Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania. I didn't know this before Friday.
However I also can't be accused of the common mistake of saying that
Riga is the capital of Lithuania, because of course Riga is the capital
of Latvia. Whatever, i'm here and on my first wander around I have found
it to be a lovely little city.
Before take-off I read up on Wikitravel: http://wikitravel.org/en/
"Lithuanians may appear sad, depressive (suicide rates in Lithuania are among the highest in the world), a little bit rude and suspicious, so talking about your good health, wealth, and happiness could be sometimes taken negatively. Smile at a Lithuanian in the street and most likely they will not respond in kindness. Smiling in Lithuania is traditionally reserved for friends; smile at a stranger and they will either think you're making fun of them and there's something wrong with their clothes or hairdo, or that you must be an idiot. Furthermore, an automatic Western smile is widely regarded as insincere. "
So, plenty of Lithuanians must think i'm an idiot. The problem is now every time I pass someone in the corridor or in the street I want to smile at them. This only means I bail out at the last minute and give a half-assed face scrunch. Yep, a real idiot.
I did try and stare down some people. This worked really well. I got 'stared down' back and felt I had connected. When in rome....as they say.
Of all the Lithuanians I have interacted with, whether that be working with them or a waitress at a restaurant or a cab driver, I can say (admittedly on a small sample size) that they are lovely people with very warm smiles. And this is important.
I just had dinner at a place called RawRaw. The food was....yep...raw. Which would be fine because I love steak tartar, except it was vegetarian. Which is also fine because they did some amazing things with veges and nuts and berries. Beetroot ravioli with cheese filling - where the beetroot was sliced to make the top and bottom of the ravioli and in between the cheese filling was not cheese but rather a cashew paste. Dessert was titled parfait. And being a parfait fan I was attracted to it immediately by name. This version was not brutally chocolatey nor flammable nor bad for my health. It was indeed a mousse of pumpkin, raisins, and orange covered with a cranberry mash topped with crushed cashews, haselnuts and almonds. And it was delicious.
Before take-off I read up on Wikitravel: http://wikitravel.org/en/
"Lithuanians may appear sad, depressive (suicide rates in Lithuania are among the highest in the world), a little bit rude and suspicious, so talking about your good health, wealth, and happiness could be sometimes taken negatively. Smile at a Lithuanian in the street and most likely they will not respond in kindness. Smiling in Lithuania is traditionally reserved for friends; smile at a stranger and they will either think you're making fun of them and there's something wrong with their clothes or hairdo, or that you must be an idiot. Furthermore, an automatic Western smile is widely regarded as insincere. "
So, plenty of Lithuanians must think i'm an idiot. The problem is now every time I pass someone in the corridor or in the street I want to smile at them. This only means I bail out at the last minute and give a half-assed face scrunch. Yep, a real idiot.
I did try and stare down some people. This worked really well. I got 'stared down' back and felt I had connected. When in rome....as they say.
Of all the Lithuanians I have interacted with, whether that be working with them or a waitress at a restaurant or a cab driver, I can say (admittedly on a small sample size) that they are lovely people with very warm smiles. And this is important.
I just had dinner at a place called RawRaw. The food was....yep...raw. Which would be fine because I love steak tartar, except it was vegetarian. Which is also fine because they did some amazing things with veges and nuts and berries. Beetroot ravioli with cheese filling - where the beetroot was sliced to make the top and bottom of the ravioli and in between the cheese filling was not cheese but rather a cashew paste. Dessert was titled parfait. And being a parfait fan I was attracted to it immediately by name. This version was not brutally chocolatey nor flammable nor bad for my health. It was indeed a mousse of pumpkin, raisins, and orange covered with a cranberry mash topped with crushed cashews, haselnuts and almonds. And it was delicious.