Check out wasn’t till 2 pm, so I arose early and went to
my favorite bakery café and enjoyed a cappuccino, potato pancakes and
mushroom soup, and bought a slice of blueberry cake for the ride to
Inija’s; $6.50 for all. I crossed the Lane and went to the “Tadas”
museum. Tadas was a naturalist, explorer, Victorian collector,
professor, and contemporary of Ciurlionis and friend of Antanas (founder
of the Devil’s museum). His museum is jaw dropping, and sadly my camera
wasn’t working. I’d taken notes, but there was a camera shop next door,
and I handed her my camera, and we changed the batteries, and nothing
happened, and then she asked if I had more, and I did, and the third set
worked. The second pair of batteries were no good.
I
went back in to the Museum and took the elevator to the top floor and
worked my way down.
The
‘hunters’ trophy collection was just off to the left from the elevator
and there are massive displays of various horned animals with a gold,
silver, or bronze medal under them for how many points on the horns, or
the width, or in the case of the boars, it was how large their tusks
were. An herbivore’s nightmare! There were also bear, wolf, zebra, Nile
crocodile, lynx, and European bison. There is a floor of birds, one of
insects and butterflies, one of amphibians and reptiles, and an entire
floor of wildlife panoramas. My favorite bird (besides the five kinds of
ravens) was the Satyr Tragopan.
Darius’ girlfriend
gave me a ride to the train station. The fare was 18 lt. and the temp
was 28 C. (= 86 F.) and when I arrived in Vilnius I tried unsuccessfully
to call a cab, so I approached one and he wanted 30 litas. I knew I was
being cheated, but had too much loot to carry on the bus. I
actually bargained him down to 20 for the less than a mile ride to
Inija’s (it should have been 10 litas which is about $5).
Inija had made a most welcoming dinner for me of varskeses (which is a
cheese gnocchi), potato pancakes, salad, and caramel ice cream. I ate it
all.
