Vilnius is a great walking city and there is a lot to see here so planet at least two or three days, three nights, so you have time to relax and see what’s going on. I was lucky to be there during the new year even though it was snowy and cold. The people in Lithuania are extremely friendly and love talking with other people so you will most likely never have a problem there that can’t be taken care of easily. Taxi transportation is not expensive and the buses are tap to pay so it’s easy to get around.
This is the central area near the palace and the main cathedral where people gather even in the cold winter In the early morning it was not only humans walking around.This is one of the small stations on the way out of the city Just like in France they have decided to put a piano for people to play music and I was surprised how professional many of the people who played it were This was a really excellent restaurant The pork was extremely well done and tender, juicy and the pickled cabbage was very nice Even Monaco has an embassy here The main cathedral The Christmas tree in the plaza was a major attraction The Murray go round in daytime A service was going on in the cathedral When it’s available I find a candle in every church I go into and remembrance of my familyThis hero looks ominously like a Mongolian with his outfit So a Japanese descendent from Peru set up this restaurant?It was very cold and snowy I think this is Atlas A view from the top of the cathedral I didn’t visit this part of the castle but there were a number of people up there. Another view from the top of the cathedralNight time on the plaza The tower in front of the cathedral These are popular in Japan but this is the first one I’ve seen outside of Japan, a cat café When I first walked by there was one cat walking on the tableThe view from my hotel window was actually very beautiful Senior citizens get a significant discount on trains so I took advantage of first class and I got a free cup of coffee and a brownie, very tasty
this is just a gallery of some of the recent trip through Germany, first to see the rod Stewart concert and then to go on to Poland
Köln (Cologne)
One of my favorite cheesesFlix operates buses throughout Europe but also private trains. They supplement the other train systems.This is a pretty easy to understand sign
Berlin
The Kaiser Wilhelm memorial was not rebuilt after World War II for obvious reasons Inside the memorial The local Christmas Berlin city Palace This was the restaurant I went to and never got my order Beautiful subway
Frankfurt Oder
Ryo is a Japanese name but this restaurant is obviously managed by VietnameseA cute little dog Gelato is a mustThis Frankfurt is on the border with Poland. Obviously it’s not getting that much traffic. McDonald’s has died Beautiful graffiti artwork Try to figure this out In Poland this is a way to make a balcony?But there is a present and a futureAdd ” SKA” and make a Polish word Or you can add “SKI”They have the old train, SL, on display A cool looking buildingInteresting graffiti inside a courtyard This Turkish restaurant uses a lot of mayonnaise
Dusseldorf
Make sure to visit this restaurant and pub. The food and beer is delicious. They serve only their own beer.Really nice food Nice graffiti Ishii but now it’s 2026 This department store still existsThe Grinch is in control of the shop Of course you need to have a hero on horseback as a statue The very busy Christmas season market My back told me I need a bag with wheels and to get rid of the very heavy backpack Of course in the hotel there is a chocolate gift
Lithuania is a great place to visit. The main city which is Vilnius as a lot of very interesting things to see including museums. But you will find also that it is not a very expensive city and the people are extremely nice and interested in speaking with everybody which makes it extremely adventurous. I started off going to the KGB detention center which is partly recreated but a lot of it is still intact.
A spy camera In one of the cells there is an explanation that they have been painted up to 18 times over former paint because the inmates draw messages on the walls so they just repaint the wall. This is a portion of a wall which was painted over many times This guy was imprisoned here and probably killed but I thought this photo of him was an interesting attitude The whole way along the cells with visitors looking around The view outsideThe wardens area and relaxation room for the guards
samuel’s father created some art before he was killed.
One of the synagogues Another synagogue Drawings of the Jewish Quarter in VilniusOne of Samuel’s early artwork
one museum mentioned the way the NAZIs took care of the Jews in the Balkin states, they didn’t move them to any concentration camp, they just took them out into the woods dug a big hole, killed them and pushed the bodies into the hole.
Palace Museum
Sigismund the Old and Central Europe
In its conflicts with Lithuania, Muscovy often received support from the Habsburgs, so Sigismund the Old endeavoured to reach an accommodation with the Holy Roman Empire. Sigismund the Old, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania; his brother Wladyslaw Jagiellon, King of Bohemia and Hungary; and the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I met in Vienna at the First Congress of Vienna in 1515. They decided to arrange marriages between the children of Wladyslaw and the grandchildren of Maximilian I. This would allow the Habsburgs to accede to the thrones of Hungary and Bohemia after the deaths of Wladyslaw and his son Louis (1516-1526). This concession helped Sigismund the Old end Habsburg support of Muscovy. Emperor Maximilian I returned the favour by facilitating the betrothal of Sigismund the Old to Bona Sforza. Sigismund the Old tried to present Lithuania to Europe as a bastion of Catholicism. He asked the Pope to canonise his deceased brother Casimir. In this way, he hoped to preclude any alliances between Muscovy and Europe’s Catholic lands – primarily those of the Habsburgs and the Teutonic Order. In forming dynastic unions with the most powerful royal families of Europe, and with the support of Poland and Lithuania, the Jagiellonian dynasty nurtured a grandiose plan of creating a huge union of states under their rule in Central and Southeastern Europe. The Jagiellonians came closest to this goal in 1471-1526, when four states were under their rule: Lithuania, Poland, Bohemia and Hungary. Later the Jagiellons’ influence in the region waned. The last Jagiellonian king of Hungary and Bohemia, Louis II, the grandson of Casimir Jagiellon and son of Wladyslaw Jagiellon, died in the Battle of Mohács against the Turks in 1526. His sudden death critically changed the situation in Central Europe. A large part of Hungary ended up under Ottoman control. Since the fallen young king did not leave an heir, in accord with the agreement reached in I515 at the First Congress of Vienna, the Hungarian and Bohemian thrones went to the Habsburg dynasty.
The old foundation of the palace which was destroyed. The palace and museum which is here now is something that was rebuilt recently as a museum The evident buildings are what is there now and the faint images are what used to be part of the old palace Some old things found in the foundation A map of the original palace Interesting artwork which reminded me of the swirls prevalent in Japanese and very old Celtic artwork Two smashing footwear seemed to be almost always the prevalent fashion Something for fun on one of the old furnaces An old throne procured from ItalyI recognized this immediately as German. I think it’s because of the black color
if you visit Poland I highly recommend this as the top one or two cities to visit. You will need at least two days, maybe three days if you’re going to visit the concentration camps which in themselves are a whole day tour.
A beautiful model A very good accordion musician. I will insert a video below.
Nightlife in a heated area outside the restaurant This is one way to get around town. People would definitely watch you. Below is the video.
The main square Even at night time there were huge crowds for the Christmas celebrationThe castle chapel The castle A view from the castle Chapel Tower Beautiful domes as part of the chapel Beautiful artwork inside the castle courtyard The castle courtyard From this store an important person can appear and direct people in the courtyardAdd “SKI“ to a word and it becomes Polish.This alleyway was in the movie Schindler‘s listThese are Hare Krishna musicians. I haven’t seen them for maybe 45 years. The last time was in the San Francisco airport.The main square tower There are a member of shops like this selling religious artifacts A shopping arcade. I have been in so many of them I can tell you exactly what’s inside without going inYou can look him up if you like. Obviously he was famous Beautiful architect Another beautiful model Another English word with “SKI” making it a Polish word This photo just turned out nice As you get off the train this was the first thing I saw. Very beautiful Another “SKI”The roving Christmas tree pulled by an old trolley car. It went all around the city a strange name for a barbershop but the razor in the logo gives me a little concern combined with the shop nameThis is a strong door Kids were having fun with this famous bronze statue A Jewish bookshop and tour agency which is kind of interesting. It looked closed when I was there so I didn’t bother to try togo inside
The city is interesting from a religious perspective since there have been a lot of different groups passing through, staying and then moving on. The best known of these groups is the Jewish population that has been here for so many hundreds of years, was expelled, came back, was working closely with the governing people and then again on the wrong side of governance. The Jewish quarter in this city has a lot of memorial areas worth visiting. You should take the time to walk around, go in the synagogues and look at all the different buildings, markings and signs. From that perspective this is a very interesting city. The Christian churches are also fascinating. The most interesting might be the one at the castle which is a separate paid entrance but very worth the time.
TheRemuh synagogue is very beautifulThis is a nice place to just sit and think The outside wall to the synagogue indicating supporters This is the model of the synagogueThe Corpus Christi BasilicaIt’s very ornate inside Beautiful altar This is where the elite of the church Sit for ceremonies One of the bells inside Sigismund’s Chapel in the castle areaView of the city from the chapel Tower This is the famous Sigismund’s Chapel BellThis is the last famous bishop of the city Saint Peter and Paul’s Cathedral This is quite a beautiful pipe organ Model of the church on the outside
I bet you didn’t think a place to see Banksy Art was in Poland but if you go to Krakow, across from the supermarket where I bought my food, I noticed there was a big sign for the Banksy museum. It wasn’t expensive so I decided to go in and see what few works of art they have but actually they had quite a few. Here are the ones I found entertaining.
This is love in the new generation They needed better weaponsOut in the nick of time A very intelligent gorillaModern USA
I was surprised by Warsaw, such a huge and impressive city. But it wasn’t the quaint place I imagined so I saw what I found interesting and moved on to Krakow.
The Palace of Culture and Science. What I like about this photo is it is almost as if the green building was highlighted in a black and white photo. The contrast is interesting. There is a lot of construction going on now.One side of the Jewish Ghetto wall and a metal map of the extent of the GhettoTracing the wallThe Jewish memorial museum demonstrating the history of the Jewish people in this area going back almost 1,000 yearsSimulating a Ghetto street in this massive museum. You can almost get lost here.
When you come to Poland it is a good idea to visit Auschwitz and Birkenau. It seems you need to book individual entry up to a month in advance and they probably put you in a group? Most everyone was in a group tour which is advisable since there is a progression of buildings to visit and the details are extremely important. The camp you visit is just one of many built to house and mass murder people. There were more than 900 concentration camps built for the NAZIs to house and kill their victims. You will see the living quarters, execution walls, extermination showers and all other buildings preserved by former victims housed here. You will see collections of clothes and personal things left from those killed there as well as tons of hair shaved off before execution, used to make coats and blankets.
Hydrogen Cyanide canisters left in piles after used to kill victims ushered in to “take showers”.. The rooms next to the showers were incinerators to burn the bodies. Some of the ash was used as fertilizer .We arrived at 7:00 and waited 30 minutes in freezing weather for the gates to open. Our bus picked us up and returned us to Krakow. The recommended tour company was Hellow Cracow and they performed well. I paid about US$63 for the 7 hour tourThe famous gateOne of the buildings. In the first camp the premises were built for the Polish army and taken over by the Germans.A huge camp housing up to 70,000 victimsPlaces where people were taken from after 1941. Before 1942 the camp was used to house Polish eliteExecution WallOne touch of this electrified fench would kill. Some victims committed suicide this way.Shower and incinerator bunker entrance.Birkenau entranceThe famous mass one way transport entrance Many mouses between the camp and the woods were used to house victims before the camp was finished. Birkenau was built from the ground up for mass extermination. The incinerators were blown up by the Germans so approaching Russians would not have evidence.Our guide, a train car and a watch towerEach bunk slept 6 victims.
Poznan in winter is still a small town. But it’s almost halfway from the German border to Warsaw so it seemed like a good place to stop over for a few days, see how the trains work and cut the trip to Warsaw in half.
This was a very delicious pork with potatoes and sauerkraut with cheese on top and a few tomatoesThis was in a Ukrainian restaurant and that shows the different specialties in different parts of Ukraine “Recycling“ in Polish looks like the same pronunciation as JapaneseリサイクリングJust some decorations to light up the street Hawaiian Poké bowl is now universal but it’s not really poke. It’s kind of like somebody from Vietnam trying to create Japanese food. In Europe Poké bowl seems to be anything that’s in a bowl and on top of rice.It’s nice to see this old Citro endSculpture in the main park The tower of peace in the park Declaring Poland as a peaceful countryBeautiful older buildings The main cathedral is absolutely beautiful inside The entranceway to a ballet school Time for the ice festival but this year it’s very warm and so the ice is melting Ice sculpture sponsored by a Canadian and a Spaniard It was interesting to see some art deco architecture This was a little music entertainment for the kids
exploring Segovia is easy from Madrid. It’s a very short ride, less than an hour, and after you visit this town you can go back through Madrid to Toledo for a very short train ride there as well. One main feature of Segovia, of course, is the aqueduct where you will start your journey into the old town.
A view of the aqueduct from a distanceJust to show you how much building is going on at the Madrid Central train terminal This is the old Jewish area The main cathedral in the old town I went to a small bar, not a tourist place, and had very good quality calamari and a saladIn early December they are putting up Christmas decorations The main cathedral The extremely ordinate pipe organThe cathedral voltage ceiling somewhat reminiscent of Gaudi’s workThe Alcazar is another “must see” palace in Segovia These priests robes look somewhat Chinese Gold ornate artifact Golden silver decoration maybe to hold something These gigantic entrance doors are reminiscent of the palaces in Italy. They are large enough for men on horseback to enter Very ornate chapel Side road by the Cathedral Just an interesting old building Alkazar as you approach it The main courtyard Unbelievably ornate ceiling Welcoming the queen Another ornate ceiling You can see the Moor influence in this depictionA view from the palace. I think this is the monasteryA small chapel Many of the ceilings are just amazing works of art Another view from the palace The armament’s room A stubby CannonA Korean tour group RapiersIn the gift shop you can learn how to cook tapas A view from the palace into the city A moteA shop in the Jewish sector selling menorah? One of the very famous Jewish supporters of the monarchy The steak looks very delicious but it was sinuey These large steps were good for horsesIs this scary? Entering the Jewish cemetery The tunnel under the road to the cemetery This is the cemetery. It is a group of caverns chiseled out from the rockA view looking back at the cityLooking at the graveyard Kind of a strange sign but in Europe the burger is extremely popular A night view of an administration building More of the Alcazar Can you imagine having to walk in this outfit The complete outfitting of a knight and his horseMango and raspberry
