As I predicted, I have been drinking a lot of beer and eating a lot of potatoes. I am trying to avoid eating encased meats more than once a day and continuing my quest to find the best šaltibarscai in Vilnius. We came pretty close to finding it last night at a place called Gabi in Old Town, but I'm not ready to crown it the winner yet.
Other than eating and drinking my way through senamiestas, if I'm not in class, I am wandering in circles around Old Town. This city is really not that big. It's so not big, in fact, that I have seen the prime minister 3 times now. The last of which was this morning from the bus on my way to school. After I saw him and his micro-motorcade whiz by, I saw a cow. That speaks to one of the things this place does right, there is A LOT of green space. I live in the city, but the bus goes up a big hill with a pretty sizeable forest to get from the center to where we are. So we're not just talking nice parks (of which there are many) we're talking communist housing project communities separated by straight up forests. And we have a lake by us too. A clean, no worries if you own a bathing suit, it's hot out, let's go for a swim, lake. It always seems to be raining by the time I get home, so it's really more of a tease.
Tourist action. In between eating, drinking, visiting family, and learning the language, I have managed to hit up a few tourists spots. On Saturday, my class went to Trakai, a town about 35
kilometers outside Vilnius that is home to the only fully restored castle in Lithuania. Castles are cool and all, but the University
insists on us having guided tours wherever we go, and I'm really just more of a wander around aimlessly and soak up what I can kinda girl. So after a few hours of the history of the castle, my new buddies, Laura and Nick and I did just that. There's another castle at the top of the hill in town (although just a tower remains), and I never made it up there during my other 2 visits, so Laura, Vitas, and I checked that one off the list this week. 
There are 1000 churches in Vilnius, and you can't really avoid them, so I guess we can add 999 of them to the list of touristy things I've been doing. St. Ann's remains my favorite, and not because I'm a narcissist, but because it's the only Gothic church in town, and it makes me think of drip sandcastles. I'm partial to St. John's at the university too because it is home to a few of Vytautus's portraits.
Last weekend, I spent a decent amount of time at the events surrounding the song festival, Dainu Svente. While it was quite amazing to hear some 30,000 people from all over the world singing Lithuanian songs together, my favorite event was the fair in Sereikisiu Park that I wasn't going to go to. Luckily, Laura made a sad face that she was going alone,
and I obliged. Three hours in, I was still enjoying the crafts, traditional dress, beat-boxingesque circles of old folks singing the stories of their towns, and of course, kepta duona and home-brew.
The streets here wind in strange directions and gateways that look like they lead to private courtyards take you to new cafes and locally patronized shops. I am sure there is so much more to discover in this city, but I live here now. I have a routine (and homework) and a budget. The magic of getting lost and ending up in the middle of a 16th century battlefield is gone, but it's been replaced by a comfort and familiarity that feels like home.
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