A mol Vilne [More Vilnius] (ershter tog) (Vilnius/Vilne part 2)

There was more to the afternoon and evening, but these are the pictures we've selected.

A note on the plaque photographed for Murray: Fedor Mixailovič Dostoevskij lived upstairs. "Beauty will save the world," the apposite quotation.

We walked through Użupis, the New Hope of Vilne, if it declared independence from the rest of Pennsylvania.  Uphill we walked, until the courtyards, cafes, and art galleries melted away, and the fancy gated houses began. And above them the Kalnu Parkas, the Park of Hills.  Down below the Vilnia River, and beyond it, the Bernardinu sodas, the Bernardine Garden.

The gardens are obviously well-loved: today was sunny, and even though the morning was still chilly, by mid-afternoon it was pleasant to sit on a bench near the carousel and the river and watch the passing promenade.

Some helpful international guidance for the ladies of Litve (neither of us took or chose this picture--the ghost in the machine did it).

And then a fun discovery: the university botanical garden, which has lots of our favorite regional healing plants (artemisias, filipendulas, savories, yarrow) and some very intriguing plants that are native to Siberia.

Then it was time for Kaffee-und-Kuchen, and more perambulating, including a quick peek into a Lithuanian  mall. Some semiotic impressions in re politics that we are still mulling over.

Dinner (no pics!) consisted of an utterly amazing and fragrant barley risotto, latkes with lox and blended tvorog, and more herring (ah!).  The drinks: mulled wine, sea buckthorn tea, Lithuanian Ribes nigrum (blackcurrant) wine, and, as a postprandial, a thyme-, honey-, and saffron-infused liqueur. Holy moley.