An Illusory Experience

At the Museum of Illusions...of course

I'm off to Ljubljana tomorrow for the first time in 21 years to visit my friends Barbara and Jeff, who had paid us a visit just this past weekend. This weekend is Open House in Vilnius, during which sixty-two unique architectural buildings will open their doors to the public for free tours. It sounds like it could be very interesting, but I decided instead to spend the afternoon with my daughter, before I jet off to exotic locales over the May Day holiday. We began by having lunch at the Meat Lovers Pub, where I tormented Amber by ordering the horse burger over her protest (she had a standard beef steak). It wasn't the first time for me to go equine, but while I wish I could say the burger tasted like horse, it had more of a spicy beef flavor to it. Still pretty tasty, though:

After lunch it was off to the Vilnius Museum of Illusions, which is just what the name says - you expect to see things like distorted sizes and upside-down rooms, and that's exactly what you receive for your €10 admission fee (see first photo above). The ticket price may've been a little high, but it was a fun experience and my daughter had a great time...

An example of scanimation:

Writing her Mandarin name on the wall with a light pen:

I'm no angel:

The M.C. Escher-influenced Peregrination, by David Macdonald:

Light off...:

...light on:

Toilet humor:

Watching a Tom and Jerry-like Soviet cartoon involving a wolf and a rabbit in a mockup of an 80's-style Lithuanian living room:

Amber and I were both inexplicably mesmerized by this spinning coin:

Speaking of Escher, the corridor leading into the museum had reprints of some of his best-known works lining the walls. Many years ago, I attended an Escher exhibition at a department store in Tōkyō 東京; hopefully I still have the souvenir book somewhere in storage. Looks like I'll be doing some exploration this summer:

After the museum, the two of us stopped for a drink and snack at Crustom (where my daughter helped me brush up on my woefully inadequate Mandarin skills in preparation for our trip to Taiwan in a couple months' time), before taking a leisurely walk back home. Tomorrow I'll be sloughing off to Slovenia...

Outside the Vilnius Salomėja Nėris Gymnasium

St. Catherine's Church, now used as a venue for concerts. The twin spires can be seen from our living room

Vilnius visitations

Trakai

You may have noticed a lack of activity recently on this blog. A long spell of gastrointestinal difficulties forced me to miss significant chunks of work time, and prevented me from venturing too far from home on the weekends. Fortunately, I'm over the worst of it, and just in time, too, as we played host this past weekend to two good friends who were visiting from Belgium. It was great to see Barbara and Jeff again, and next weekend I'll return the favor by visiting them in their new home in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana. That will be the subject of a later blog post; for this one, enjoy a few pics of our friends' first venture into the Balkans...

Taking care of business. Soon after their arrival in Vilnius on Friday afternoon, I took them to see the most important sight in the city (and arguably the entire country) - the Frank Zappa Memorial:

Three reasons why I ended up staying out until one in the morning on Saturday, something this old geezer hasn't done in a long while (at the BeerHouse & Craft Kitchen)...:

...and thus necessitating both an espresso and a cappuccino later on Saturday morning at Taste Map Coffee Roasters:

Checking out some insects stuck in eternity at the Amber Museum-Gallery:

In front of Vilnius Cathedral. Jeff thought I was joking when I told him he could throw a rock anywhere in Old Town and have a high probability of hitting the side of a church. A walk through the streets soon convinced him I was serious:

St. Casimir's Chapel

Recreating the original Putin-Trump mural (not the current spliff version) on the exterior of the Keulė Rūkė barbecue restaurant:

On Sunday we drove to Trakai to visit the castle there:

When in Lithuania, do as the tourists, which in Trakai means eating Karaite pastries at Senoji Kibininė:

One is mutton, the other venison. I can't recall which was which

Kibininės beer

Back in Vilnius, we joined the crowds to see the cherry blossoms at the Chiune Sugihara Sakura Park (Č. Sugiharos sakurų parkas):

 サクラ

桜

My daughter checks out the memorial to 杉原千畝, the Japanese diplomat  whose actions saved the lives of an estimated 6000 Jews desperate to escape the Nazis in 1940:

Following dinner, Amber and Shu-E returned home, while Barbara, Jeff and I retired to the Sky Bar, on the 22nd floor of the Radisson Blu Hotel Lietuva, for a nightcap and to take in the views of Vilnius after dark:

The spicy Baltic Spritz, combining "caraway flavours from Estonian Kritallkümmel liqueur, blackcurrant flavours from Latvian Riga Black Balzams Currant liqueur and raspberry flavours from Lithuanian Gintaras Sinas fruit wine", and topped up with soda water:

Monday morning and early afternoon was the chance for our visitors to do some Lithuanian linen shopping and enjoy having lunch outdoors in the sunshine at Alinė Leičiai before their late afternoon flight back to Brussels:

Last weekend Vilnius, next weekend Ljubljana. Stay tuned...