Sunday, August 16, 1998

The important thing for me to do was arrange transportation to Warsaw. In order to buy a ticket I needed enough Lithuanian money. Dollars were on acceptable. At the railroad station the woman showed me a sign that said Visas were now required for anyone to enter Poland. At the bus station there was no such sign. The ticket agent would have sold me a ticket, but I didn't have enough Lithuanian money. Because it was Sunday, the banks were closed. I hunted and luckily found a currency exchange not far from the bus station. They traded my $50 bill for the equipment in Lithuanian currency and besides I bought some Polish currency giving me the right currency to pay a taxi driver in Warsaw. I went back and bought my bus ticket.

Now that I had my ticket, I found a taxi driver to take me to old town. He could speak no English and could understand where I wanted to go. He took me to the American embassy. The embassy building was close to the street. A terrorist could move up a vehicle loaded with explosives just as they did in Kenya. The guard, who spoke English, told the driver where to drop me off when I saw a building erected guys I told the driver to stop, got out and wandered the crooked streets until he came out at the Catholic Church I had seen the night before. In my wanderings I had passed some groups of people following guides who were talking about the history of the buildings.

At the Catholic Church, the largest cathedral in the country, mass was about to start. The interior with its high don't ceilings and many oil paintings covering the wall. The scenes of the 14 stations of the cross were large framed in oil painted canvases. He reminded me Jerusalem I walked the path of the passion and crucifixion over the narrow cobbled streets. I stayed for the mass. The church was crowded with many people standing.

After the services, I returned to the festival. On the stage where the large band had played boys and girls in native Lithuanian costumes were keeping up their heritage by dancing traditional steps. A woman's chorus dressed in colorful costumes sang for us.

I ordered another potato pan cake and sat down at a table occupied by a Russian young man who tried to talk to me in Russian. We had a conversation that got nowhere. When he got up to go he shook hands with me and acted like I was a long lost best friend. The woman at the next table raised her eyebrows and smiled. They were not all that fond of Russians.

At a booth selling hot sandwiches I bought a 6 inch kielbasa on a hogey roll dressed with hot mustard and uncooked cabbage to take home for a later meal. At the taxi stand be offered to take me to my hotel for 15 latis. I offered him seven. One of the driver said he would take me for eight. I said let's go. By the time I learn how to handle the taxi drivers it doesn't do me much good. I'm off to another town, usually in another country.