More Random Notes from Nida

Just some quick thoughts before Becca and I go out to spend the afternoon here out exploring the beaches and dunes one last time...

- Evidently the torrential downpours we've received every morning we've been here aren't normal. Thank goodness; it's been bizarre to be trapped inside the house every morning only to have the sky clear up and have beautiful weather right around lunchtime. Certainly has made our schedule pretty basic; get up, have breakfast, do some reading/trip planning/internetas, have lunch, spend afternoon/early evening exploring (including Becca doing 40km yesterday on a old school granny bike), have dinner, go to bed.

- Because of the rain, we've been tempted by the TV in our room, hoping to catch part of the Tour de France. Instead we get four channels, three of which show Lithuanian dubbed Spanish soap operas all day (with the occasional Baywatch thrown in) and classy movies, such as these (1, 2, 3) in addition to a wonderful number of badly done US TV Movies. What did the Lithuanian people ever do to deserve this?

- And what of the fourth channel you ask? It's the Lithuanian National Channel. Basic national programming except that right now they're showing the European Youth Athletics Championships. All of it. Ok except for when you're making dinner and they're showing 40 minutes of the race walkers . (Dad, you'll be happy to know they showed the men's javelin in its entirety...)

- On a much less flippant note, the natural beauty of Nida and the Curonian Spit is amazing. The hikes and bike rides we've taken around the area just continue to amaze us. On Friday evening we took a hike up the biggest dune closest to Nida. We were able to just wander around in a certain area (or run around) and after about five minutes, you were surrounded by nothing but sand and silence. You know how silence itself can be noise? That's what I felt in this area. Give me some food and a good book and I could be up here or here all day. Just amazing. A lot more to write about how they were able to build the dunes back up over time, but I'll leave that for Professor Rebecca :-)

- Two last pics for everyone. The first is not native to Nida. The second... well feel free to leave you own thoughts in the comments section...

Brian