A load of Baltics

Have you ever been to the Baltic States? No! Well for me I have had the pleasure to at least see one of them, and not knowing too much about the Baltic countries I was a little naive to where they are and what countries make them up. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. My journey brought me to Lithuania on a business trip, which is always nice, but you don’t get enough time to explore and discover the beauties of the country. Having arrived on a direct flight from Zurich to Vilnius (the capital city of Lithuania), on airBaltic, I made my way to my hotel, the Reval Hotel Lietuva just over the river from the main city and a 20 minute walk away from the centre. So here is my synopsis of Vilnius; In 2009 Vilnius will celebrate 1000 years of its name as a recognized capital city and the city will also be preparing to become the European Capital of Culture. So a lot will happen next year and it is pretty evident as the city is having a face lift and a lot of restoration work is going on, especially with the churches and old period buildings. They say Vilnius is dreaming with its eyes open, well I tend to agree, and having spent a lazy day wandering through the city, up and down the old cobbled inner city, I have come to relies that this city is a thrive of activity, not only during the day with the hustle and bustle of city life, but it comes alive after sunset so be prepared! So if you like market stalls, street music, carnivals and traditional costume, local beer, great food, superb hospitality and beautiful looking girls, then this is the place. I also noticed a lot of casinos all over the city, so is this a gambling nation? With the mix of old and new, modern and classic architecture, Vilnius is truly a beautiful city. Vilnius airport has also changed since my last trip and has a brand new extension and is looking pretty modern and relatively easy to navigate around as it’s still small. Check out the links you may learn something new..

I would also like to add that whilst I was wandering through the city I noticed a crowd of people gathering and was curious to know what was going on. So I made may way over to find out what was so interesting and to my and everyone else's astonishment we saw the aftermath of an accident. Nothing serious, but more amusing than anything else. What appeared to have happened was; a woman driver, yes sorry but it was a woman, had somehow managed to drive, or should I say reverse her car down a pedestrian walkway, through some metal posts, then across a paved area, embedding the rear of the car onto a big potted plant and launching the car airborne up some steps before finally coming to stop at the top. Strange and quite bizarre that she just did not stop and apply the breaks before causing so much destruction, but then she was probably on the phone and putting her make-up on at the same time.