Our correspondent (stumbling off “Another On-Time!” Ryanair flight from London into euro-aspiring Eastern European countries awash with monuments, skateparks, former KGB headquarters, German tourists, Soviet Holdouts and more beer) learns only how much he doesn’t know about Eastern Europe.
Key Facts:
01
The Vilnius TV Tower-the largest structure in the area-was the site of a armed Soviet military assault on Lithuanian civilians in January 1991
02
Latvia was one of the last European "pagan holdouts", not being (forcibly) converted until the 12th century. Many pagan elements survive today
03
Lech Wałęsa went on to win the Nobel Prize and serve as the President of post-communist Poland
04
The polish word for "appetizer" is a homonym for "8,000 calories of potatoes"
05
The Polish trade-union / political movement Solidarność (“Solidarity”) democratic movement, nominally led by Lech Wałęsa, emerged in Gdańsk in 1980
Journal Entries:
KGB Headquarters: One-way flights to Siberia (with continuing service to Death)
Housed in the old KGB headquarters in downtown Vilnius, this museum was once the office-prison of Soviet oppression during the occupation of Lithuania.
Gdańsk: Monuments and Skateparks
Seeking out old and new Gdańsk, with the help of strangers from Sopot's bars.
Fly Me To The Moon is a travel blog published by Bart Stiller and John Michael Cassetta. Starting in late 2009 with a leisurely trip to Asia, the blog has grown to include travel commentary, photography and video from our homes in the United States and destinations around the world. From time to time we also feature dispatches from our esteemed colleagues around the world.
