travel update from Klaipeda Lithuania
Hello Everyone,
The train from Vilnius to Klaipeda is smooth and fast. it takes about 5 hours and costs about $20 US. The scenery is nice and the seats are comfortable. I enjoyed the ride. I arrived in Klaipeda in the middle of the day.
I needed to get from the train station to the bus stop, but did not know how to get there. There is a share taxi stand so I asked the driver, he said get in and I will take you. So I went with him. It is only about a 500 meter trip and when I got out and tried to pay him, he refused and said "Welcome to Klaipeda".
This is how Lithuania has been to me. I have met nothing but friendly helpful people. I am goint to be leaving this lovely country tomorrow to go to Latvia, and I know I will miss it. hell, I miss it already and I havent even left!
Klaipeda is a beautiful small city. it is the third largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and Kaunas. It is the oldest city of Lithuania, having been founded in 1245. It is on the Baltic sea.
I am staying in Melnrage which is a lovely small beach town. The sand is white, clean and soft. The skies have been blue and almost completely cloudless the last 5 days. I go to the beach every morning for a 45 minute sitting meditation (I do not have a watch, so I am guessing). Then I go to the little grocery store and buy some stuff for the day and go home.
Home has been at the house of Romaldas. he is a 60 year old man, who is a couch surfing host. I found him on the couch surfing website and he generously offered to let me stay at his house. It is about 100 meters from the beach. He is one of the coolest characters I have met in all my travels.
Romaldas is the kind of guy one always hopes to meet when travelling. He is funny, easy going and kind and generous. He has GREAT stories about his life. He was a sort of jack of all trades who is now retired. He was injured in his spinal cord during a construction work job a few years ago, and has lost the use of his legs.
He has great stories of being a cowboy and taking cattle from Lithuania to Russia, Georgia, and Kajakistan. Drinking Vodka with border guards in the middle of the night. Wild women and soviet occupation of his beautiful country. Some black market money trading, and just the sort of free spirit happy go lucky stories I love to hear. He tells them all with a wonderful sparkle in his icy blue eyes and is not sad or bitter by any of his experiences. Just a lot of good times and of course a few bad as well.
He is a good cook. He likes to makes simple foods, does not like me to cook for him, and he does not eat many vegetables with potatoes, green onions, and cucumber pickles being the notable exceptions. He makes great tea, and has lots of friends who pop in and out all the time. They have a cigarette and a cup of tea and talk and laugh and go. Some are fishermen and they leave him fish which were caught only a few hours ago. We eat like kings!!
Romaldas calls himself an athiest but he is one of the most spiritual guys I know. He understands the golden rule of jesus and he is what my jewish friends might call a real mensh.
I was going to leave on Thursday, but then Romaldas informed me that the annual Klaipeda Jazz festival began on the following night and invited me to stay on through the weekend. What? A jazz festival?? How much do tickets cost? Free?? What??? Whoooaaaa I love this country!! You can check it out at http://www.jazz.lt/festival/
I just got back from a nice long bicycle ride through the forest. Here there is an asphalt bike trail through the forest. I love the smell of the pine needles and the shadows and sun as I pass beneath the trees. He has a good bike which he obviously no longer uses but he likes to be able to loan it to guests, and I like to take a little ride now and again.
I just did some laundry and my clothes are hanging out in the mid day sun to dry so I though, well this would be a good time to write a little travel update.Breathing In I am calmly writing to all of you, breathing out I am smiling on the world...
So, this is how it goes, travelling the world, visiting the worlds people, and seeing the sights, hearing the sounds of jazz music on this great cosmic thing we call planet earth.Third stone from the sun. Just a voodoo chile breathing and being one with the ohm.
Again i suggest (urge?) all of you retire early.Relax in a big sort of way, and take a little trip, just a little trip like I have and see what you think...Life is for living. Living in the Now and the here, wherever you are whatever you are "doing" I wish you all well.
I hope my clothes are dry. I have to pack for the bus to Riga (Latvia) tomorrow. I already have my ticket and I am leaving here at 7am to catch an 8:35am bus.The Next update will be from Latvia (or maybe Estonia). Until then I leave you with a couple of nice quotes to think about.
Peace and love to all of you
Rambling Robert
"We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are." Talmud
"The Holy Prophet Mohammed came into this world and taught us: 'That man is a Muslim who never hurts anyone by word or deed, but who works for the benefit and happiness of God's creatures. Belief in God is to love one's fellow men.' Abdul Ghaffar Khan
"Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are."- Jose Ortega y Gasset
The train from Vilnius to Klaipeda is smooth and fast. it takes about 5 hours and costs about $20 US. The scenery is nice and the seats are comfortable. I enjoyed the ride. I arrived in Klaipeda in the middle of the day.
I needed to get from the train station to the bus stop, but did not know how to get there. There is a share taxi stand so I asked the driver, he said get in and I will take you. So I went with him. It is only about a 500 meter trip and when I got out and tried to pay him, he refused and said "Welcome to Klaipeda".
This is how Lithuania has been to me. I have met nothing but friendly helpful people. I am goint to be leaving this lovely country tomorrow to go to Latvia, and I know I will miss it. hell, I miss it already and I havent even left!
Klaipeda is a beautiful small city. it is the third largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and Kaunas. It is the oldest city of Lithuania, having been founded in 1245. It is on the Baltic sea.
I am staying in Melnrage which is a lovely small beach town. The sand is white, clean and soft. The skies have been blue and almost completely cloudless the last 5 days. I go to the beach every morning for a 45 minute sitting meditation (I do not have a watch, so I am guessing). Then I go to the little grocery store and buy some stuff for the day and go home.
Home has been at the house of Romaldas. he is a 60 year old man, who is a couch surfing host. I found him on the couch surfing website and he generously offered to let me stay at his house. It is about 100 meters from the beach. He is one of the coolest characters I have met in all my travels.
Romaldas is the kind of guy one always hopes to meet when travelling. He is funny, easy going and kind and generous. He has GREAT stories about his life. He was a sort of jack of all trades who is now retired. He was injured in his spinal cord during a construction work job a few years ago, and has lost the use of his legs.
He has great stories of being a cowboy and taking cattle from Lithuania to Russia, Georgia, and Kajakistan. Drinking Vodka with border guards in the middle of the night. Wild women and soviet occupation of his beautiful country. Some black market money trading, and just the sort of free spirit happy go lucky stories I love to hear. He tells them all with a wonderful sparkle in his icy blue eyes and is not sad or bitter by any of his experiences. Just a lot of good times and of course a few bad as well.
He is a good cook. He likes to makes simple foods, does not like me to cook for him, and he does not eat many vegetables with potatoes, green onions, and cucumber pickles being the notable exceptions. He makes great tea, and has lots of friends who pop in and out all the time. They have a cigarette and a cup of tea and talk and laugh and go. Some are fishermen and they leave him fish which were caught only a few hours ago. We eat like kings!!
Romaldas calls himself an athiest but he is one of the most spiritual guys I know. He understands the golden rule of jesus and he is what my jewish friends might call a real mensh.
I was going to leave on Thursday, but then Romaldas informed me that the annual Klaipeda Jazz festival began on the following night and invited me to stay on through the weekend. What? A jazz festival?? How much do tickets cost? Free?? What??? Whoooaaaa I love this country!! You can check it out at http://www.jazz.lt/festival/
I just got back from a nice long bicycle ride through the forest. Here there is an asphalt bike trail through the forest. I love the smell of the pine needles and the shadows and sun as I pass beneath the trees. He has a good bike which he obviously no longer uses but he likes to be able to loan it to guests, and I like to take a little ride now and again.
I just did some laundry and my clothes are hanging out in the mid day sun to dry so I though, well this would be a good time to write a little travel update.Breathing In I am calmly writing to all of you, breathing out I am smiling on the world...
So, this is how it goes, travelling the world, visiting the worlds people, and seeing the sights, hearing the sounds of jazz music on this great cosmic thing we call planet earth.Third stone from the sun. Just a voodoo chile breathing and being one with the ohm.
Again i suggest (urge?) all of you retire early.Relax in a big sort of way, and take a little trip, just a little trip like I have and see what you think...Life is for living. Living in the Now and the here, wherever you are whatever you are "doing" I wish you all well.
I hope my clothes are dry. I have to pack for the bus to Riga (Latvia) tomorrow. I already have my ticket and I am leaving here at 7am to catch an 8:35am bus.The Next update will be from Latvia (or maybe Estonia). Until then I leave you with a couple of nice quotes to think about.
Peace and love to all of you
Rambling Robert
"We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are." Talmud
"The Holy Prophet Mohammed came into this world and taught us: 'That man is a Muslim who never hurts anyone by word or deed, but who works for the benefit and happiness of God's creatures. Belief in God is to love one's fellow men.' Abdul Ghaffar Khan
"Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are."- Jose Ortega y Gasset
posted by Rambling Robert | 6:23 AM
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