Vilnius - a reunion, New Year's Eve, and a military parade - Baltic trip 2022

After a much more relaxed bus ride, we arrived in Vilnius in the morning and made our way to our accommodation from the bus station.

The settlement we lived in was exactly how you imagine post-socialist housing: gray buildings in Brutalist style, buildings that were decaying on the outside facade. This place contrasts with the city center of Vilnius, where everything is a bit more luxurious as we later found out.

Our accommodation was okay, a bit run-down but it will surely be enough for the 2 nights. The previous tenant had smoked in the apartment, which was inevitably noticeable.

For this day, we wanted to explore the city a bit and meet an old friend from Germany who is studying here. We had dinner together and had a good time, strolling through the new town on this New Year's Eve afternoon.

Another example of digital progress in the Baltic States: some kiosks are completely autonomous, controlled by cameras. You go in, scan your credit card, then take the items and walk out. The countless cameras on the ceiling track you, so everything you took will be charged.

Otherwise, the city of Vilnius seemed rather dreary to us. Unfortunately, we had failed to book something decent for New Year's Eve, so we ended up getting drunk and ordering food at home. It was just shitty! We missed celebrating New Year's Eve with our family. The only consolation was a private concert by a talented trumpet player, who played some beautiful songs on the main street!

The next day, we gave the city another chance. We walked through the old streets, visited some sights. But we didn't really warm up to the city. We had the most fun in the autonomous district, as this place was different. This district has its own constitution, which sees happiness as its center! Many hipsters live here and express themselves in this district, the coffee was also delicious.

The only highlight was a kind of New Year's parade on the central square, where rifle shots were fired by the military. Very loud and impressive!

That was the end of the trip, Vilnius didn't capture us as much towards the end. But all in all, it was a nice trip for the two of us.