Hi all,

Put up these three pages of photos from Vilnius, hope you like them:

http://dalsgaard.eu/2008-07.Vilnius/2008-07.1.Vilnius.html

Comments, as always, very welcome!

Are the women all beautiful in Lithuania or what!? Or maybe it's just that you only take shots of beautiful women..... hmmmm...

Great photos. I'll be the first to ask: Where's Daniela? She brings out the best of scenery..

Its option one, they are spectacular. Clubbing in Vilnius will leave you dumbstruck with your jaw resting on the bar all night..

Not along for this trip...

Stunning....

Freycinet . . . I am your biggest fan! As usual, I love seeing photos from eastern European countries. And as usual, your photos are beautiful. Thanks for taking the time to post your experiences.

By the way, did anyone else try to look for the "Vilnius Schoolmaster?"

Great pictures Freycinet.

The name sounded familiar to me.
Napoleon's lost army...


Wheels

Outstanding pics Freycinet. I always enjoy your pics from your trips.

I didn't get that Vilnius schoolmaster reference, so had to Google it (this thread came up as result number 9, damn they're fast!). OK, so Sean Connery came from Vilnius in Red October...

Thanks for the comments guys! I prefer to think that "stunning" refers to the photos, but in my heart I know it must be the girls..

Very nice pictures!

That rock thing on wheels...that is what the groom is chained to after the wedding.

If my wife looked like one of those Lithuanian hotties then chain me up now!!

Fantastic work, as always.

The funny thing is that you capture the things that make me pause when walking around, and not just the pretty girls.

For some reason I like to watch folks getting group pictures. Maybe it's because every group picture that I've been forced to be in winds up reinforcing the memory of having to line up for a group picture more than the people I was with or the trip itself.

Again, thanks for sharing your gift of photography with us!

The brilliance of color is so striking.

Wonderful photos Freycinet, and looks like a wonderful trip to take.

Dave

lol @ Scylla, probably true. The groom in that first set of wedding pictures didn't look real happy. The bride is beautiful, so I don't know what accounts for it, other than the rock thing on wheels.

Great pics Frey! You absolutely have a photographer's eye and talent to go with. The lighting on those outdoor photos of the buildings is incredible. Very rich and dynamic.

heh, padlock bridge, never heard of such a thing. I like the idea. And the bicycle bar, with dancer, awesome.

And yes, the ladies are fantastic. I may just have to look through this set one more time.

Love the comments, and though I of course want you all to focus on the photography, I just want to add one photo here that I didn't put in the gallery, because some viewers could misunderstand it. The fact is, this was just a girl in the street waiting for her friends (they showed up a minute later) before going out. Not a lady of the night... - And even though I could hardly believe it, lots of girls looked like that in the clubs I went to. Not slutty behaviour at all, just looking amazing and having fun...

Holy carumba Batman!

Fake. You stole that from some fashion/advertising layout. Admit it.

Great photos. The angles, colors and ligthing are just perfect. Thanks for sharing.

Now where did I keep my passport.........

Stunning pictures! Thanks for sharing.

P.S. The "Padlock" bridge was an interesting sight.

I enjoy you trip postings so much Freycinet! Your a supurb photographer in how you capture interesting surroundings/architecture with people. And with your written detailed description of each scene, I feel like I was almost there too.

Thanks for posting, and take more holidays!

I liked the Watercolour girls Painting and the massive flock of Birds

nice shots!

Fantastic photos, Frey (note the alliteration)!

Those cathedral shots are outstanding.

I love stockings on a woman.

Oh admit it, you love stockings off a woman..

Thx for the comments guys, you make me want to do more galleries! Next up I think will be one from Malta (there will be at least one photo of Daniela, don't worry Beach ), but I also want to do a couple of galleries from Latvia and Estonia at some point, to complete the Baltics...

Beautiful stuff. I have always wanted to get a tour of central and eastern Europe and would love to do it after I retire. I have no idea if I ever will, it is among the many things that I probably will never get to do but your photos really reinforce the desire.

Those stupid a**holes in Beijing have your site blocked, Freycinet. Probably too much joy and happiness radiating from those pics... But if you leave it up till end of December when I'm back in the Netherlands I'll definitely have a look!

Great photos Freycinet. Looks like an amazing journey.

I take it then that you didn't attend the glorious 60th anniversary celebrations?

Hell no. I don't like these funny walks anyway - and why these idiots - or any idiot for that matter - want to celebrate their 60th anniversary with a military parade instead of with something real important* is beyond me!

* The Chinese can, IMHO, be proud of the fact that within 20 years after the end of the Cultural Revolution, they embraced a (largely) open market - more people are elevated out of poverty every day in China than in the rest of the world put together.

Vilnius looks like a fascinating city to visit. Beautiful architecture and the women ain't too shabby either.

St. Anne's brickwork facade must have been a test to qualify for master bricklayer. Thanks for the photos, your candid shots are unique in that they are thought provoking scenes that do more than just show a place you have been, they make me wonder about what the subject may have been thinking.

Thx for your comments guys! You inspired me to a flurry of activity on a Malta gallery, so it will be up soon...

Legend, hard to believe my web site is blocked from China! What idiots are they, really.. Oh yes, and celebrating the 60th anniversary of a supposedly peaceful country with a HUGE military parade... - Nice.

Yes, that brickwork is outstanding. Both my granddad and dad were bricklayers, so I know how to appreciate it.

I'm not a master bricklayer, but I did go through apprentice school and worked on several union jobs all over town before I turned "traitor" and went non-union.

But you're right, that's some intricate work, especially on the spires. The higher up you go, and the taller the scaffolding gets, the harder it gets. I worked on an electric substation wall one time and they had an running bond back wall with a "soldier" course on the front, with seven straight up and three tilted about 20 degrees back. Rinse, repeat. I'd hate to do that 4 stories up.

I figured that would stir memories of your time laying brick 20mm.

That is an art not often seen today. Personally, I'd plaster the whole thing and paint in some mortar lines.

The photos are awesome. Not so much because of the subjects per se, as they are what you expect to see taken during a trip to another country, a few of the sights here, a few of the people there, and so on, which is perfectly understandable. What i liked most was that they looked very natural as far as lighting and colours go, that was so well done that makes you think you are looking at the city directly and not through a PC monitor.

As for the women, they are not something i don't see every summer though. Living in the meditteranean has its perks you know, with all those flocks of tourists
Their dress style reminds me a lot of a week-long trip to Budapest a few years ago, but i'm more a fan of the Russian "imperial" looking facial features and body-type

P.S As for the China parades, and excuse the off-topic remark, their obsession with the internet and blocking websites borders on the absurd. That said, regarding their 60th anniversary celebrations, i don't really know any country in the world that doesn't celebrate an event that's perceived as a milestone in their efforts for independence without a parade of some sort and most of them are military ones. Just because we think their system is backwards doesn't mean they don't think it saved them from our system, they can simply afford to have more people marching due to population, that's all there is to it

Great pics there, Freycinet. Also thanks for including captions (something intarnet travel pics uploaders always leave out). That pedal-powered booze bar is something all cities should have.

Lithuania looks like a real life Disneyland. I'd love to travel there someday. If I remember correctly, someone also posted pics of their Lithuanian holiday here some years ago.

I have a feeling that every website is blocked unless it's been proven it's harmless. Since I came here, Wikipedia, but also websites like the OrbX forums and the ThirdWire website have been 'released'. On the other hand, recently most blog- and community-building websites (Hyves, Facebook...), and Youtube, have been blocked suddenly.

thx for your comments guys, much appreciated!

Yes, xthor, it is true they say that a picture is worth a 1000 words, but I say, why choose? I think the captions serve well to explain what I want with the pics and to give context.

Legend... quite unbelievable... - And sad if it really works to block content.

Thanks for sharing. Regarding the synagogue...I just read something to the effect that their numbers fell considerably after WWII...What did I read in your comments, they went from 100 to 1....Somehow seeing/reading your picture/comments made what I read the other day more "real"

1377 views of this page, wauw! - thx SimHQ for the nice advertisement on the front page, much appreciated.

Yes tpmzxy, there is a very violent past hiding behind the pretty houses of Vilnius. Ethnic cleansing, genocide... The population used to be to a high degree Polish and Jewish, now it is Lithuanian and Russian. Lots of suffering, letīs hope it wonīt happen again.

BTW, I wonder how many use the full-screen feature of their browser (F11 to turn it on and off) to watch picture galleries like this one?

I think it really improves the experience. Not just to free up screen space, because some might not strictly need that, but just to have a less cluttered view of pictures on a page.

I mention this because some acquaintances of mine didn't know of F11 - full screen.