow us to go ahead of them (exiting the plane).  We all begin sprinting through the airport from Terminal C, Gate 20 to Terminal A, Gate 26.  My American Airlines app told me it was a 20min walk, but we simply did not have 20 minutes!  They were loading my boarding group as I arrived at the gate, so I had just enough time to use the restroom before I got onboard.  Then, somehow, they put a pet in the wrong cargo hold or something, so we spent an hour and a half getting that corrected and then doing all our safety briefings over again before we could take off.  According to the TimeShifter app I was to "wake up" and be exposed to bright light at 1am to help reset my circadian rhythms...so I did what I could to make that happen on a dark airplane while all I wanted to was to be asleep.

Madrid Airport was very inefficient, from my point of view, with their international arrivals.  In their defense, I believe the law requiring all visitors to be electronically fingerprinted is new, so they're still trying to work out all the logistics.  Either way, it took me over an hour to get out of the airport and I didn't even have a bag to claim.  I will say, they did have the most impressive Ride-Share pick up location I have ever seen. Sometimes it's maddeningly difficult to find out where you're to meet your driver, but Madrid had perfectly marked parking spots that get assigned to each driver as you request a ride.  I don't know how they do it, but I was impressed.

 My driver dropped me off at Meliá Madrid Serrano hotel around 12:30pm and I left my luggage with the hotel staff as my room would not be ready until 3pm.  Since I had expected to have arrived at 10:45am, I was somewhat prepared with a plan to do a walking tour loosely based on Rick Steve's guidebook.  Somehow in my planning I failed to notice that my hotel was a 30min walk from the starting point of the 'tour'.  I was exhausted and hungry, and yet, kept not stopping for something to eat.  Despite how brave people think I am, and despite the amount of Spanish I know, and the expected level of English at most places, it was too intimidating.  My brain just couldn't do it, I was even having trouble following my trusty Maps.Me app and the directions I'd printed for Steve's tour.  It was a lovely, warm, 82 degree day, and there were lots of people out and about.  Arriving at Plaza Mayor, in the Old Town of Madrid, I gave up and decided to head straight for the Royal Palace before my headache took over.

 

Palacio Real

Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena

 The Palacio Real is the 3rd largest palace in Europe (and is the largest in Western Europe). Only 6% of the palace is able to be visited and the rest is closed to the public. It has 3,418 rooms and was built to have about 3,000 people living in it (servants would be included in that total).  The first king to live in the palace was Charles III, and it was used as a royal residence from 1764 to the deposition of King Alfonso XIII in 1931.

The decorations visitors see are the same decorations from the 17th century!  The palace is only used for official ceremonies now, such as state dinners in this unbelievably large dining room.

I don't always make wise choices when traveling, and by the time I got my ticket and went inside I was confident that not prioritizing finding some sort of snack before arriving was a huge mistake.  Without a guide (human or audio) and with a pounding headache, much of what I saw was wasted on me...but it was a beautiful palace and very large.  I begrudgingly paid the $20 price for an Uber back to my hotel where water, food, and Tylenol did the trick.  Then, despite the TimeShift app, I had to lay down and close my eyes for a bit. I drifted off for maybe 15min, so I don't think it did me any harm.

The tour orientation and dinner were nice - there are 35 of us total and our guide is named José Manuel.  I sat with a couple from Indiana, named Max and Patricia.  There was one couple younger than me, maybe 26, so I wasn't the youngest, and there was one other woman traveling solo, so I wasn't the only one traveling alone either! Our dinner at La Farmacia was okay, nothing to write home about, but it was a cute location and I was tired enough to not care too much about the food.
 

Preparing for Spain

 As many of you know, I'm off to Spain today!  For a country that has been on my bucket list for the last 15 years you might be surprised I've not been there yet.  And all I can say is that I've been waiting for a tour to go on sale, and it's just never been as low as I wanted it to be!  Finally, after hearing over and over again on my tour of Portugal how much I would love Spain if I was enjoying Portugal (which I was enjoying), and after reading a fascinating book about Andalusia, I decided it was time.  Sale or no sale, it was time to book a trip to Spain.  The Gate1 Travel Single-Supplement sale came around last fall and when I saw that the fee (you have to pay extra to join tours when you're traveling alone, and they call it a "single supplement") for Spain was $1000 and that it was waived as part of the sale, I knew I had to take the leap (even if I paid full price for the tour).

 To prepare for the trip I've been re-reading the above-mentioned book, Ornament of the World.  The combination of things I learned in Portugal, and the things I learned about Jewish history from my tour of the POLIN museum in Poland, have certainly helped me keep the timeline and understand the context of the book better this second time around.  It's incredibly fascinating how the author ties together the history and how events impacted the religions and cultures of the area.

 

Also, for the first time I'm trying out an app called TimeShifter which I read about in How to Win at Travel. I'm hoping it works and helps to mitigate (even eliminate) my jet-lag and make the tour much more enjoyable for me.  That being said, it required that I be up at 3am this morning (after several days of earlier bedtimes and earlier wake-up times) and my flight doesn't leave until 5:30pm tonight!  The plus side to that is that I did the majority of my packing, cleaned my house, mowed my lawn, and still had time to write this post before heading out.

 Oh, and another first happened last night as I was checking in for my flight.  It wanted me to pay $75 to check my bag, which was a surprise because the last time I flew to Europe I only paid $40!  I did some searching and found out that the fee for checked bags to Europe is indeed $75 and now I had a dilemma.  I had planned to check a bag, but hadn't really packed anything yet, and was the extra pair of shoes worth $75 EACH WAY?  So, for this 15 day trip, I managed to pack in a carry-on.  Will my feet hate me when I have to wear the same pair of shoes every single day?  Maybe, but I'd rather spend my $150 on something else.  If only my 18-year-old self, packing for a semester abroad in Italy, could see me now!

My apologies for the teaser, as there's no way I'll end up blogging on the tour (even if I end up not having jet lag), but it's always good to have something to look forward to!  Ciao! 

A Day in Warszawa

 Thursday, April 3rd

Warsaw, "the city that saw the war" was almost 90% destroyed by Nazi Germany in 1944, out of retaliation for Polish resistance.  The historic centre was meticulously restored based on the original layout and "is an outstanding example of a near-total reconstruction of a span of history covering the 13th to the 20th century." (source)

 It has since been rebuilt in the original layout, so the buildings are mostly new.  Our local guide for the day was Philip, a charming Polish chap with lots of fun quips.  One that stuck with us was a "Shakespeare Stop" (that was code for a bathroom break - 'to pee or not to pee'). Warsaw is such a large city that the morning tour felt almost like a waste of time.  He was pointing things out as we drove, but I often wasn't even sure what building he was referring to and couldn't get a photo from a moving bus even if I did know which building.  We did learn a fair amount of history on the ride though, so one mustn't complain.

Our first stop was at the massive monument of Frederic Chopin (pronounced "show-pin"), possibly the most famous Polish man in the world.  Frederic began playing piano at age six and was better than his teacher by age nine.  By age 20, he was forced to leave Poland, less than a month before the outbreak of the November 1830 Uprising (also known as the Polish–Russian War).  Chopin went to Vienna, then Paris, then Majorca Island, before dying at age 39 in Paris, France from tuberculosis.  The park was lovely on our sunny, spring day - in the summer they hold free outdoor concerts in the park.

 

Our next stop was the POLIN Museum for a Shakespeare stop and a moment to talk about the Monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto outside the museum. The square in which the monument resides was formerly part of a Jewish ghetto, and was the spot where the first fighting of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising took place in 1943.  The people were locked in the ghetto and couldn't escape, but they chose to fight (an honorable death) instead of die like cattle.  The opposite side of the monument shows the deportation of the Jews sent to Treblinka Concentration Camp (there are Nazi helmets in the background of the relief).

 From the museum we headed to the rebuilt Old Town Square, which is stunning.  What I found so interesting was the use of polychrome decoration on the outside of the buildings.  I don't recall ever seeing anything quite like it, at least not as extensively used; it looked like they had carved the exterior of many of the buildings.

We walked to the Archcathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist (one of three major cathedrals in Warsaw) and headed inside for a peek.  The church is viewed as a symbol of the relationship between church and state, an idea staunchly defended during WWII. Buried in the crypts beneath the main aisle are several historical Polish figures, including the last King of Poland (he's actually the only royal buried there as all the other kings are buried in Krakow).  

After our visit we had free time so I wandered off on my own for quite awhile enjoying the lovely day and exploring the old city walls and environs. I found several other beautiful churches, including Pauline Church of the Holy Spirit and Paul The Hermit, and Kościół pw. Świętego Marcina (St. Martin's church).

The Mermaid Monument at the Old Town Market Place

Shortly before it was time to reunite with the group I ran into Roz, Irv, and Rose, all enjoying an ice cream, so I bought one too!  Then it was off to Jan Sobieski III's Wilanów Palace for a tour, and despite its name it was apparently never a royal residence (he became king after he built it and never lived here as King).  Since it survived both world wars, everything is original and is a stunning example of late-Baroque architecture.  Surprisingly, it is in the top 25 most visited National Monuments in the world!  We had the most delightful afternoon for a visit, clear skies and 70 degree temperatures.  The flowers were blooming as well, so the bright yellow exterior of the palace and the azure sky made for lovely photos.

  The interior was very well preserved and Philip kept things very entertaining as we made our way through the museum.  The venerable King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania was born in what is currently the Ukraine, but was then Poland. He spoke 7 languages and he and his wife, Marie Casimir, traveled extensively. They had 17 children, but only 5 lived to adulthood.  

Battle of Vienna statue

Jan (Polish for John) was the leader of the Polish Army and saved the country from Ottoman Empire's takeover. He had the largest privately owned library in the world at the time, and it has this amazing (original) stone floor in a 3D design.  

The ballroom was done in the early 1700's in Classical Baroque style. The large painting behind the piano is of Stanisław Kostka Potocki who turned the palace into a museum. He was a Polish noble and his mausoleum is outside the palace, we had passed in on our way into the museum. When the tour was over I said goodbye to Magic & Simona as that was the end of our interactions.  She was truly the best guide I've ever experienced -- maybe being the same age helped, but she was informative, fun, had a great sense of humor, was organized, made stories personal so we could connect what she was saying to real human lives.  I would love to have her by my tour guide again some day.

My day wasn't finished as I had booked a one hour Chopin recital for the evening.  I caught an Uber across to the Old Town and had some time to spare, so I explored a bit more. 

It was a very small "salon setting" much the way Chopin's first pieces would have been played. The pianist, Katarzyna Hushta, studies at the University of Warsaw School of Music, and was born in Belarus.  

 

She did a phenomenal job and it was an enjoyable concert.  The optional Gate1 concert was two hours long (I think only 1 person had signed up), and I was falling asleep by the end of my one hour recital!  The walk to the edge of the Old Town at twilight was a nice farewell to the city before I caught an Uber back to the hotel.

The group of 13 traveling together on our tour was in the lobby, so I stopped to talk for a bit.  Then Roz and Irv came into the lobby and a God-ordained comment about me flying through Dallas prompted Roz to tell me that George was also to have flown through Dallas, but they had changed his flights.  She suggested I check mine.  I'd already checked in for my flights and had boarding passes, had scheduled my Uber to the airport and set my alarm for the morning...But sure enough, my flights had been changed and they never told me!  I was now departing Warsaw three hours later than originally planned, and would be going to London and then straight to Pittsburgh.  Much, much better flights, and I would be home three hours earlier as well!  Ever so thankful for everything working out!

Until next time....

Heading to Poland

 Wednesday, April 2nd

Not much of consequence today as most of the day was spent on the bus driving from Vilnius to Warsaw.  

However, all was not lost as Simona imparted lots of history on the drive. Poland is full of historic landmarks and UNESCO sites, and has a population of about 39 million people. They are one of the rare countries in the European Union that still use their own currency (Polish złoty).

Of the countries on our tour, Poland and Lithuania have the strongest ties (and not just because our driver was Polish and our guide Lithuanian).  In 1569, the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania unified to become the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, creating one of the strongest powers in Europe at the time.  They were quite advanced and in 1791 had the first European Constitution (second in the world after the good 'ol USA)!  Unfortunately, its long period of strength and prosperity were in decline shortly after the Constitution was signed it all went downhill quickly. By 1795, the Commonwealth had been divided into 3: Russia, Prussia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire each took a part.  We're all a bit more familiar with Polish history post-1920's so I won't add any of those details.

We also learned about the Suwałki Gap, although we did not cross it.  Knowing so much more history of this region, and their 'tussles' with Russia, it's easy to grasp the strategic and military importance of this choke point since Poland and the Baltic states joined NATO.

We finally arrived in Warsaw with a smidge over 2 hours before our farewell dinner (odd timing, yes, but it's the only free evening before many on the tour leave in the early morning hours Friday).  Anyway, I had no other free time in Warsaw, so I had to quickly choose how I wanted to spend my time.  Depositing my backpack quickly into my hotel room, I booked an Über and headed to the POLIN Museum.  The museum is actually dedicated to the history of the Jews in Poland, which actually dates back a thousand years, and was erected in the former Jewish ghetto.

POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews

 

The entrance fee was about $12 and included an audio guide, but in the end I found it unhelpful.  The guide didn't read the displays, so I would start reading the plaque next a display I was viewing and then would end up missing what was being said via the audio guide.  The museum was astounding, and they say you need about three hours to get through it.  Seeing as I had less than 2 hours eventually turned off the audio guide and continued through the very extensive and masterfully done exhibits.  

Jewish communities in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1765

 

Replica of the Gwoździec synagogue roof & ceiling

I read only what caught my attention and easily could have spent another two hours there.  To my dismay, I had to zoom through the WWII era in about 15 minutes and quickly head back to the hotel. I had a few moments to 'powder my nose' before the farewell drinks and walk to AleGloria for dinner.  It was a unique spot, served delicious food, and I had a fabulous time with some of my favorite tour-mates.

 

Vilnius

 April 1st

Vilnius (pronounced "Vill-nee-uhs") is known as the city of churches, because despite having a population of only about 600,000 people there are 48 churches.  Before the Second World War it was also known as the Jerusalem of the North because 40% of their population at the time was Jewish.  The capital city is located on the Neris River (the second longest in the country) & Vilnia River, both of which run to the Baltic Sea.  The Lithuanians have a legend about Duke Gediminas (the Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1315-1316 until his death in 1341) and the founding of the capital known as the Iron Wolf Legend.  As such, the Iron Wolf symbol is used for the city of Vilnius, sports teams, and even the Lithuanian military.

As far as today, after breakfast we were on the tour bus for a city tour of the Old Town.  We began at the Catholic Sts. Peter & Paul church, with its spectacular interior decorations, for which it is famous.  Construction began in 1668 with funding by patron Michał Kazimierz Pac, commemorating a victory over the Muscovites and their subsequent expulsion from Vilnius after six years of occupation. Construction was interrupted when Pac died in 1682, and per his request, he was buried under the entrance. His brother finished the building and had it consecrated in 1701. 

Inside the church there are some 2,000 pieces of stucco which designed by Italian Masters that took 7 years to complete.  The unique boat-shaped chandelier was brought from Latvia around 1905 to symbolize St. Peter.  The church dome was damaged by bombs during WWII, but it was rebuilt to its original design.  Even during the Soviet period the church was never closed, though no one seems to truly know why the Soviets  allowed it to remain open. The all-white interior requires repainting about every 20 years to keep it fresh and clean looking. 

From the church we walked through the Old Town which was added to UNESCO Heritage List in 1994.  Sometimes referred to as the City of Baroque as most of the buildings are in that style. We visited the Gate of Dawn, which I believe is the only remaining gate and city wall section, and is an important location in Lithuania for Catholic pilgrimage. Our next stop was St. Casimir's Church, recognizable for its pink façade modeled after the famous Il Gesù church in Rome.  Similar to Lithuania's history, the church has changed hands many times since its inception.  When the Germans occupied Vilnius in 1915 they converted it to an Evangelical Lutheran site, it was returned to the Catholics in 1919, but was damaged during WWII and closed down.  In 1963, the Soviets converted it into a Museum of Atheism and in 1991, it was finally reconsecrated as a church. 

We did get to visit the outside of the Vilnius University Library, which has an old, fancy door. Personally though, it was a disappointment not to go inside as it houses over 5 million books, almost 2x the entire country's population! Although higher education is no longer free in Lithuania about 60% of Lithuanians have a university degree.  

We wandered past the Presidential Palace and on the way Simona bought us the famous Lithuanian Šakotis ("tree" or "branch" cake) to try.  Calling it 'cake' seemed generous to my American taste buds, it reminded me a bit of waffle batter or maybe funnel cake batter without the powdered sugar. 

Saint Anne's Church, with its stunning red brick exterior, is Vilnius' version of La Sagrada Familia. "The church has remained almost unchanged over the last five centuries and is one of the most beautiful and probably the most famous buildings in Vilnius. It is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture and is surrounded by many legends" (source).  You can only go inside during services, but were told the outside is the famous part, so nothing lost in only seeing it from the street.

Our tour of the Old Town ended at the 'plaza' next to the Grand Duke Gediminas statue with The Cathedral Basilica of St. Stanislaus and St. Ladislaus (a.k.a. Vilnius Cathedral) in the background. 

 We had an hour of free time for lunch before leaving for the tour of Trakai Castle, so I decided to trek up Gediminas' Hill to see the views from the Castle Tower (the hill on which the Iron Wolf was said to howl).  There is a funicular to take you up the hill, but why pay when you're young and healthy?  The climb was steep, and due to some sort of construction I had to walk the entire way around the hill to find the detour-path, but the views were beautiful even on a slightly overcast day.  

After departing the hill, I decided to visit the interior of Vilnius Cathedral and then grab some lunch at the nearby Rimi Express (their prepared foods section was extensive and what I tried was tasty).  I ate it on a bench in the park near the church and must have looked like the other locals on their lunch break because these young girls came up to me and started talking to me.  I have no idea what they were saying and although I'm sure she knew some English, when I told her "sorry, only English" she apologized and left.

    Back on the bus, we were soon headed to Trakai Castle.  Located in the town of Trakai (pronounced 'try-kay'), about 70 miles from Vilnius, the castle sits on an island in Lake Galvė. Since Trakai was one of the main centers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the castle held great strategic importance. It was built to protect against German Teutonic Knights in 1377, and was completed around 1409.  It was neat to see, but not that impressive for me, I'm just not that interested in knights and medieval living.  However, Trakai was the medieval capital of Lithuania until it was moved to Vilnius in 1373, so it does have that claim-to-fame. 

What was secondary to the visits of most people, but fascinating to me was to learn of the Karaimus (or Karaites).  I don't recall ever hearing of these people before today, but they have Turkish roots (dark hair & complexion but blue eyes) and hold to a religion related to Judaism (they worship on Sundays and do not eat pork).  They have their own language and a 'Trakai' dialect of Karaimus actually developed because of the large community of them here in Trakai. Their homes always have 3 windows on the side facing the street, and you can buy the traditional Karaite pastry called 'Kibin' here in Trakai. 

 My biggest regret of the day requires some back-story.  Earlier in the day, on our tour of the Old Town we had driven near  the district of Užupis.  It's a special artist neighborhood founded on April Fools Day. On April 1, 1997, the district declared itself an independent republic (the Republic of Užupis), with its own constitution and laws.  They have fake border border signage, an unofficial currency and even an anthem.  When we returned from Trakai I headed to my hotel room and wasn't sure what I should do, so I began uploading photos with locations, descriptions and facts, when I realized too late that I should have taken an Über to Užupis!  Once a year (i.e. today, April Fool's Day), they have parades and celebrate their republic, Simona had even told us we could get our passport stamped!  Since mine expires next year there's less danger of a cranky border guarded not appreciating my fake passport stamp).  Alas, I had missed the festivities, and couldn't help feeling that since our visit to Vilnius coincided with this auspicious holiday (said tongue-in-cheek) the day's itinerary should have been modified to let us pop in and see this local oddity.  To placate myself I headed to the hotel jaccuzzi, which I had all to myself, and spent an hour relaxing at the spa downstairs.  We have an early start tomorrow (luggage must be outside the door at 6:45am), so bed time should not be delayed.