Anvilania

Jenga!

Lithuania. My family tree apparently reaches back here. I used to think it was Latvia and Estonia ... (oh, just read intros to last two posts).

I bus to Panevezys, which is the fourth or fifth-largest city in the country. Last year it hosted part of the Eurobasket tournament. But beyond events like that, I'm told that there isn't a lot of reason for tourists to come to this town. And that not many Americans come through. But this is where some of my family is from, so there I go, yo!

I get off the bus, find a cab, ask for ride to hotel. Driver tells me it's right around the corner, up the hill, easy walk. Get out of cab.

Nice of her -- but if I were her, I absolutely would have driven me the few hundred yards, just to be funny. And collect a fare.

Anyway, I get to hotel. There's some sort of medical building right next door, so Pro & Kerry, stop going on about lack of health care! No worries in Riga or Tallinn, either. So I check in to hotel, and later I find out that at least for the first two nights, I am the only one staying there. Awkward. Like my every move (or really, lack thereof) is watched.

The woman at reception tells me that breakfast is from 8 to 11. Then she asks me when I will eat. Um... Between 8 and 11? Is this a comprehension quiz? Lo siento, no comprendo?

She clarifies that she needs a more exact time to tell the food guy so he's not waiting around all morning -- which made more sense once I learned I was the only person in the hotel.

I go to pub downstairs, order a beer. Any beer. This confuses the bartender (who also turned out to be the food dude needing to know when I was going to eat). But he gives me beer. Then I wander for a minute, looking at their game shelf. Turn around to see that I had been blocking the path of these two kids -- both around 20ish, probably -- playing darts. Lo siento!

They were nice enough not to spear me with darts -- and nice enough to invite me to play. (There was a dart with an American Flag thingy - what do you call the wings? - ... USA!). And drink with them/hang out. And play Jenga (I didn't lose). And play some card game I had never heard of (I won). And talk about cultural differences. And learn how to say ridiculous things in Lithuanian.

Jewish Ghetto memorial.

They ask why I'm there -- I tell them the whole family tree thing. Then I say, "it was easier 20-something years ago, as I could just say I was half Soviet." They didn't exactly love that joke. Funny, the more I travel in these countries -- and later in Prague -- the more ridiculous the USSR seems. It'd be like the U.S. occupying/ruling Mexico and ... um ... maybe some other adjacent countries. OK, this comparison went nowhere. Could have included Canada, but c'mon ...

Anyway, back to bar. These guys were out of cigarettes. They decided to ask some chica at next table for some. The loser in Jenga was supposed to ask. But when Mantas (one of the aforementioned locals) didn't really want to, I got up and did. I asked table, one girl said yes, she could spare some, just as her boyfriend said no. She offered, I went to take some, the boyfriend -- scrambling to regain dominance -- says, "just one." I laugh, take one. In the immortal words of Matt Romig, "I wanted to fight him."

On the way out he turns and looks at me. I raise a glass and say, "cheers - have a good night!" He doesn't really know what to do at that point. He leaves. I win.

People here smoke. A lot. I smoked along a bit. No worries -- Coke Zero is my only addiction. Cigarettes ... meh. Beer there ... good.

The guys -- both college students -- think I'm around 27. Bless 'em. Good guys -- made for a fun evening.

Back upstairs to my private hotel. To sleep.

I wandered around town the next day, my first full day in town. Most places were closed but I found a couple of sights to check out following day. I skipped the sushi restaurant -- despite hotties in window -- for more traditional fare across the street. There might have been potatoes involved.

Fried bread. Yum. Windmill. Rad.

Really, just about everything here -- save for grocery and some restaurants -- is closed on Sunday. Lots of stuff closed in winter in general. But the grocery store has Coke Zero. Lots of it. And bananas. Among other things.

This town. It's fine/perfectly nice, but I'm not feeling any real connection to it. It's a little like Willimantic, but bigger. And much sketchier, but with less history of mass slaughter. Wait, I might have that backward.

But I will see far more of it the following day, with more context. So stay tuned.

Soccer is on tv. It is not the KHL.

Oh, laundry is becoming an issue. Will leave it at that.