Eastern Europe: Day 3 - Vilnius, Uzupio

I learned more about the language and history of Lithuania today. Apparently, even though the three Baltic countries are very close together and get grouped together, their languages are extremely different. I thought it might be like Spanish and Portugese, but not at all.

Back in the commie days, the older generation had to learn both Lithuanian and Russian. Now, they learn Lithuanian and English. I was speaking with a Lithuanian, who spends time working in both Latvia and Estonia, and I asked what language do you use when you travel there? English.

What about Russian, I asked. I mean, if everyone had to learn it growing up, and since they are such a large trading partner, could not you use that instead? "Sure, you could use it," she explained, "but you wouldn't get an answer. You don't use Russian unless you want to drive someone away." The reason why everyone speaks English so well is becoming better understood by me.

The other thing I have noticed about the people here is they are white. I mean, really white. There are no minorities visible here at all. I think I have seen one Japanese, and they were a tourist. Everyone else here is very white, tall, and thin. All the women are like this - they all have that tall, thin look with interesting faces that advertising agencies look for in their models. They are everywhere. Even through the country has only 3 million people, they could easily find enough women to have a Supermodel reality show here. (Not a bad idea, actually - Lithuanian's next Supermodel! The winner gets a US green card)

I spent the evening in the "Republic" of Uzupio. This is a neighborhood of Vilnius, which on April 1, 1997, declared itself an independent republic. No one knows how serious they are about being independent, but they declared it and have a constitution of rights posted in several languages. The whole neighborhood is largely run down and inhabited by artists. It is very quirky and odd - they tore down a statue of Lenin and put up one of Frank Zappa (what is the connection between Frank Zappa and Lithuania? none.).

The Constitution has quirks of its own, such as declaring that all people have the right to be happy; it also states that people have the right to be unhappy. It reminds me a bit of my undergrad university, UNC - Chapel Hill: no matter what the protest group, there was always a counter protest group. Also listed as a right was the right to hot water. I think we in the west take that one for granted, but in the former Eastern Block, yeah, I could see that being a good right to state. Despite the bohemian flavor, Uzupio has one of the best restaurants in town, called Tores, which offers spectacular views of the city.

For more on Uzupio and the Constitution:

History of Uzupio

Constitution of Uzupio