Baltics and Russia

Me in a holding cell

Sep 11, 2006 – Day 2

After breakfast our first stop was the Museum of Genocide Victims otherwise known as the KGB Museum.   Along the base of the building the names of the victims who died at this location.  The KGB building was established in 1940 when the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania.  It was here that people and entire families were brought in for questioning and detained for 7-8 weeks while the paperwork was prepared.  The only way out was death or a trip to Siberia.

In the basement of the museum are actual prisoner cells used by the KGB to retain and torture prisoners.  There were padded cells with straight jackets, cells with water-proof floors used to make prisoners stand in cold water.  In one corner of the basement there is an execution chamber where prisoners were shot, up to 25 people a night.

The last prisoner left this prison in 1992 after the Soviet Union fell and Lithuania became a free nation.  Remains of victims as well as personal artifacts were found were and are now on display.  Also on display are KGB uniforms, photographs of the KGB officials, and the bags of shredded documents left behind by the KGB officials. Continue reading →

September 11, 2006

After a good night’s sleep, Allan, my travel partner, and I were up early. We had breakfast and headed out for a walk before the morning tour. I snapped some photos of the town as I walked around. The white ghosts sits on top of a subway station. The picture with the three dark robed figures is the National Drama Theatre. Built in 1981 on the site of an older early-20th century theatre building (architects Algimantas and Vytautas Nasvytis). This sculpture above the entry is called “The Feast of Muses” and shows figures of Drama, Tragedy and Comedy (sculptor Stanislovas Kuzma, 1981). (Thanks Deb Rapone, my sister, for finding that out)

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. Continue reading →