day 49 - Kaunas

Day 49
August 20th

Today we had an early wake up call. Following yesterday's impressive reception in front of the Municipality, we were to spend the whole morning inside. Gabriela, our coordinator from the University of Lodz, joined us for a cycling "holiday" after working hard to welcome us a couple of weeks ago.

The Academic Club of Political Scientists organized a discussion session at the Municipality, on the topic of European Citizenship, with distinguished lecturers - who had the chance to support our initiative by signing the Bike of Honour.

The session began with a few words of welcome from Ausra Rinkeviciute, Chair of the ACPS, and was moderated by Vytautas Isoda.
Andrius Svarplys, lecturer at VMU, spoke of European Identity in the European Union and explored the difference between federalist and nationalist views - and the conversation continued even after the end of the session.
Dziugas Dvarions, Associate Professor at VMU, gave a lecture on Social Economy, prompting an interesting discussion about the concept of Social Capital.
Egidijus Vareikis, former diplomat and Member of the Lithuanian Seimas (Parliament), presented us with a delightful reflection on pretty much every topic that our project touches.
Finally, Tomas Kavaliauskas, researcher and lecturer at VMU, approached the topic of Identity in the Baltic States, giving us a better idea of the things we would face later in our journey.

After this kind of intellectual stimulus, we were in need of a nice meal, so we visited the office of the VMU Student Council for lunch, and then got ready for the afternoon program, a visit to the IX Fort, a key historical landmark in Kaunas, witness to both Soviet and Nazi atrocities.

In the evening we had a goodbye party at the VMU guest house, one last chance to spend some time with all our hosts.

As a special treat, we took a front seat in the premiere of a short video made by our local filmmaker Lukas...

Ride for your rights! from VDUvideo on Vimeo.

day 48 - Kaisiadorys to Kaunas

Day 48
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.

day 47 - Vilnius to Kaisiadorys

Day 47
August 18th

After the extended vacation (two days of rest), we saddled up, waved goodbye to our hosts and started rolling towards Kaunas. Sabina and Kristjonas joined us for the first stretch, all the way to Trakai. We skipped the visit on our way in, we couldn't skip it on the way out. We relaxed for a while next to the lake, with a beautiful view to the castle, and had a nice lunch.

We resumed riding through small roads until we met Boris in a small village halfway to Kaisiadorys. We had a snack and confused the locals by playing frisbee on the main square. Then we took to the dirt roads to reach our destination before sunset. We'd have to improvise again to find a place to stay.

After checking potential camping spots, our scouts asked for hospitality just outside of town. The owner of the property was happy to welcome us, let us camp in his yard and taught us a few things about his past and about Lithuania, past and present, while we prepared some dinner by the van. Lithuanian hospitality won the prize once again.