September 10, 2006 – Day 1
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania. The population of Vilnius is 580,000 and the population of Lithuania is 3.5 million. Putting it into perspective, the city of Los Angeles has three times the population of the entire country.
We were supposed to arrive at 12:30 PM but leaving JFK didn’t go so well. There was a passenger who wasn’t on board but his luggage was. After retrieving the passenger, as opposed to removing the bag, we sat on the runway for two hours waiting to take off. I wondered if the air traffic controllers weren’t a little upset with the airline for not reconciling the baggage to passengers before leaving the gate.
We arrived in Frankfurt at about the same time our connecting flight was leaving. In hopes of making our connecting flight, we ran to the gate. Running was the one thing the Dr. said I shouldn’t do and I wondered how much damage I had done by doing so and it was all for nothing, we missed our connecting flight.
We were put on a later flight which meant we had a few hours at the Frankfurt airport. At least I could surf the internet and get caught up on emails. I even checked the forecast for Vilnius which indicated scattered showers.
As we landed in Vilnius, I was impressed by how green everything looked. There was no shortage of water. I found the translation of the landing announcement amusing. The flight attended said, “Don’t smoke until you have completely climbed out”.
As we “climbed out” it poured but by the time we left the airport, the sun had come out. To our surprise our driver was waiting for us when we arrived at the airport. We boarded the bus and set out of the hotel, The City Park Hotel. Since we landed late, we didn’t have time for any tours, we would have to make them up later on. I was looking forward to a hot shower and a toothbrush.
We dined in Rossini, the hotel restaurant.
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