Susie was being picked up for her op at 8.35am. She was on a strict fast and looked enviously at my cup of tea. Which left me to have a shower and go down to the breakfast room in the basement. Where I talked to my neighbours from Anglesey. And supplemented my scrambled egg and bacon with a bowl of mixed fruit, pineapple and melon and mandarin orange.
It was a cold dry morning in Kaunas. I started my walking tour by the bridge across the river at the foot of the Aleksoto funicular on the other bank. There was no easy way to cross the dual carriageway road to access the bridge. I read somewhere that this was once the longest bridge in the country. But that is difficult to credit since the river is no wider than the Thames in London or the Rhône in Lyon. The adjacent church, overlooking the river, is the Vytautas the Great church.
Just round the corner is the House of Perkünas. It was probably a rich merchant’s house and dates from the late fifteenth century. Like all the old buildings here it is built with distinctive red brick.
The Old Town square [the Rotusés alksté] is lined with fifteenth and sixteenth century merchant’s houses with the graceful seventeenth century Town Hall in the middle. Access is currently limited as the whole square is being resurfaced by a clutch of mechanical diggers and an army of men in hard hats.
Just north of the square is Kaunas Castle, a bastion against Teutonic attacks, which sits pleasingly in a dry, grassy moat. The adjacent church is St George the Martyr, a former monastery, sacked at intervals down the centuries.
Returning towards the New Town is the St Peter and St Paul cathedral, the largest Gothic church in Lithuania. The elaborate interior is a striking contrast to the sober exterior. I sat in a pew at the back of the nave, said a prayer for Susie and lit a candle. And fell asleep for a few minutes. After which it was time to go in search of a light lunch at a nearby bakery and coffee shop.
I spoke to Susie on What’s App earlier this afternoon. Early indications are fine and she sounded well. More news to follow in a day or two.
PS
This is all yesterday’s news. Last night I had excellent pulled beef soup and garlic bread at the restaurant across the street. Today I limped a few thousand steps in the other direction, to the railway station, to explore the possibility of a day trip to Vilnius. Meanwhile Susie has started on her 7 days of intensive physio. She is already walking 20 yards or so and had negotiated a flight of stairs, up and down. Which all sounds good.
October 2025
Through a glass darkly 