Vilnius, the FOOD .. oh THE FOOD

My mouth waters just thinking about the food.  It was amazing.  So so so amazing.  All of it.  With the exception of that one time that I was going to order the Filet Mignon, and the waiter warned us that it was horse meat, HORSE MEAT!  Umm .. no.  That qualified as a near miss.

     I didn't order any of these but how pretty! 

                       I had to order based on pictures at a Chinese place. 

     Freaking McDonalds!! 

     The French restaurant where I almost ate horse.  Look at this stuff!!!

                       This was the presentation of a pumpkin soup.  SO SO cool. 

                      Oh the chips and chocolate..... 

     Never ending Cappuccino's. Turned into a permanent Cappuccino drinker while I was there.

                                              Lot's and lot's of Grimbergen. 

     Fell in love with this beet salad that I have tried to recreate at home. 

     I also turned into a sparkling water addict while I was there.  No diet coke could be found. 

                                              All the chocolate.

                       Treats brought into the office. 

     More beet salad (to-go this time) and oh the fried bread with the cheese dipping sauce.
     I'd forgotten about the fried bread until now.   

                                              Starters .. soup. 

                       Amazing restaurants .. AMAZING. 

Bowls of sugar.

     Dessert every night. 

                                             One stop and McDonald's.  How embarrassing. 

The hotel buffet was AMAZING every morning.

I gained almost 5 lbs in the two weeks I was there.  We ate breakfast at the hotel every morning.  Usually skipped lunch and ate a HUGE dinner.  I survived the 10-12 hours days drinking cappuccino's at the office.  Because they had an AMAZING cappuccino machine.

Did I say AMAZING enough?  I'll admit it was super cool to get to eat out every meal like that and not actually have to pay a dime.  I feel so so so lucky.

Vilnius, the ONE outside run I did.

My biggest fear about running there was that I would get lost.  I was only going to be there for 5 full days so I wanted to get the most of my time there.  After our first workday we headed out at a decent time and even though it was dark there were still a LOT of people out.  I wasn't concerned at all about the people or anything like that.  Just my ability to get back to my hotel.  So I changed and off I went!

What better way to explore a new city than to run through it?

I stayed in downtown Vilnius and it was AMAZING.

     The hardest part by far was running on the cobblestone roads.  COBBLESTONE!  So cool. 

                                               That's the face of a happy runner!

Definitely goes down as one of the coolest runs I've ever done.  It's hard to find words for how cool this was.  The air was chilly but it just felt amazing.

Little did I know at the time that this would be the ONLY outside run I was ever going to be able to do.  After day one we were at the office most nights until 8pm, then followed with dinner right when we got back.  Dinner in Vilnius was a several hour even every single time...

Business Trip to Vilnius, Lithuania

I was VERY excited to have the opportunity to go to Vilnius, Lithuania for work.  We have a service center there and I was headed out to help roll out some new software.  Jeramie on the other hand was not in the least bit excited.  Haha.  But that's okay!  It was a trip of a lifetime for me.  I will have to split this post up into several because there are a LOT of pictures.  I'm really glad that at the last minute I thought to throw in a camera, other than just my phone.  I almost forgot!

So the journey begins ... I left around 10am Saturday morning.  Flew backwards to Seattle, then forwards to Amsterdam.  Then another hop over to Vinius.  I arrived there on Sunday around 3pm.

Without luggage .. of course.

                        Not super excited to climb on the plane with the propellers. 

Views from my room.

   

      All the old buildings .. felt a bit heavenly.

The flight was pretty great.  It was fun having full access to the TV's and all the movies and shows they had available.  You don't normally get that on domestic flights.  Plus it really reminded me of my childhood and flying back and forth to England.  Those GIANT airplanes!

Fortunately when we arrived I quickly learned that there was a mall with an H&M literally accross the street from where we were staying.  So off I went to buy some necessities.  I was still wearing my yoga pants I'd traveled for two days in and running shoes.  Definitely not anything I could even fake it in the office that next morning.  And fortunately my work would later reimburse me for the clothes.  NICE .. free clothes!  I was excited to find many of my European favorites, starting with crisps of course.  There was a nice little grocery store inside the mall.  Talk about one stop shopping!

                                               I was quickly accustomed to this "local" beer.  Amazing!

The Accommodations

      My hotel work station.

      The couch.  That I used for  all my clothes.

      Nice big King size bed.   

                                             Right inside the door.  Where I'd make tea.

     Looking the opposite way into the bathroom. 

     Big flush or little flush?  What did you leave in the toilet?? 

                                              Had a shower AND a bath.