Day 13 - Tour to Trakai

As promised here are the photos of the outside of the orphanage from yesterday.  There are aproximately 100 children staying in this building.

 Areas where toys are stored

 Playground buried in the snow.

 See-saw

 My foot prints.  It was about a foot deep and this was after a lot of snow melted.

 More footprints

 Wayne waiting for me to come back from the deep snow.

Akvila's group's play room

This morning we took a tour to Trakai.  We went by bus about 20km outside Vilnius.  It is a medieval castle originating in the 13th Century.  It is the most visited tourist spot in Lithuania.  Of course it is not very popular in the winter.  There were 8 tourists on the bus and a Russian speaking guide in the front and our English speaking guide in the back.  The guide was very good and liked to make jokes.  It was somewhat sunny when we left Vilnius.  It felt like the temperature dropped significantly by the time we arrived in Trakai.  While walking across the bridge in Trakai to the castle it was bitterly cold because we were on the lake and it was extremely windy.  The castle is beautiful and well worth the trip.  Here are some photos. 

 View as soon as you get off the bus

 The bridge to the island castle

 View from the bridge

 Inside the front entrance

 

 On the left was the housing for the soldiers that protected the Grand Duke

 Cage and stockade

 Entry to the castle with our guide

 Moat

 Medieval central heating system.  The wood burned in the bottom, heating the rocks in the area above and then the heat would rise and warm the floors.

 Map of the surrounding lakes.  Trakai Island Castle is the red dot in the middle.

 Wayne sitting downstairs waiting for us to come down the many sets of stairs.

 Entry door into interior courtyard

 The drawbridge view as you exit

 View of the moat that used to flow through here

 View of front entrance from inside the courtyard

 Mill

 The guard (haha) part of the hunting display.

 Evidence of the hunters

The path back

 View from outside the Castle walls

 The Peninsula Castle (outer defenses)

 A crazy person iceskating with a parasail

The frozen lake

The tour guide went a little too quickly through the castle for our taste but it was informative.  When we got back to Vilnius we went into the gift shop and purchased a lighthouse for my collection.  It is handmade in Lithunia and is the Klaipeda Lighthouse.  We walked back to the apartment and then decided what to eat for lunch/dinner since it was after 3PM.  Wayne and I went out with the intention of having dinner at the Double Coffee restaurant but it was closed, we don't know why because we could not read the sign.  So we crossed back over the street and went to Hesburger for some fast food. 

We didn't get to see Akvila today since we had planned this trip.  We will go back tomorrow morning to see her.  On Friday the judge will read the decision and we will know if we get to pick her up Friday afternoon.