John was really nice to us because after we'd gotten out room keys (I was rooming the Clair) and took our luggage up to our rooms (on the fourth/top floor) we were given the entire afternoon to ourselves. The first real bit of free time we had.

I went out with Clair, Cosette, Emily. They gave us maps, but we when we set out, we just started in a random direction and followed the streets. We walked first to Cathedral Square, which is huge, actually, to see Vilnius Cathedral. The square really is quiet gorgeous because it's so big and open. Of course we went inside the cathedral as well, and although it's not that ornate, it's really nice. Cosette and Emily ought candles to light while Clair and I got some fresh air.

We then headed off down Gediminas Avenue - the big street straight down from the cathedral. We stopped in a couple shops along the way to look to shoes and clothes. They had some really nice cute shorts and skirts that were very European in style that I wished I could fit into. We met Johanna and Sophia in one of the stores and had Johanna try on a couple outfits.

I found another store with a couple cute things that I liked and found a shirt that fit really well and looked really cute. That was only thing I bought while there, really. Clair decided that she didn't want to look at souvenir shops, and I agreed. So she and I decided to go off on a walk by ourselves while the other girls did some shopping. After walking up the Avenue for a while, we veered off to go down a closed-off cobblestone street and look in a couple buildings. Didn't really find much we liked, so we headed back to the Avenue.

We stopped at McDonald's to grab a couple drinks because it was so hot out and we were walking a lot. They even had a pedestrian/bike drive thu window right on the sidewalk. As we were walking along the street we looked down a side street and saw a church in the distance. Of course we decided we wanted to go to it, so we headed that way. Once we were off the side street, we were at the river. I don't think either of us had realized there was a river right there, but we looked a bit a the neat kinetic sculpture under one of the bridges, then walked across to go look at the church, Arkangelo Rapolo.

Although the inside of the church was very beautiful and the sun was just right so the light through the windows was hitting the stations of the cross perfectly, it was really quiet inside so we didn't stay long. We tried to see if we could get into the castle-type building across the street, but no such luck, so we headed back across the river and towards the square again. There was a great view from the one side of the river across to the old castle with Gediminas' tower. We walked around the back of the square to catch a glimpse of the old castle from below.

We headed back up another cobblestone street that had quite a few cool shops, but we didn't really stop to look at anything because we needed to be back at the hotel before too long. We saw a fair number of photoshoots that were going on. A couple men dressed really well, and a woman posing on a motorbike.But by that point, we were a little lost and our free time was coming to an end, so we needed to find a way back to our hotel. We tried to use our map, but we were lost enough it wasn't much help. Thankfully, I'm pretty good at remembering directions we've been, so I set the two of us off in hopefully the right direction. We had to jog the last little bit to get to hotel on time, but we managed to get there with a couple minutes to spare.

We barely had time to drop our things off in our room before the whole group was heading out to dinner together. Funnily enough, we headed back the same way we'd just come. Down the same streets we were lost on and everything too. Our dinner was in the basement of a restaurant. Dinner was tasty with lots of veggies. We still technically had time after supper before going to bed, so I convinced Cosette to go on another walk with me.

It was still pretty light out for the time of day and it stayed pretty light the entire walk. We walked past town hall, then up to the Gate of Dawn, an old fortification gate. We walked just along the outside of Old Town for a while before heading back in along narrow backstreets. We passed by town hall again and down the cobblestone street Clair and I had been on.

When we'd almost reached the main square again we found a 'flea market' that was in a shop below a buildling. We figured we'd go in because it was one of the few places still open. It was a pretty small little basement place, but it was FULL of Soviet and Nazi memorabilia. It was a little creepy at first, but there was some neat pieces that probably had some good history. (And a picture of Stalin at the back with tape over his eyes saying 'bad man'.) I picked up a little card of Lithuanian stamps to frame for art back at home.

After leaving, we headed back to the main square and walked in behind a cooking show that we being filmed. From there we just headed back to the hotel and video called Zach. He showed us the finches that had hatched in the nest outside the house at home. I had a shower once Clair was back in the room and then it was pretty easy to fall asleep.