Sept. 27, 2018-Vilnius on Foot
The weather cleared from last night’s downpour and sun broke through. It was perfect for our 3 1/2 hour walking tour of an admirably immaculate old city. At this point I don’t readily recognize people in our group. Most have gray hair. I’m afraid that I’ll end up following another one of many tours and end up on a river cruise.
Christianity was late coming to Lithuania. By the 1400’s the pagan Thor-worshipping Vandals were toast and the Church was installed. And they kept on building installations. We saw most of them today. The original founders opened the borders to all regardless of religion. That brought a large number of Jews. Our local guide took us to Jew Street and the old ghetto with a pretty accurate history. There had been 220,000 Jews in the country before WWII. That was a third of the population. After the war, thanks to the Nazis and locals joint venture of extermination, there were 3,000 left. Vilnius went from 100 synagogues to one, which we drove by. It is still operating along with a community center and Jewish school. What is housed in the homes of murdered Jewish families today? Upscale shops.
There is a concept here that is foreign to us. Eighty percent of the population is Lithuanian. Our local guide, Amy, self-identifies as Lithuanian. Bob, our tour leader, identifies as Russian. Amy was born in Lithuania, which makes her identity understandable. Bob, also born here and living in Denmark, identifies as Russian. I asked at what point does a person of Russian or Polish lineage identify as Lithuanian. The answer was “never.” Ethnicity and politics aren’t separate. There’s even a Polish political party. When I explained that my grandparents were Polish, immigrated to the US, and I’d never say I was Polish, she was puzzled. If I lived here, I’d be Jewish, never Lithuanian. Even with full rights and privileges of citizenship, you never get to be even hyphenated (eg Mexican-American) on the way to adopting the identity of your birthplace.
Our visit to the university provided a chance to meet a student and friend of Bob’s. The man is a third year psychology student. His mother is a psychiatrist and his father, a businessman. Education is mandatory until tenth grade when you may choose a trade or college track. University education is merit based by admission exam and pay as you go. There are scholarships and loans. The tuition runs about $9,000 for FOUR years since the university is heavily subsidized by government. The most popular majors are orthodonture and medicine. There is a brain drain because of students going to foreign universities or leaving for better paying positions abroad.
In 1989, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia joined hands (literally) and celebrated their separation from the Soviet Union. There is an elected parliamentary government now. It is elected by popular vote as is the president. She is in her second and last term and is known as the Steel Magnolia (she has a black belt in karate).
Although there is a separation of church and state, Bob said that social reform regarding LGBTQ issues won’t come anytime soon. He came out to the group today when he took us to the Russian Orthodox Church where he was baptized as an adult. His parents are spiritual, but not churched. His grandparents were ardent communists and atheists. When he felt a need for a church, he went to a Catholic priest who told him he was an abomination. The Russian priest embraced him as God made him. He and his fiancé will continue to live in Denmark where they will eventually be married. Of the Baltics, Estonia is the only country recognizing LGBTQ equality including marriage.
Bob showed us to a favorite restaurant for dinner where we were introduced to fas, a non-alcoholic beer. It was yeast extract and honey. Actually pretty tasty. We shared an order of potato pancakes and each had a bowl of cold beet soup. Definitely not latkes and borscht, but a close cousin.
I won’t be taking as many pictures as I used to. I just finished purging our photo albums and digitizing the pictures I wanted to keep. How many pix of mountains, churches, and buddhas do I need? Not to worry. I’ll still send you the ones from this trip I think are interesting. Today we have waddling pre-schoolers decked out in safety vests and two funky “art” displays. One is locks on a bridge railing over the Vilna River and the other is a piano on said river bank.
Tomorrow we bus to Trakai Castle.
Toby
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