I really like to visit parks in summer, especially where you can find all kinds of beautiful roses. That is my inspiration for this post (and it is also a weekly photo challenge for Ooh Shiny)! There is a park in Oslo called Vigeland Sculpture Park where you can find beautiful roses. In Lithuania you can find a garden besides Palanga Amber Museum, where I took these photos. Let me know of the beautiful parks full of different roses that I should visit one day! 🙂
Mountains are very beautiful with views that take your breath away. However, as I am a city girl, I have never been a fan of mountains or hiking. But when you live in Norway, you simply have to try it!
So we hiked for about 3 hours to a mountain called Gaustatoppen (1883 metres), situated near the city called Rjukan in Norway. This mountain is considered as the highest mountain in the area Telemark. The way up was covered in stones as it made the way up quite unstable. We took a family path up, but you can also take more advanced and extreme one, if you are an enthusiast and well experienced in hiking. The views were of course magnificent and many people were hiking in front of us and behind us. There is also a cable car (Gaustabanen) which can take you to the top!
At times it seemed a bit tough on the legs, but other than that it wasn’t that bad. Mostly it was really really cold. Especially on the top. So be sure to bring some warm clothes. It depends on the day of course, but we hiked in July and it was still really cold.
To summarise it all, it was a different, beautiful and fun experience which I will remember for life! Enjoy the photos. 🙂
The top of the mountain still far away in front of us.Look at all those people hiking, they look so small.The path.Look who joined us to the mountains – Teddy!
Finally!Why not wear some bright pink to the mountains! And do not forget your smile!
When you get a beautiful flower bouquet even on vacation. ❤ This is the story about it…
That day in the beginning of July, we decided to go kart racing in Klaipeda (gokartas.lt). We`ve been planning to do it for a long time. Finally, we arrived at the place and excitement was slowly rising. The woman who worked there told us to wait for the next round. She told us to come in, as I say, their little house, where you suppose to pay, register your name, put your purse into the locker and pick up a helmet. So we sat outside, watching other people riding both fast and slow, listened to the sounds karting cars were making and we were widely smiling while waiting for our turn.
Then suddenly the lady told us to come inside to register our names and pay for the ride. We realised that we didn’t have any more cash, only money on the card. Most places take cards nowadays, but unfortunately that wasn’t that kind of place. She told us that they only take cash. Well, that was a bit disappointing, but luckily a food store with a mini bank was situated close by. So no worries, we went there.
On the way to the minibank, near the store, we saw some elders selling their garden goodies to the people passing by. An old lady looked at us and said that she only got one bouquet left that she wanted to sell that day. She looked at my guy and ask if he wanted to buy those flowers for me. Beautiful wild flowers looked and smelled simply heavenly. He looked at me and smiled, handed the lady a couple of euros that she asked for the flowers and with that simple action made two women really happy that evening! 😀 The old woman immediately started packing and could finally go home. And me, well, I couldn’t stop smiling and took a bunch of photos!
After kart racing we were full of adrenaline and decided to buy a take away pizza. And tell me, what could be better than eating pizza on the beach by a beautiful Baltic Sea. The sea water was quite still which is rare and the sunset we got to see was shiny and beautiful.
Magical
This story just once again reminds us that everything happens for a reason! Leave me a comment, I would love to read your thoughts and stories!
So where should I start this fun adventure? I never thought I would do this. I didn’t have a single thought about this particular meet in my head. Especially I couldn’t imagine Lithuania as a place where you can greet baby tigers. But as I once wrote a song “Unexpected Things Happen”. Indeed, that is the truth. When you least expect it, then you get it. These things make life exciting!
Look at those eyes!
The day started with us deciding where we wanted to go. Klaipeda Zoo is 10 kilometres from Klaipeda and that didn’t seem far away or uncomfortable to get to, because we had a car. We didn’t have high expectations for the place. This Zoo was started by one man called Edvardas Legeckas, already in 2001. But only in 2014, the place got the Zoo status and changed its name. However, we were nicely surprised when we entered the Zoo area, since it looked quite big, with lots of people visiting.
The first thing that caught my eyes on the way to the ticket office, was people touching and enjoying the company of small baby tigers, inside a building, with windows all around. It was a unique sight. Then I understood – I wanted to have this experience in my life. We payed 15 euros each, to be able to meet the tigers for 10 minutes and patiently waited for our turn.
When our time came, it was impossible to hide the excitement and happiness. You could instantly notice different personalities and moods of the tigers. There was one white tiger, obviously tired, chilling on the blanket in the corner. Another white tiger seemed to attack my leg, but the lady who took care of them said that he was just being playful and handed me a toy to play with him. So there I was, playing with a tiger for the first time in my life!
Another thing I wanted to do in those 10 minutes we got there, was to pick one tiger up and hold him in my hands for the picture and simply see how it felt like. To be honest, I tried to pick the tiger up probably around 5 times, if not more. Every time I got scared because they were quite heavy and the second I tried to lift one up, he made a weird noise. I noticed one man lifting tigers up and down with no fear, even though they made the same sounds. After that, I thought that I can do it as well. And voíla, I did it! My facial expression and huge smile says it all. I didn’t know my smile could get this wide before this meet&greet happened! It was totally worth it!
Adorable babies! ❤
I hope you enjoyed reading this story and will look forward for more! 🙂
The last video of my Lithuanian Sea Coast series is here. I hope you enjoyed these videos and you are looking forward for what is here to follow! ❤
Personally, I have really enjoyed making these videos and sharing them with you guys, because I got a chance to relive these beautiful moments. Making this kind of travel videos in general is a big passion of mine. And I know for sure that it will be so amazing to watch these summer vacation videos in winter time and see how beautiful my home country is, if you look at it in the right angle. When sad thoughts come into your head, when you simply cannot wait for the warmth, sun, vacation and summer activities, memory videos like these help a lot. Also for inspiration, happiness and beautiful views. You simply get reminded of blessings in your life.
Enough of the sentimental thoughts. I guess, I am missing this vacation already. 🙂 Let`s talk a bit about this vacation resort town called Nida. This town is indeed really beautiful with its own charm and relaxing vibe, situated in the centre of Neringa municipality. As you can see in the video, it is way smaller than Klaipeda and Palanga, and we only stayed there for half a day. We took a ferry from Klaipeda to Smiltyne, which took us only 5 minutes. It is really fast. And then, if you go by car, it takes around half an hour to drive from the ferry to Nida. You also drive past Juodkrante, which is also a small, nice and cozy resort. There are beautiful bike paths from Smiltyne to Nida. If you are a sporty person and bike enthusiast, try biking both ways!
You will find one main path by the sea, both for pedestrians and bikes in Nida, which leads you to the beautiful dunes (kopos in Lithuanian, as I am saying in the video, since I really didn’t know the word dunes then). Dunes is such an unusual landscape created by the sea and wind. When you get up the stairs, you get to see a breathtaking view, which you have to experience yourself! Only there and then you understand how fragile and at the same time mighty this landscape is. Behind the scenes were us, simply sitting on the sand, enjoying the view and eating fresh strawberries from the garden.
There is a feeling of slow life in Nida. As you can spot in the video below, while we walked besides, an old woman was slowly hanging her newly washed clothes on the wire for them to dry outside. Around two hours later, when we walked back to the car, the woman was still slowly hanging the clothes and talking to her neighbour. How cute is that? This shows that you have to really slow down in Nida and truly relax.
What is a bit sad about this resort is the fact that it`s quite expensive. However, it is totally understandable why. The climate of Lithuania won’t let the tourists enjoy Nida in any other season, except of summer. Restaurants, hotels and other businesses only have three short months to do their thing. It is natural that they have to increase their prices in order to survive. Also you have to pay 20 euros in order to be able to drive into this beautiful town with a car. And you know what, there wasn’t a second that we doubted whether we should go to Nida or not. It is totally worth it!
Enjoy the video in HD and I hope you will visit Nida some day! Also check out my Palanga and Klaipeda videos in my previous posts, if you haven’t done it yet, and feel free to tell me what you think! 🙂
The time has come for my second Travel with Rūta video, this time from a city called Palanga. A vacation resort well known for the Lithuanians as well as some foreigners. A city of romance!
When I was still living in Lithuania, this town was our family number one vacation spot in summer time. I didn’t use to care about the cold sea water, since the Baltic Sea doesn’t really get warmer than 18 degrees. However, saying that you get use to good things fast is very true. As fast as you get to know a truly warm sea, you just don’t feel the need to go into cold sea. There is good enough to only feel the water with your feet. That is what I did and I feel very content about it. No regrets about not swimming in the Baltic Sea this time!
A long beach stretches out far far away, to other small town called Šventoji and has in all a seafront of 25 kilometres! Light and pleasant sand, soughing waves and special dunes. The combination of these things will give you peace of mind and sense of harmony. If you decide to go far by the sea, you can try to find some amber or pretty shells.
Unique dunes is an ideal place to hide yourself from the wind or to find a more comfortable, intimate and warmer corner. The beach in Palanga is very crowded on a warmer day, especially in the weekends in summer time. Therefore, the dunes are the place to be for the people who like a more quiet and private relaxation.
If you ever go to this city, do not forget to visit famous Palanga bridge (Palangos tiltas), where people gather together to watch remarkable sunsets. We were lucky enough to experience an outstanding sunset while visiting Palanga. It is hard to describe it. You will see it in my video which is in the bottom of this post. To see it in video is of course not the same as being in the moment, but you will get an idea of how perfect it was. And yes, I really think it was perfect. ❤
Some other famous places are the famous Basanavicius street, is where all the fun is situated – different bars, cafes, clubs, attractions and activities, where different music is being played and performed live on the evenings. Also Tiškevičiai Palace and Amber Museum, Birutė Park and Musical Fountain. These are the places shown in the video that are worth a visit or two!
I hope you will enjoy the video and catch a happy inspiration! Don’t forget to watch it in HD! 🙂
