Where Are You Going: Iceland?

I learn the neatest things on BBC's Where are You Going? So, fancy a handbag made from fish leather? There are souvenirs and then there are souvenirs. Leave it to the Northern Europeans to not throw away anything. Eco-living is a thing. Head to Iceland for a fish leather handbag. And head over to Atlantic Leather to read all about it.

Netflix and Chill

It's my birthday amd I don't mind that the number's creeping up to 40. What I do mind is 20-somethings running circles around me with urban slang...not knowing what the hell people are talking about because I am not in sync with the latest lingo. So I was chilling by the pool at Vytautas Minseral Spa in Birstona and reading a book when I came across "netflix and chill" and it made me wonder: at 38 years old, just what I else don't I know...? While growing up, I hated it when my aunts couldn't relate to my life and I really don't want to be able to communicate or even understand Hazel when she is a teen. So, how to keep up...or do I need to keep up? Do I really need to know what "netflix and chill" means at the age of 38? My feeling is yes. Right up until about 55 I want to know what it all means. You?

I had a lovely weekend at the Spa. Such a charming and unspoiled town is Birstona. It has the prettiest, little houses, a beautiful forest, a yellow dude statue (maybe Dali...lol), exercise equipment in the forest and a river running through  the town.. And mineral water. You have to go!

I spent the weekend in mud wraps, Himalayan-type and mineral water saunas, jacuzzis and massages. We bicycled through the forest and along the lake and enjoyed the cool breeze and sun above (btw I now know I am allergic to the European sun--I break out in red, swollen rashes. It's why I am covered in a blanket). But it was lovely, I couldn't ask for a single thing more for my birthday. It was so lovely.

Birthday at the Spa

It's my birthday on Monday. I'm headed out today for a long weekend at the Spa. Am gonna relish this.

CAVTAT

It's our last day in Croatia. We decided to move closer to the airport which is about 30 km away from Dubrovnik. We are in the sweetest little bay town called Cavtat. It's sleepy, quiet and sits right on the bay. Lots of little Villas, boating and fishing and waterside dining, plus there is a cute little town with a maze of uphill cobblestone streets to explore.

It's rare when I don't buy anything on a trip. But the shopping is not great. Lots of lavendar, some ok wines and basic liqueur, but nothing really special. The shopping experience, I think, is the most under-developed part of the tourism in Croatia. But the views and the service are spectacular.

The Prettiest Sunset

Living in the forest in Lithuania means that we are cut off from the state-supplied infrastructure services like gas heating, sewer lines, water supply and garabage collection. My water is from an underground source, I have to pay for the sewer truck to come three times per year to extract my sewer and also for the garbage truck to come once per week to collect my trash. As for my heating---it's coal. I have a giant coal machine in the basement and I have to dump two bags of coal into it every other day. The coal gets delivered by the tonne once every two months or so. Well, a month ago the machine quit, and the technician has no clue what's happening with it. So sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. So I was miserably cold for three weeks prior to coming on vacation. We have an electric boiler that supplies hot water and we were using electrical heating fans but these things are not a great substitute for centralised heating. 

I say all the foregoing so that you know just how much we needed this vacation to Croatia. It's so warm and lovely here. It's around 68 F most days and sunny with a lovely cool breeze coming off of the sea. We started out with a two-night stay in Split at a pretty little boutique hotel  called Heritage Hotel which is at the edge of the waterfront promenade in Split--just a 10 minute walk from the old town. We also spent a day in Trogir which is a UNESCO heritage site. Then we took a Catmaran cruise from Split down to Dubrovnik and on our way we stopped in at Korcula and Hvar.

If you plan to come to Croatia expect great/fresh seafood, Italian-like cuisine (pizza, pasta and seafood pasta dishes), lots of stonework architecture and old castles . Dubrovnik is the ideal spot, actually--we prefer it to Split. It looks a bit like something between Nice and Monoca--except nicer and less pretentious. We are staying at the Hotel Durbrovnik Palace.

I head home on the weekend. I hope my cell phone dries out by then so I can post pictures of Dubrovnik. It seems to have died after a couple drops of drinking water got into it.

On Vacation

We're in Split. We also spent part of yesterday in Trogir. I'll be blogging from Croatia all week. Such a big change from our cold forest in Lithuania. It's sunny and warm with a cool Spring breeze.

Graffiti Vilnius

This one you may know from a previous post I did on the restaurant called Keulė Rūkė, Vilnius. This work is actually on the front/entrance wall of the ribs joint. Trump and Putin blowing smoke up each other's ass.

 By a bridge which bisects the river Neris

Curiously the Lithuanians have no problem with graffiti on their city buildings. It's contemporary art, they think. I hate graffiti and I hate them on buildings.

Years ago, I had a colleague from work who wanted to take me to her favourite hang-out spot in Berlin. She took me to an area called Kreuzberg. I suppose in her mind it was a super-hip (translation vomit-inducing hipster) and artsy, cultural melting point (translation: disaffected and disintegrated/marginalised migrants making it work to the best of their ability). I had many problems in Kreuzberg (the beggars at the train station, the garbage everywhere) but I mostly hated how the locals had desecrated beautiful churches with graffiti. It's like a mark of disrespect in my view. Growing up I learnt that poor should not equate to dirty. Also it's a sure sign that I am in a town where the youths feel disaffected, dissatisfied, under-employed and side-lined when there is graffiti and the garbage is piling up. Simply put, I associate graffiti with ghettos. And I especially hate when the well-to-do glamorise ghetto-living so they can live with the guilt of their wealth. I spent half my childhood living in an innercity/ghetto. There is nothing glamarous about that life.  Don't come to a ghetto neighbourhood to sightsee and for a bit of fun while wanting nothing to do with/not trying to understand the locals.  So I do not think of it graffiti as art usually. And I am never impressed by any of it. Just like I was never impressed by so-called "hipster" Kreuzberg and I certainly do not find graffiti Vilnius to be cool. Just me, I guess.

All photos from Ultimate Travelist @utravelist on twitter.

Bedlam

This is the "before". Am painting walls, sanding and painting furniture, back- and forth-ing to Ikea, drilling holes, doing the school run and dancing to 3T's version of Lionel Ritchie's Stuck on You.  Basically, it's bedlam at mine right now. Insurmountable is the word at the moment. I am leaving it all though, and am  heading to Kaunas to hang with friends and do some horse-riding and spa-ing at one of my favourite getaways. See you you guys on Monday. I hope to have an "after" story to tell you.