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Thu, 23rd May, 2013 - Posted by admin - 19228(1) Commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D192282013-05-23+10%3A18%3A16adminhttp%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D19228

EXPLORING EUROPE

Join me on my journey to 26 European countries!

TOUR GUIDE: Aage Myhre, VilNews editor-in-chief
aage.myhre@VilNews.com

Early morning at Costa Blanca, Spain's White Mediterranean coast.

Text & photos: Aage Myhre, VilNews editor-in-chief

The more I travel around the world the more I realise that I am European. Although I have had good, close friends and have experienced extraordinary things in all corners of the world. Maybe my mind is not sufficiently exotic. That's ok. I have grown older now. Driving a car is the best way to experience Europe. Lithuania's border crossings to Latvia and Poland is no problem anymore. Within a day's drive you can reach most of the northern and central European countries. One more day and you can already stand and look out over the warm, slow waves of the Mediterranean Sea...

Over the next few weeks VilNews will present some glimpses of Europe ... A Europe that is now so close to everyone... The Iron Curtain is gone, forever...

1		Exploring Europe For me, travelling means to explore, see more while there is still time. Not the destination alone, also the road there. I feel I become a happier person with such rich experiences. A free spirit in motion, new personal growth, and new experiences. To meet new, interesting people. Learn more. Understand more. That is for me the importance of travelling. The more I travel, the more I prepare. Contacts of people I want to meet well in advance. But I also like the impulsive, unexpected. For me, curiosity, a very important ingredient in any holiday. Being a tourist is certainly not something to take lightly. At least not if the experience of the trip is more important than just lying on a beach or just relax. Travelling is one of the best lifetime investments a person can make. I think.
2		Switzerland & Italy Coming to Italy via Switzerland is relieving, good, warm. It smells of pine, sea and beach. Food and food culture is an integral part of the experience. Having moved all here south means freedom. The basic idea behind it to get away, have a holiday. The moving down here also means that we have seen many new places, new things. On our long journey through Poland, Germany, Switzerland and Northern Italy. But why is this so important? Because I feel that the trip offers new situations, people and ideas that help me grow, understand more. Everyday concerns become distant. I go back north as a slightly different person after each trip. My perspectives become broader, more refined somehow.
3		Along the Riviera We start the tour in Italy, in the beautiful coastal town of Portovenere. We enjoy a wonderful filletto with a rich, deep red Barbera on a boardwalk restaurant. The next day the tour starts, along the Italian Riviera and the Cote d'Azur. We travel to France's best preserved medieval town, not far from the Spanish border, Carcassonne! Phenomenal dinner, good Languedoc wines. Next morning, we pass the Pyrenees. After a few hours’ drive of ever new mountain pass, Paradise opens before us. We have come to the Costa Blanca, Spain's White Coast. And down there, below us, the the Mediterranean Sea in all its azure-blue splendour.
4		From Strasbourg to London I had long planned a drive from Strasbourg to England. So here I sit again. Browsing. I find that the very symbol of London, wax queen Marie Tussaud (1761-1850) was born under the name Anna Maria Grosholtz here in Strasbourg. I follow in her footsteps to London where her wax museum had its modest beginnings in 1835.Fun to drive on the other side of the road; I think when we drive up from the ferry port of Dover. London has it all, but after a few days we drive to the north. We visit Cambridge. Experiencing one of the world's leading student cities. Watching a rowing competition. I like the English. But not their food.
5		Austria & Germany At the turn of the 20th century, Vienna, capital of the vast but ailing Austro-Hungarian Empire, reflected on its past with pride and its future with uncertainty. The empire had nurtured Beethoven, Brahms, and Strauss. The city was home to Sigmund Freud, and considered a world leader in science, philosophy, and research. With 2 million inhabitants, Vienna was one of the most populous and multi-ethnic cities on earth, a melting pot of immigrants from across the empire. But Vienna seethed with provincial nationalism, socialist ideals, and an odious wave of anti-Semitism. For Vienna also nurtured the young Adolf Hitler, and, after his rise to power, played a significant part in supporting the Nazi reign of terror. Vienna is rife with reminders of those dark years.
6		Finland & Scandinavia Scandinavia is fantastic in the summer as well as in the winter. Even though winter is a time when most of the peninsula is still covered in snow and ice, you will be surprised at how mild the temperatures actually are. In March, the sun is racing back and the days are already as long as the quickly shortening nights. This is an excellent time to observe the northern lights during the evenings and to enjoy fun and exciting activities during the day. Driving by car to the capitals of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark does not take long ...
7		En route Warsaw - Budapest A journey through the former Warsaw Pact countries. It hurts to come back to Eastern Europe after experiencing Scandinavia. Indeed, these countries have undergone great development since the Iron Curtain fell in 1990, but it is also terribly hard to think of all the hundreds of thousands who died, tortured and killed by Hitler’s and Stalin’s, obedient idiots. These once proud culture nations were on a par with countries in Western Europe before the war so brutally changed everything.
8		Moscow and further east It is January 1992. I am unexpectedly invited on a trip to the city of Orenburg on the border of Siberia. Along with two Britons whom I the last six months have helped to buy goods from Russia via Lithuania. Metals, timber and other things. As a Norwegian I cannot get a visa here in Vilnius. But according to the Lithuanians, I can safely travel to Siberia without papers. I decide to take the chance. Not long after we land in Moscow. Flights from Vilnius still belong to the domestic category, despite the months that have now passed since Lithuania was officially recognized as an independent nation, also by Russia. Therefore, no passport control.
9		The Baltic Hanseatic route When I came to Vilnius for the first time it surprised me that I here found a city first and foremost influenced by Italy and other Mediterranean cultures, very different from the other two Baltic capitals, Riga and Tallinn, both built in accordance with German Hanseatic style and culture. Lithuania's seaport, Klaipeda, was long German, and are therefore naturally very Hanseatic. I drive out to the Lithuanian coast, Klaipeda, and continue from there on the 'coastal highway' to Riga and Tallinn. A Hanseatic trip. The contrast between Vilnius, once the capital of a kingdom that stretched all the way down to the Black Sea, and these three Baltic cities, is enormous.
10		Istanbul I am in Hotel Conrad in Istanbul. The view from the terrace outside my hotel room is amazing. I look down at the beautiful city I've learned to like so much. The boats on the Bosporus Strait are crossing frantically back and forth between the Asian and the European side. Large ships are heading towards the Black Sea. Others out towards the Mediterranean Sea. It must have been quite a sight to see the armada of Viking ships sailing here in the year 860.

1 of 10: Exploring Europe

I love old towns. No matter how good a new suburb is. I, and many with me, prefer the old towns. It has something to do with the atmosphere. Details, ornaments. Human life. Sound and smell. Warmth. Joy.

Europe is the 'old town' of the entire world!

I think it primarily is about culture and history. All that Europe is so infinitely rich on. It is something about that feeling. The idea and the knowledge of the Roman Empire every time I'm in Rome. Recognition every time I visit a museum or gallery and see the many art treasures I feel is a part of my European self.

It is more to Europe I never get tired of. For example, being able to walk, touch, feel, smell. Being a tourist here is like walking on the world stage as it has provided the basis for so much over thousands of years. Fortunately, European leaders long ago realized that the human being is more important than cars. Take

Strøget in Copenhagen, bike paths in Holland and promenades along pretty much all The Mediterranean sea-coast as good examples of this.

Europe means walking around on cobbled streets. Between historic buildings.
To see. Listen. Experience. Feel. Smell. Like here in Florence.

Venice is my favourite European spot...

A stroll along the impressive lakeside promenade in Montreux at Lake Geneva.

Vienna, home of Freud and the Strauss family.

The Renaissance Sukiennice building is the central feature of the Main Market Square in Kraków Old Town.

Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė on a two-day state visit to Norway in 2011. The President was officially
welcomed at the Royal Palace, where she met with King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway,
Crown Prince Haakon and his wife Crown Princess Mette-Marit, and Princess Astrid.
Photo: www.president.lt

Category : Featured black / Lithuania in the world

Thu, 23rd May, 2013 - Posted by admin - 19230(0) Commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D192302013-05-23+10%3A01%3A39adminhttp%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D19230

EXPLORING EUROPE
Join me on my journey to 26 European countries!

TOUR GUIDE: Aage Myhre, VilNews editor-in-chief
aage.myhre@VilNews.com

Early morning at Costa Blanca, Spain's White Mediterranean coast.

Text & photos: Aage Myhre, VilNews editor-in-chief

The more I travel around the world the more I realize that I am European. Although I have good, close friends and have experienced extraordinary things in all corners of the world. Maybe my mind is not sufficiently exotic. That's ok. I have grown older now. Driving a car is the best way to experience Europe. Lithuania's border crossings to Latvia and Poland is no problem anymore. Within a day's drive you can reach most of the northern and central European countries. One more day and you can already stand and look out over the warm, slow waves of the Mediterranean Sea...

Over the next few weeks VilNews will present some glimpses of Europe ... A Europe that is now so close to everyone... The Iron Curtain is gone, forever

1	$Description: C:\Users\Aage\Pictures\Adobe\Digital Camera Photos\2009-09-26-1929-08\IMG_3213.JPG$	Exploring Europe For me, travelling means to explore, see more while there is still time. Not the destination alone, also the road there. I feel I become a happier person with such rich experiences. A free spirit in motion, new personal growth, and new experiences. To meet new, interesting people. Learn more. Understand more. That is for me the importance of travelling.
2		Switzerland & Italy Coming to Italy via Switzerland is relieving, good, warm. It smells of pine, sea and beach. Food and food culture is an integral part of the experience. Having moved all here south means freedom. The basic idea behind it to get away, have a holiday. The moving down here also means that we have seen many new places, new things. On our long journey...
3		Along the Riviera We start the tour in Italy, in the beautiful coastal town of Portovenere. We enjoy a wonderful filletto with a rich, deep red Barbera on a board-walk restaurant. The next day the tour starts, along the Italian Riviera and the Cote d'Azur. We travel to France's best preserved medieval town.
4		From Strasbourg to London I had long planned a drive from Strasbourg to England. So here I sit again. Browsing. I find that the very symbol of London, wax queen Marie Tussaud (1761-1850) was born under the name Anna Maria Grosholtz here in Strasbourg. I follow in her footsteps to London where…
5		Austria & Germany At the turn of the 20th century, Vienna, capital of the vast but ailing Austro-Hungarian Empire, reflected on its past with pride and its future with uncertainty. The empire had nurtured Beethoven, Brahms, and Strauss. The city was home to Sigmund Freud, and considered a world leader...
6		Finland & Scandinavia Scandinavia is fantastic in the summer as well as in the winter. Even though winter is a time when most of the peninsula is still covered in snow and ice, you will be surprised at how mild the temperatures actually are. In March, the sun is racing back and the days are already…
7		En route Warsaw - Budapest A journey through the former Warsaw Pact countries. It hurts to come back to Eastern Europe after experiencing Scandinavia. Indeed, these countries have undergone great develop-meant since the Iron Curtain fell in 1990, but it is also terribly hard to think of…
8		Moscow and further east It is January 1992. I am unexpectedly invited on a trip to the city of Orenburg on the border of Siberia. Along with two Britons whom I the last six months have helped to buy goods from Russia via Lithuania. Metals, timber and other things. As a Norwegian I cannot get a visa here..
9		The Baltic Hanseatic route When I came to Vilnius for the first time it surprised me that I here found a city first and foremost influenced by Italy and other Mediterranean cultures, very different from the other two Baltic capitals, Riga and Tallinn, both built in accordance with German Hanseatic style.
10		Istanbul - Turkey I am in Conrad Hotel in Istanbul. The view from the terrace outside my hotel room is amazing. I look down at the beautiful city I've learned to like so much. The boats on the Bosporus Strait are crossing frantically back and forth between the Asian and the European side.

1 of 10: Exploring Europe
I love old towns. No matter how good a new suburb is. I, and many with me, prefer the old towns. It has something to do with the atmosphere. Details, ornaments. Human life. Sound and smell. Warmth. Joy.

Europe is the 'old town' for the entire world!

I think it primarily is about culture and history. All that Europe is so infinitely rich on. It is something about that feeling. The idea and the knowledge of the Roman Empire every time I'm in Rome. Recognition every time I visit a museum or gallery and see the many art treasures I feel is a part of my European self.

It is more to Europe I never get tired of. For example, being able to walk, touch, feel, smell. Being a tourist here is like walking on the world stage as it has provided the basis for so much over thousands of years.

Fortunately, European leaders long ago realized that the human being is more important than cars. Take Strøget in Copenhagen, bike paths in Holland and promenades along pretty much all The Mediterranean sea-coast as good examples of this.

Europe means walking around on cobbled streets.
Between historic buildings. See. Listen. Experience. Feel. Smell.
Like here in Florence, Italy.

Read more, see more pictures…

Category : Featured black / Front page

Thu, 23rd May, 2013 - Posted by admin - 19225(0) Commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D192252013-05-23+09%3A47%3A00adminhttp%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D19225

VilNews must be one of the absolutely better magazines in Europe, well written and with excellent photos. Be proud!
Ivar Enoksen, Norway

Ivar Enoksen has many years experience of working in the Norwegian press, television and movie industry. He got the Norwegian Amanda Award for the series manuscript ‘Nattseilere’ (Night sailors). Enoksen has done extensive historical research related to the Arctic areas. He is represented with fiction in several anthologies, and has in recent years also worked as a teacher of film dramaturgy. In 2007 Enoksen published the book 'Tusen glemte menn og historien om den virkelige James Bond' ' (Thousand forgotten men and the story of the real James Bond).

Category : Opinions

Thu, 23rd May, 2013 - Posted by admin - 19222(0) Commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D192222013-05-23+09%3A42%3A51adminhttp%3A%2F%2Fvilnews.com%2F%3Fp%3D19222

She did it! Lithuanian climber Edita Nichols conquers Mount Everest

One and a half months of acclimatization, training, uneventful waiting at the Base Camp, and freezing weather – all for a fleering moment on the world's highest peak. In the early morning of Wednesday, May 22, Edita Uksaitė Nichols finally did it – she reached the top of Mount Everest.

Having left the last camp on Wednesday night, Edita's team went on the summit push on the more challenging northern side.

"I did it, I did it, I did it!" Edita called and told her partner right after safely descending to Camp 3. "It was so technical and so scary, it was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life."

"You know what the best thing about it is?" she asked and, after a moment's pause, confided: "I will never have to do that again!"

According to Edita's blog, the group reached the summit at 8 AM. Due to challenging weather, only four people of the group of ten climbers made it to the top.

Lithuania’s 3 nightmares

By Kestutis Eidukonis, VilNews CEO

At the beginning of this month, I had the great privilege of representing the PLB (World Lithuanian Community) in its bi-annual meeting with members of the Seimas (Parliament). This joint commission meets twice a year and consists of ten members elected by the World Lithuanian Community and ten members of the Seimas, one from each party. The commission has two co-chairs one from the PLB and one from the Seimas. The co-chair from the PLB was Dr. Jonas Prunskis and the co-chair from the Seimas was Ona Valiukevičiūte.

The areas of debate and concern for the commission were:

OPINIONS

Have your say. Send to:
editor@VilNews.com

VilNews must be one of the absolutely better magazines in Europe, well written and with excellent photos. Be proud!
Ivar Enoksen, Norway

Ivar Enoksen has many years experience of working in the Norwegian press, television and movie industry. He got the Norwegian Amanda Award for the series manuscript ‘Nattseilere’ (Night sailors). Enoksen has done extensive historical research related to the Arctic areas. He is represented with fiction in several anthologies, and has in recent years also worked as a teacher of film dramaturgy. In 2007 Enoksen published the book 'Tusen glemte menn og historien om den virkelige James Bond' ' (Thousand forgotten men and the story of the real James Bond).
Two new
VilNews editors!
We are pleased to announce that VilNews has got two new skilled Associate Editors, Dalia Cidzikaite and Daiva Repečkaitė. We can say with certainty that they are going to mean a lot for our worldwide, online e-publication and the accompanying wonderful network of global readers with Lithuania in their hearts. Please welcome them! See also our Section 2 and Section 3.
__________________________

Eugene Rangayah
Welcome! Looking forward to some great editorials!

Vytenis Folkmanas
welcome !!!

Dalia Cidzikaite
Thank you! We will do our best!

Algis Ruksenas
Sveikinu nuosirdziai ir linkiu visakeriopos sekmes!

Ingrida Bublys
Silciausi sveikinimai!

Teresa Boguta
sveikinimai Dalia ! Sekmes ir kurybingu metu!

Ben Kordell
Sveikinu Dalia. Viskas bus okee dokee.

Kestutis Stanciauskas
Sveikinu!!!

Dalia Cidzikaite
Ačiū visiems už sveikinimus.
Healing the heart and soul of Lithuania
By Ida Hardy, Texas, USA

Lithuania is my mother’s country. She escaped with her mother and sisters as a young child and at one point in her life she wanted to return. It seemed to me that she heard the whispers from the wind in the forests and they were calling her home. My mother taught us a little about the folk tales and the music. She taught us to meditate and a little bit about yoga and I wanted to learn more about her childhood home. But the Soviets were still reigning and it was impossible for us to go. Later, as we cried on the phone on that day in 1991 I asked her if she would like to return and she said, “You can never go back. Things are changed so much.”

Her message was about more than the structure of her home and the murder of her father. She was really talking about the broken spirits of all the people who were victims, those who were aggressors, and those who were both. There is no going back. No one can undo the evil that has taken place anywhere on the planet throughout time.
is.

Read more...
__________________________

Gordon Ross So... The Soviets are gone.... Why are you still in Texas?

Aage Myhre Ida Hardy, I think
Gordon Ross (from Scotland but already half Lithuanian), has a good point

Ida Hardy I think it's a good question...not sure I have a good answer.

Virginia Shimkute warmer in Texas is a good reason !

Ida Hardy One year I should go in July or August when it is too warm here.

Felicia Dalia Prekeris Brown I also escaped from the Soviets arriving in Lithuania (for the second time) in 1944, and I also dreamt of forests and streams from my childhood. Luckily, I've gone back over and over since we regained independence: mostly because nowhere can I get the real CEPELINAI except in Lithuania! Something about the potatoes from that black soil!

Ida Hardy Felicia Dalia Prekeris Brown have you written your story? I want to know what your life was like and what happened to you - and if you have a nice recipe for cepelinai?

Boris Bakunas @Gordon Ross. I have a good answer. Because in the free world, people have the right to live where they want. Let us remember that our wishes are not commands that others must obey.

Felicia Dalia Prekeris Brown Ida - I actually have written down the story of our family's existence under Soviets and Nazis (1939-1945), our harrowing escape from Lithuania with the Soviets at our heels, life in the DP camps... It's at the publisher's now and should be coming out this summer: called "God, Give Us Wings." I see that many of us in sunset years are setting down the history we lived before it all fades into oblivion.

Boris Bakunas @Felicia Dalia Prekeris Brown. Yes, we are. It's so important for our children and children to know what our families endured. It can be a source of strength in times of hardship. Whenever something unfortunate happens to me, I automatically say, "This is nothing compared to WWII."

Ida Hardy I will read it. I think it was too difficult to talk about and my mother didn't give too many details. She was maybe 9 when they fled. So much suffering and for so long. I don't blame her for avoiding the subject.

Boris Bakunas My family rarely spoke about the events of World War II as well. It took a lot of research to find out even the little I have learned. Some memories are so painful that people want to bury them. I believe, however, that we are better off if we face time. In time, they cease to have a hold on us. How else can we become free?

Bernard Terway We can go back a lot further than WW2 to find Lithuanians who left but were still afraid to talk about where they came from. To this day, I have no idea where my grandparents came from n Lithuania. They wold not talk about it for fear of being sent back and forced into the Russian army, I suspect.

Ida Hardy Yes, facing your fears is important but I think so many people need help in order to do it in a productive way so that they move through the difficulty instead if getting caught up in the resentment, anger, fear and stopping there. Long-held and tightly-held anger is a burden.

Felicia Dalia Prekeris Brown Ah those difficult memories! I was lucky: I TAPED my parents reminiscing about the years from 39 to 45, and they also wrote down some things to give me a good timeline. I was 7 in 1945 and remembered events but not the sequence. I also had many documents and letters: thank God my father had the soul of an archivist! Thus I had a stack of materials to guide me.

Ida Hardy And thank God your father lived to tell! God bless you for doing the work.
Boris went to Siauliai to see
his grandmother’s sister
before she died.

Can good come
from selfishness?
By Boris Vytautas Bakunas I want to tell you a true story. During a trip to Lithuania a few years ago, I drove to the city of Siauliai to see my grandmother’s sister before she died. At 97 she was the oldest surviving member of my family.

My reason for visiting her was not only selfish, but it was based on an illusion…

Read more...
__________________________

Rimgaudas Vidziunas great story...lesson learned 'do for others as you would have them do to you'. Now I learned that somewhere. Oh Yes, the 'Ten Commandments'
__________________________

Irena Kenneley
Synchronicity/meaningful coincidence--how awesome is the fact that you were able to take a step back, connect the dots so that they include your inner and outer world, surroundings, emotional state, and motivations to come full circle and realize the deep implications of your visit and its effects on yourself and those around you! If it's one thing I've learned over the years is that taking care of oneself is not selfish! I admire your writing style! Great story....
__________________________

Eugene Rangayah Heartfelt Boris! I don't even have the words! Family and connections are so important to maintain!
__________________________

Sandra Abramovich A wonderful story!
__________________________

Vijole Arbas death is something like taking a long trip