Sunday in the rain in Vilnius September 11, 2022
It was 48 degrees, the sky was cloudy, it appeared foggy in the distance, and a light rain was falling. In fact it was like that all day until we were walking home from a restaurant where we had dinner. I wore a cardigan sweater over my top plus my warm jacket with hood plus my long raincoat with hood, and I am glad for having worn them all. En route 30 minutes to see the only castle on an island in Europe in Trakai the bus was heated, and that felt wonderful.
We had a guide at the castle. It seems that Lithuania had grand dukes after a king in the Middle Ages died without heirs. This castle is red brick and has been restored after canons damaged it in the 1600s. Rooms, paintings, and display of armaments were made interesting by the verbal history we received from our castle tour guide. We had time to wander around until we gathered again, at which time Kristina gave us each a typical meat-filled dough pocket. It looked like a Cornish pasty and tasted the same - with meat and vegetable filling, but with a unique shape.
The bus driver took us to the largest goat farm in the country. En route we stopped to pick up a woman who would translate for the owner-manager of the farm. As we ate pieces of summer goat cheese we learned about their five herds, 500 goats, their milking, their personalities as well as legends and stories about goats. They are intelligent animals and carry memories of scolding and show it as well as communicating with the manager's particular needs. We saw one herd. Dalila, the owner-manager, stated this a 24/7 job and that she has not had a day's vacation in 26 years. We also asked questions and heard more stories in the answer
Agrid, our bus driver let us off as close to the hotel as possible, for a marathon and shorter runs down city street meant several streets were blocked off. We had time to wander and window shop until time to meet and walk 10 minutes to our dinner restaurant. The conversation was lively. Herring pieces on a small fried potato and piece of black bread and beet sauce made a small presentation on a big plate. The main course were two huge meat-filled potato dumplings. It was thick, and I made it through just one of the two. The dessert was a firm crunchy cake which had been molded, a rendition of a Lithuanian spit cake, which is formed over a fire on a spit.
We enjoyed our conversation en route back to the hotel and were reminded about morning breakfast and start time. Now it is after 10 PM and it is time for me to turn out the light.
Gute Nacht Love, Mom/Susan & 500 goats,
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