Viva Vilnius

A village we passed on our travels - the houses are small but well cared for.
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This morning we were given a sleep-in with our wake-up call at 8am, with our departure scheduled for 10am. Everyone was happy to get on the bus and put space between us and Belarus. After a short ride we arrived at the Russian-Lithuania border. Here a border guard boarded the coach and collected our passports, checking us against our passport photographs. We then waited as the passport processing took place, which seemed to take forever. we were allowed to get off the bus during this time, so used it wisely and availed ourselves of the attrocious bathrooms. After about an hour, we were given the ok to re-board the bus, where the border guard returned our passports individually, once again checking photos against each person, ensuring we were all on the bus.

Plenty of parkland in Vilnius
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It was then on to Lithuanian border control, where the passport collection process was repeated. Another wait - this time only about 30mins and we were back in EU(Europeon Union) territory. Immediately the roads improved and the houses and farming areas were much better tended. Just half an hour further on we stopped at a retaurant in a local town for lunch were we had opted for the fingerfood buffet. This was a delicious lunch of open sandwiches, potato tarts, crepes, salad and fruits.

Rainy and Cold, but this is a nice place...

A well lit up building at night
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An afternoon on the bus brought us to the city of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Here we were staying at the hotel that had originally been the only hotel that foreigners could stay in during the USSR years. We were told during this time each and every room was bugged, so they could track what was being said and done, but assured that there were no any bugs. After checking into our room we went to the scheduled buffet dinner in the hotel restaurant, where we enjoyed salads, vegetables, poached cod and roast chicken. I stayed away from the refried beans!! There were four or five desserts on offer, of which everyone tried two or three.

A not so lavishly decorated catholic church
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Joe and another couple decided to go our for a walk to the "old town" area. I decided that this was not a good idea for me as my head cold had now fully developed into a chesty cough and I didn't want to be out in the cold. The others headed off and I dove staight for the laptop and spent an hour or two uploading my Russian updates to my blog. Joe returned at 9:30pm and said they had made a wrong turn and got lost, but found the local Crowne Plaza and grabbed a taxi to get back to our hotel. A suggestion was made to head up to the 22nd floor to the Skybar for a nightcap. We only managed one round of drinks before thinking it better to turn in, as there was an early start in the morning.