I love my wife. I’m very afraid of heights. Oddly, Vilnius brought those traits together today.  Read on.

We overslept a little this morning; despite both of us checking the alarm, it was still set for 8:00 pm instead of 8:00 am. I woke up at 8:30 and got us going. I had wanted to be touring at 10:00, and we managed 10:15. That was okay, since I didn’t have any timed plans until noon.

We wandered. I like doing that in a new city, especially when it’s a compact and well-defined old town part of a city. I picked what looked to be interesting and uncrowded lanes, and we wandered for an hour. We found a cute spa courtyard full of flowers, and we climbed to a high spot on our end of town (the south end) to spy out the lay of the land. After a quick stop back in the hotel to dump Mer’s jacket and use the bathroom, we headed north down the main street all the way to the other end of the old town, which is where the Vilnius Cathedral is located.

We hung out next to the impressive portico of the church, identifying huge statues of Abraham and Moses and the four Gospel writers. We poked our heads into the free-standing bell tower, but it cost money to climb, and we didn’t have time to do that, so we went back outside, where we waited a few minutes to meet Ruta (Ruth), our local guide for the next three hours.

Readers of ye olde blogge may remember that we highly recommend getting a walking tour of a new city, especially if you can manage a private tour. Locals always help put things in context. Ruta was our age (fiftyish), so she grew up under Soviet rule, and the saw the transition to an independent Lithuania, so she had a great historical context. Additionally, her PhD was in Vilnius architecture, so she was well versed in that. She was a great resource.

Some highlights from our three-hour tour (cue Gilligan’s Island theme music here):
– We learned that the cathedral had been rebuilt several times and was originally a pagan temple.
– Lithuania was the last pagan country in Europe, probably because of the difficulty of outsiders getting in the country because of its swamps and dense forests.
– The founder of Vilnius (seven hundred years ago this year) had a dream of a howling wolf, and the local pagan priest told him he would be a successful leader who would found a capital where Vilnius is (smart PR move).
– The founder didn’t use force, but instead used diplomacy to increase his lands and wealth.
– He was very tolerant and invited people from all over Europe to come (tax free). It worked.
– Lithuania grew in size through marriages and alliances to become the largest country in Europe at one point.
– Vilnius has one of the oldest universities in Europe (from the late 1500s), and it takes up about a quarter of the old town.
– The Jewish Quarter was prosperous and well tolerated, with Jews making up about sixty percent of Vilnius’ population at one point. The Germans came in 1941, and the Jewish population has never recovered here.
– All the churches in Vilnius have two towers (except for one church, which is in disrepair from the Soviet era) – it was part of the Baroque movement here.
– In a bend in the smaller of the two rivers of the city is the semi-independent republic of Uzupis, which is mainly made up of artists and other free-thinkers. They have their own constitution and government.
– A monastery next to Uzupis has a gorgeous chapel with tokens of thanks (for healings) that are mounted in a gilded setting on either side of the altar. It was quite beautiful.

That was our three-hour tour of the town, and Ruta even threw in a snack break at a place she loves. We also got to pet a very extroverted kitty in Uzupis. After our tour was over, I waded in the river to sit in a swing chair in Uzupis. You’re supposed to get a wish if you sit in it. Because of how it was tilted forward, I think my wish was to not fall into the river.

Mer and I walked back to the old town from Uzupis, and ate an early supper at a local Lithuanian chain. It was hearty local food, and we ate in an old wine cellar, so that was fun. We needed to be done with supper before our next tour at 6:30.

And here is where love meets terror. Mer was surprised when I shook hands with a man waiting next to a van and she read his shirt, which said, “Smile Balloon Tours.” I knew Mer would love an aerial tour of the city, and I knew I’d be terrified of hanging in a STUPID WICKER BASKET three thousand feet off the ground. Love makes us do stupid things.

We drove to a huge park on the outskirts of the city, where we were told to wander for a bit. There were ten balloons going up, and since they do climb up to three thousand feet or so, and since the airport is very, very nearby, they need to coordinate the launch with air traffic control. So we had a nice walk in the park for about forty-five minutes, where we got to see Vilnius at play. We got to watch as the balloons were inflated using giant fans, and then the pilot used the burners to heat the air to one hundred degrees Celsius. We scrambled into the basket and then held on as the gondola rocked around as the craft became buoyant. They released the anchor line, and we zoomed into the evening sky (it was about 8:00 pm).

It was somewhat alarming, even for Meredith, suddenly to shoot a couple of thousand feet into the air with no real sound of propellant. The pilot only hit the burner as needed, so much of the flight was silent. We had great views of Vilnius and the old town, and we drifted away from the city. It was startling how quickly the city became dense forest. And it was starling when Mer and I saw a smokestack suddenly appear right under us (we were facing backwards in the basket). My guess is it was an old coal-burning power stack, but it was really tall and right there where we were. Sheesh.

I alternated between tense and scared and terrified for half the flight. The pilot lowered us down to a few hundred feet when we got outside the city, and I was able to relax some then. It was great to see suburban Lithuanians come running outside as we passed – people do love hot air balloons.

Our group was diverse – two people from India, two from Belarus, two from Estonia, me and Mer from the US, and the pilot from Lithuania. And we all laughed as we landed in a field and bounced three times before coming to a rest. People are people.

We got our first-time-flight certificates and had a glass of champagne (or orange juice for us teetotalers) as the balloon got packed away. We got a ride back to the old town, where Mer and I elected to get out of the van at the cathedral so we could walk the main drag at twilight. We stopped at a cafe to get dessert to celebrate a successful flight and day in general. Sometimes love really does push you to new heights.