Veterans Day

From the bluffs overlooking the Neris River

It's been three days since the election, and there's nothing to be done but accept the fact that on Jan. 20 Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States of America, and just move on with life. No more will be said on the subject, save for a couple of interesting articles (the second one by Garrison Keillor), the links to which are here and here. Oh, and a reminder that the night of Nov. 9-10 was the 60th anniversary of Kristallnacht - here's hoping our Muslim citizens and legal permanent residents will not be facing something similar in the next few years to come.

Friday was Veterans Day in the U.S., and a federal holiday for those of us in the employ of the American government overseas. It was also the start of a three-day weekend for me, but my daughter still had to go to school. In any event, due to work reasons, I'm currently not permitted to stray too far from Vilnius, so there were no grand plans to take advantage of the holiday. But I'm not complaining, for we'll be going to the Netherlands during the week of Thanksgiving, and Vilnius isn't a bad place to be stuck on a day when the temperatures hovered around -3°C (27°C), and ice and snow cover much of the sidewalk space. Our apartment is comfortably warm, and barren trees have improved the views from our living room balcony (the church with the crown is St. Casimir's):

With Amber at school, my wife and I went out for lunch:

Pietausim is a Lithuanian restaurant dishing out food like a Soviet-era canteen, but with a cooler-looking interior, a young hipster staff and much, much better cuisine. I doubt diners in the Soviet Socialist Republic enjoyed butter chicken on rice when eating out:

We split up after lunch, with Shu-E going to do some food shopping on Gediminas Prospektas, while I went to check out Vilnius' only synagogue to have survived intact from the Second World War (because the Nazis used it to store medicine). On the way there, I passed the abandoned Lietuva movie theater, which is No. 29 on a website posting photographs of "Incredible Before & After Street Art Transformations That'll Make You Say Wow". Unfortunately, the mural in real life doesn't quite look as nice, thanks to the graffiti that has sadly marred it:

It was also sad to find the Choral Synagogue (Choralinė Sinagoga), built in 1903, seemingly closed, despite the fact that lights were on inside the building. The doors to the outside gate were padlocked, and a walk around to the rear of the building (where the distinctive dome roof could be seen) failed to turn up an entrance:

Well, as the Lithuanians would say (I'm only guessing they would, actually, and relying on Google Translate): Tai gyvenimas. So I spent the rest of the afternoon in Old Town, doing some early Christmas shopping and taking a break at Holy Donut, before getting home in time to greet my daughter getting off the school bus:

This area was once part of the Jewish Ghetto. Ironically, the Austrian Embassy is located here.

(Note the presence of St. Casimir's Church in the background)

On Saturday, following my daughter's morning swimming class and then lunch at home, the three of us went for a walk in the snow. We drove to the Belmontas resort, located in the Paviliniai Regional Park, where we did the same circuit that I did on my own back on Labor Day, only in the opposite direction. Except that this time the ground was white (and icy in places) and the atmosphere all the more starkly beautiful because of it. You can't do this in Taiwan:

It isn't easy to see, but Amber made a "snow turtle" (on her left)

A hot-air balloon making a surprise appearance

I wasn't keeping track of time, but I think we spent about 2½ hours trudging through the snow. Afterward, we drove up to the high bluffs overlooking the Neris to take in the scenic vista:

On Sunday Shu-E, not knowing (or caring) much about Lithuanian history, decided to stay home and rest. My daughter didn't have that option, so she joined her father on a visit to the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, located behind Vilnius Cathedral and on a site that has been settled since at least the 4th century. The original palace was constructed in the 15th century for the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and served as the administrative, cultural and political center of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth:

The original building was demolished by the Russians in 1801 and what you see today is a reconstruction completed in 2009. It's nevertheless one of the best museums in Lithuania. The first floor exhibitions show visitors the strata of the palace's foundations:

An image of a griffin dating from the late 13th-early 14th centuries

At one point in its history Lithuania was the largest country in Europe, colored in yellow in the map above. Amber was fascinated by how small the duchy became as the centuries progressed, as shown on successive displays

A late 15th-century glazed clay stone tile, with a scene depicting a decapitation

 Looking at an old checkers set

The exhibits on the second floor describe in further detail the building of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, it's eventual confederation with the Kingdom of Poland and the inevitable fall:

The beginning of the end

My daughter was surprised by how small people were back then

The third floor contains reconstructed ceremonial halls and exhibits focusing on the material culture of the Grand Duchy:

A portion of a tapestry showing a dragon eating eggs

Tuning a harpsichord in preparation for a later concert

Looking at Gediminas Castle from a third-story window

A recreation of the duchy's crown jewels 

Amber checks out some early coins

The Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania is one of the must-see sites of a visit to Vilnius. Leaving the choice of where to have lunch afterward up to my daughter, I wasn't at all surprised to found ourselves at Boom Burger:

The afternoon ended up with the two of us buying a pair of winter shoes each at a store on Gediminas Prospektas. But prior to that came the pleasantly welcoming surprise of finding a tea stand called Formosa in the Gedimino 9 shopping center. The 奶茶 was actually pretty good, meaning I'm sure to be back often, much to my taste buds' joy and my waistline's regret:

Trump change

I had never been ashamed to be a white American male. Until today, that is.

I believe it was Frank Zappa who once described Americans as being “socially retarded” and even if it wasn’t him who said that, the shocking results of the presidential election have proved someone right. Once again, my country has found a way to let me down. From our seemingly endless involvements in pointless military conflicts and the slaughter of unarmed people of color at the hands of the police on our city streets, to our anti-intellectualism when it comes to matters like climate change and evolution and our refusal to provide adequate education and health care to all of our citizens, it seems that every time we as a people take the proverbial two steps forward, we take at least a step-and-a-half backward. I feel like Charlton Heston at the end of “Planet of the Apes”, shocked that we had finally done it, though if Heston were alive, he would probably be happy with the election results.

Obviously, I’m not. I’m not one to throw Hitler comparisons at anyone whose views I disagree with, but Donald Trump is a demagogue, and potentially the closest public figure we've ever had to the Nazi dictator. I’ll leave the analysis to the paid pundits as to why Hillary Clinton lost an election that she should’ve won easily, when facing an opponent who is shockingly misogynistic, racist, xenophobic and just plain ignorant, not to mention notoriously thin-skinned (not a good trait for an aspiring and now future head of government/state). But it’s stupefying to realize that millions of Americans found Trump to be an acceptable leader. I’ve been away from the country for much of the past quarter century now, plus I’m from the west coast, so it’s hard to understand what is going through the minds of my compatriots living in the Midwest and the South. But if I had to guess, I would say they are largely white people living in overwhelmingly white suburbs and towns, who haven’t traveled much outside of the U.S. (maybe even not out of their states), and who are told by the TV news every evening that the rest of the country (not to mention the world at large) is a scary place populated by scary people who look and speak differently than they do. I can’t think of any other reason why people who are otherwise decent human beings would want someone like Donald Trump as their leader. Do they really believe a multi-millionaire property developer is going to magically restore all those lost manufacturing jobs and drive the darker-skinned people away?

So what’s going to happen to the United States of America? I don’t know. I don't think that the U.S. in January 2017 is going to go down the same path that Germany embarked on in January 1933. But at the same time, I’m certainly not proud of the American democratic process at this moment, and can only pray that our vaunted system of checks and balances will actually work so that we will have the opportunity to undo in four years’ time the damage that was inflicted starting today.

This election result hurts for many reasons, but especially because it validates the racist creeps like my cousin’s husband ("R.H.") who once referred to my Taiwanese-born spouse as a “mail-order bride” whom I purchased with my father’s money in order for her to provide me with a child. And speaking of that child, my daughter is disappointed because she was looking forward to a woman finally becoming president, especially because her other country of nationality had no problem with choosing a female leader earlier this year. But for Amber’s sake I hope there is a silver lining in all this, that namely a woman will eventually become president; that people like R.H. will die out like the dinosaurs that they are; and that people like my daughter will continue to lead the demographic assault on American society to the point that someday the country will be theirs and they will be calling the shots. 

Though my paternal grandmother was Canadian, I’m not going to join the chorus of whiners clamoring about their supposed emigration. I’ll be damned if I’m going to leave the United States to the likes of R.H. The future belongs to Amber and those like her, and unlike my young distant relatives in the U.K., we will get a chance to take our country back and make America finally live up to its promise and potential. 

Van Jones summed it up best on CNN: "A whitelash against a changing America"

But time only moves forward, and tonight we were able to forget about the election and see a basketball game at the Siemens Arena, courtesy of free tickets provided through Amber's school. The contest pitted local heroes BC Lietuvos rytas in a EuroCup matchup against Spain's Montakit Fuenlabrada. For at least forty minutes this evening I was able to back a winner as Rytas dominated the contest, winning 101-84:

We arrived just in time for the announcements of the starting lineups

Rytas' enthusiastic cheering section

Plenty of entertainment during timeouts

A shooting contest. The contestant on the left concentrated on making layups, while the man on the right attempted three-point shots; the latter guy ended up outscoring his opponet and winning a watch for his efforts

The action on the floor (Rytas in red)

"Are you sure you want me to take your photo like this?" "Yes"

Rytas' mascot works the stands

It was a challenge walking on the slippery ice between our car and the arena. Speaking of slippery slopes...never mind

Walken in a Winter Wonderland

In a park near our apartment building

The weather forecast for Sunday in Taichung 臺中, Taiwan called for temperatures around 30°C. Here in Vilnius, it's also around 30°...Fahrenheit, that is. Though not unexpected, I was still a little surprised to wake up on Sunday and look out the bedroom window to see the ground coated with snow. It wasn't much, really, and most of it had turned to slush by late afternoon, but it was enough to convince me to go hiking another day and instead drag the wife and daughter into Old Town to take in our first winter wonderland scene since arriving in Lithuania last spring.

The view on Saturday afternoon...

...and the view on Sunday afternoon

A careful walk downhill through the rain, slush and snow brought us to Fiorentino, a charming Italian restaurant close to the Presidential Palace:

For lunch, I started off with a bowl of minestrone, and concluded with tagliata, rare sliced beef with Parmesan. The food was good, but Shu-E still couldn't shake off the stereotype that Italian cuisine is only pasta and pizza, even though she ordered neither for her meal, opting instead for a mixed-meats platter. In Fengyuan 豐原, the only non-Asian restaurants in town (other than the usual fast-food joints) were almost exclusively "Italian", and no prizes are to be awarded for correctly guessing what kinds of dishes comprised their menus (hint: not those pictured below):

How close is the restaurant to the Presidential Palace? Walk through the Italian-style courtyard behind Fiorentino (where patrons can dine outside during the warmer months) and you'll find yourself looking into the rear grounds of the palace:

Lithuanian haute couture on Didžioji gatvė:

If it's the weekend in Old Town, then there must be another old church to visit. Today's house of worship was St. Teresa's Church (Šv Teresės Bažnyčia), on Aušros Vartų gatvė, close to the Gates of Dawn:

This Baroque beauty was completed in 1655, though its altar and ceiling frescoes date from the latter half of the 18th century:

For a different sort of religious experience on the way home from St. Teresa's, we stopped off at Holy Donut. Amber proudly shows off the offerings to be made later to the dessert gods:

Get it?*

*http://imgur.com/gallery/IJWdYyl

All Saints Day

Antakalnis Cemetery, All Saints' Day night

Today was All Saints' Day, the day after Halloween and a national holiday here in Lithuania. It was also (in the morning and afternoon, at least) a day of overcast skies and temperatures hovering around 2°C (36°F), though the rain and snow in the forecast never materialized...until later. So with my daughter entertaining a classmate today and my wife wanting to relax at home, a bike ride seemed as good an idea as any. I headed out before noon and rode toward Vingis Park, located at the western end of Čiurlionio gatvė. Along the way I passed the Embassy of Japan (the white building next door is the Embassy of the Republic of Latvia. The residence of the Belarusian ambassador is also in the neighborhood, though their embassy is in a different location). FYI: The Republic of China/Taiwan does not have a representative office in Lithuania; what passes for the Taiwanese community here (I know of at least two persons: Shu-E and Amber) is served by the Taipei Mission in the Republic of Latvia, in Riga :

This cool-looking, Gothic-style building is down the road from the Japanese and Latvian embassies:

Taiwan may a cyclist's paradise, with its scenic east coast and beautiful mountains, but does it have a cemetery for German soldiers killed in Lithuania in the two world wars? I think not:

The cemetery is surprisingly well-kept and free of any overt signs of vandalism. After more than seventy years, someone remembers:

Vingis Park is surrounded on three sides by the Neris River:

This was the first time I could try out my mountain bike on the kind of terrain it was designed to tackle. The result is that the bike is too dirty to bring inside the apartment:

Glimpsing the TV Tower on the opposite bank of the Neris:

Down by the river:

My Trek takes a break:

Another look at the TV Tower:

The home field of the Vilnius Rugby Academy. Vingis Park is also home to a soccer field and an open-air amphitheater, the latter used for the Lithuanian Song and Dance Festival in July. A music-and-fireworks show was held there back in September:

I'm not sure what this is supposed to signify:

Despite the cold and the short distance covered, I managed to work up a sweat. It was fun getting off of paved surfaces, though my bike did get bogged down in mud at one point, forcing me to backtrack. Should be interesting to go cycling when the snow starts coming down. On the way home I paused for a moment outside the Lithuanian Russian Drama Theater, housed in a building constructed in 1913:

The snow did start coming down, just after sunset and just as my wife, daughter and I headed out to visit Antakalnis Cemetery. Coworkers recommended seeing this graveyard on the night of All Saints' Day, and they were right - the sight of numerous candles lit to honor departed loved ones created a magical scene in the cold night air:

If I'm reading the French correctly, the remains of soldiers from twenty countries that were part of Napoleon's Grand Army of the Republic are interred here, having died on their retreat following the disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812:

Another memorial dedicated to soldiers, though in the dark it was impossible to clearly make out any inscriptions:

Even in the cold, dark and snowy conditions (though the latter wasn't sticking to the ground), it was apparent that Antakalnis Cemetery is a beautiful resting spot. I'd like to go back in the daytime as some point to see how big it is and who is laid to rest there: