Druskininkai
Our first destination in Lithuania, a smaller town (12055 inhabitants), but all the more charming...
Arrival in Lithuania was on a very bumpy dirt road. As we later found out this is the local standard for many, especially more remote, destinations. But that even the border "crossing" would be on such a dirt road was a surprise to us. We got quite nervous and had to check that we were really going well. Our time was one hour ahead of ours. The time zone here is EET/EEST or Eastern European (Daylight Saving) Time.
The weather is cooperating so far and it's in the 30s. We were kind of hoping it would be cooler now that we're heading north. Upon arrival in town, checked into the hotel (De Lita) and headed off to the museums we wanted to catch later that day.
The first destination was the outdoor museum of wooden sculptures (Antanas Česnulio Skulptūrų Ir Poilsio Parkas). A certain gentleman, Antanas Česnulis, has been creating wooden sculptures and buildings here since 1977. For example, there is a lighthouse that also serves as an exhibition of his other sculptures, a Man of Sorrows wall hidden in the woods, and various scenes from the countryside. Some of the statues will even play a folk song if you pass by. In the middle of the exhibition is a pond with another local specialty: a high nest for storks. We met a lot of them on the way. The whole place is very breathtaking and was definitely worth a visit.
Another, no less interesting, exposition is "Grūto Parkas". This is again an outdoor exhibition that aims to show visitors the Soviet ideology that suppressed and hurt the locals for many decades. And it's quite an experience. They really do have everything: statues of Lenin, Stalin, a house of culture with a projector, a table for speeches, a wall of paintings. Propaganda in all its glory, which is unfortunately not alien to us. At that time (1940-1941 and 1944-1991) Lithuania was called the LTSR - Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Breakfast at the hotel was buffet style with a pretty classic menu. But they did have some local specialties. Croups, fried cottage cheese patties, fish on sourdough were also there very often. We were not interested in eggs anywhere in the Baltics, they make some kind of a dumpling which they bake and then cut up. But again, pancakes or pancakes are quite common here. And, to the delight of the children, nutella on them.
The plan for the day was to visit the local waterpark, but it didn't open until 12:00. Luckily there was a park (K. Dineikos sveikatingumo parkas) next to the hotel, so we shortened the wait by visiting it. The park has a tarp-covered section with a stage. It's interesting how the tarp is growing through the trees. They didn't cut down the trees to make room for the stage, but incorporated them into the stage. The kids played on the playground in the park and we were able to go to the water park. The water was fine, they had just enough rides. I also tried out the sauna world that was there (19 different rooms, including a chilled ice room).
At the water park we noticed that there was a cable car running. It was quite a nice scenic route, so we thought we'd give it a try. Again, no queue, we went pretty much as soon as the cable car arrived. The cable car connects the part of town to the local "Snow Arena". At this arena, however, there was something that excited Kubik: go-karts! The kids had a blast (Annie already understood the instructions in English, we translated for Kubo). Kuba was very excited.
We were really excited about Druskininkai. A small spa town, but full of experiences.
