Tripping With Toby: Rusiskes & Klaipeda, Lithuania

Sept. 29, 2018- Rusiskes & Klaipeda, Lithuania

To fill you in on dinner last night, we joined Mike and Kay from Mnpls for a meal at a modern Lithuanian restaurant recommended by our hotel. We forgot that it was Friday night. Despite a poor economy, the place was full to overflowing. We wandered around until we found Metaxa, a Greek restaurant. It was a pleasant change in cuisine and delicious.

This morning there was a crowded breakfast where the three OAT groups met up. The groups seemed to start a day apart. We didn’t know this trip was in such demand.

On our ride to Rusiskes, Bob shared his family history vis a vis the KGB. His grandmother was a partisan who was deported to Siberia where she met his grandfather. His father grew up in the Gulag. The hurt never left. After years of imprisonment, when they were returned to Lithuania, they were regarded as criminals until the Soviets moved out. In the end, his grandmother was disappointed that the pure, free, and equal society she fought for was not achieved. Present day leaders are the same people who headed up the Communist Party she fought against.

It’s obvious why his grandmother was deported, but why his grandfather? The reason shows the irrationality, cruelty, and reach of the KGB. His father was in school one day when the picture of Stalin in his classroom was found on the floor and damaged. Perhaps it fell; perhaps it was vandalized. No matter. The teacher, his family, the entire class and their families were sent to Siberia. Case closed.

There was a Q&A session where we learned that medical care is free with drugs available for a small co-pay up to a point. Bribery can get you to the head of a waiting list. Private medical care is available for a fee. Dental care is costly. It is worth it to fly to the Ukraine for treatment.

In response to our observation of the freshness, cleanliness, and lack of beggars in Vilnius, Bob told us the city was spruced up for the Pope’s visit, and beggars were banned.

In Rusiskes, we stopped at a 400-acre outdoor museum with buildings depicting Baltic life in the 1800’s that had been moved to that site. It was large enough that we used the bus to get from the rural thatched roofed plain wooden houses to the model town. We were surprised that in the town there was a Jewish home set up for Shabbat. No segregation in villages.

We had just pulled out of the outdoor museum when the bus came to an abrupt halt. There was an old woman on the side of the road. Both Bob and the driver leapt off the bus to embrace her. She was Irena, the curator of the museum of the KGB Gulag.

Whole families were transported for infractions deemed harmful to the State. In 1941, she was 13 years old, when her extended family was arrested. They were loaded onto a freight car (sound familiar) and taken thousands of miles north. The men were separated out and shot along the way. Women and children continued on to their fates. Irena, her mother and brother went to the coldest sector. There they became slaves. They were not given any clothing other than what they wore when captured; they had to scavenge wood and food from KGB discards. Although part of their job was fishing, they weren’t permitted to take fish to eat. They had to build their own shelter from blocks of frozen earth. There was never a complete thaw. Inside the yurt, ice formed on all surfaces including the floor. If they were lucky enough to have a stove made from gathered metal flotsam, the heat caused the ice to drip and refreeze. One third of those taken to Siberia died including Irena’s mother. She and her brother were released in 1958. She is now an active and vigorous 90 years old. Survivors receive 58 euros a month compensation from the Lithuanian government.

After creating havoc in Lithuania, Russia demanded reimbursement for the infrastructure it left behind. I hope they understand what chutzpah means. Irena’s story has been written up in the novel Between Shades of Gray by Rita Sepetys. It is being made into a movie. Irena got no compensation or recognition for it. She said her reward for surviving was that she was chosen to present flowers to the Pope on his recent visit.

Our lunch stop provided us with watery bean soup and turkey blinis (crepes) plus a taste of local honey spread on dark rye with local cheese and chased down with cucumber. Evidently, they are raising turkeys in Lithuania to encourage healthier eating.

Much to our amazement, there is WiFi on our bus. The news spread like wildfire. Out came our phones and we all got to feed our addiction.

We arrived in Klaipeda, a town on the Baltic Sea and checked into the National Hotel. We seem to be pegged as capable of being on the 3rd floor. At least this hotel has an elevator. This is our second accommodation, and I hope the others follow the pattern. Rooms are decent sized to spacious; bathrooms are updated and clean. There is plenty of hot water; towels are dried in machines so aren’t stiff, and toilet paper is Western style.

Bob took us on an orientation walk along the river where we were shown statues introducing us to a pagan legend on which Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid was based. Neptune’s daughter, Jurate, fell in love with a human. When she brought him to her father, he flew into a rage destroying her palace built of amber. She was so unhappy, she cried amber tears. The tears and remnants of the palace were washed ashore for beachcombers to discover. Amber is a huge business in Lithuania. There is jewelry to be bought from pushcarts and fine jewelers. One of the jewelers near our hotel listed his wares in several languages. I figured out that “bernstein” meant amber stone or burning stone. Never knew that.

We all ate dinner at the hotel and had tender, yummy, beef bourgonion. There was chocolate dessert to top it off. Bob and Rana, our Turkish OAT guide in training, joined us. Rana is the daughter and granddaughter of senior military leaders who retired when Erdogan gained power. She is very outspoken in Turkey. Her family has warned her to be careful. She tried to reassure us that the US is protected from the fall of democracy that took place in Turkey because of our checks and balances. We disabused her of that, but her faith in our system is stronger than ours.

Tomorrow we take a ferry to the Curonian Spit, an island, to “explore nature.”

Toby