August 19th
This morning we lifted camp, chased a tumbling tent around the backyard, thanked our kind host Mindaugas and his family for their hospitality and began the second part of our trip to Kaunas. While on the small roads, we found a craftsman's shop with amazing wooden sculptures. We made a longer stop than expected, chilled out for a while and Tricky even bought a souvenir - the kind that wouldn't fit in his pocket.
We later met Boris, stored the sculpture safely (still not the most unusual object in the back of the van) and went on the highway to reach Kaunas on time. After all, the police were waiting for us at the entrance of the city. Yet another colourful escort took us across the city center to our shelter: the Baltija student dormitory. We met our local organizers, Indre and Evelina, settled in and moved to Laisves aleja, where we were scheduled to appear.
When we arrived in front of the Kaunas City Municipality, we were welcomed by our long time supporter Prof Aukse Balcytiene, Vice-Rector of Vytautas Magnus University, by Vice-Mayor Povilas Maciulis and by City Council Member Irena Matijosaitiene. Also greeting us were our colleagues from the Academic Club of Political Scientists from VMU. And let us not forget the media!
Under the watchful eye of Vytautas Magnus, the ceremony was much more than we dared hope for, and it drew a lot of attention from the public. We had the chance to address a considerable number of people who had gathered around, we gave a few interviews and gather signatures on our Manifesto. It was great!
After the media frenzy we left our bikes at the Municipality building and took a calm walk around the city center and finally met our colleagues from the VMU Student Council at an art gallery for a buffet. Then it was back to the dorms and out again for a few drinks.
Later tonight Andi came back to join the group for good.
Stage K completed, four more to go.
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