Every year around the start of fall a three-day festival takes place in Vilnius with free concerts, a market stretching as far as the eye can see and other random events. This year, I really made the most of it by going to there every day.
My super cool cousin, who just got accepted into the Art academy and is on her way to becoming an awesome artist who, as she puts it, will own a lot of pretty dresses and be famous was visiting me for a few days. She couldn't have picked a better time to come, as the city was bustling, the streets were full of people and there was so much to do.
On Friday - the first day, we strode down the market admiring all the crafts (couldn't resist buying an adorable pair of hand crafted earrings) and artwork on sale, chatting with artists and buskers making the most of the crowds. One guy was actually playing Voltaire as I walked by causing me to jump up and down in excitement and stop for small talk, hope to see him busk more often.
We then went on to listen to a few bands and artists including Žalvarinis - a folk rock/metal band that performs Lithuanian and other Baltic folk songs in their own style and G.Storpirštis - a bard who plays such beautiful pieces that basically brought me o tears. My cousin was super excited about another band - Kūjeliai, but sadly I missed that show, will have to check them out next time.
Saturday evening we went to one of my newly favorite Lithuanian bands - Colors of Bubbles concert followed by a bit of a night out in town since that day happened to be a day of gathering with friends to celebrate my birthday :) Had a blast, the concert was awesome, was amazing to spend time with friends and discover a cool new bar in the process
Sunday started off with a trip to the corn maze where a business bbq networking event was taking place. It was so much fun! We competed in 12 mini competitions including walking through the corn maze, milking a fake cow, collecting tiny flags from haystacks by jumping from one to the next as fast as possible and many others. On top of having a great time, we made some new contacts for the youth healthcare project we're working on and the G.G. art project I am helping out with (more on that in a future post).
In the evening we drove to cathedral square for the last concerts, the first being Liūdni Slibinai- a quirky LT band that uses classical Lithuanian literature snippets among the lyrics of their songs and then a band I had been super excited to hear live- Ewert and the two dragons. Before this week, I hadn't known they were an Estonian band despite absolutely loving 2 of their songs, one of which - Good Man Down was the one they closed with. The concert ended when halfway through the last song a firework display started, literally finishing off the day and the whole festival with a bang.
Until next time, Sostinės dienos, I expect great things from you in the future ;)
