Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Back from Kaunas

Went to Kaunas to see the old mate Dr. Joost Platje from Groningen who resides in Wroclaw now. Meeting was traditionally jovial and we both agreed that getting older is certainly making amendmends in our daily routines. Sunday morning beer is not replaced with the visit to the Church pews yet, but with the coffey and cake in the pizzeria already:-) The BO bar in Kaunas was crowded as always and in one hall there were Lithuanian choir singers monopolizing the attention of the whole bar. 'Svyturis' tasted as good as always and Kaunas did not surprize me at all.

Alas, I was surprised by the Kaunas roads, because after getting out of the Maxima parking lot (reminded to both of us the Belorussian dissident who equated democracy with Maxima) I got a flat tyre. The road maintenance service No. 1188 worked impeccably and after half an hour the serviceman came and the whole affair costed me 100 litas.

Kaunas was tranquil and former Lithuanian president' s statue is still standing next to the Kaunas gallery. Smetona stands there as a reminder of the past deeds that everyday passers by might have perhaps forgotten - what did happen with the Lithuanian treasury he took with him after the terminal events of June 1940?

VS

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the shortcuts from road to road are really good to cut cartyres. Maxima is the Argentinian wife of the King-to-be from the Netherlands - similar democratic states, Belarus and Argentina, they used to be:-)
And Minima, that's how the poor in the Netherlands are called.
Anyway, my friend, I am happy that the coffee and pizza are of good quality in many places. I even heard rumours that lately you can get some drinkable coffee in the USA, while they also seem to have invented beer that has less in common with making love in a canoe than the traditional US beverage that traded as beer.

Veiko Spolitis said...

Good to hear that you are as jovial in New Year as ever:) Lets work hard, so PhD research could move on and conferences could bve visited in Poland and elswhere. Most probably I shall be teaching in Nowy Sacz from March 25-30.