Croissant Expedition

Labas Rytas!

Another snowy morning and an expedition to find the REAL croissant cafe. Nic and Edita (had us for lunch on Tuesday - he's English and does relief agency disaster training and coordination and she's Lithuanian and a stay-at-home mom of two little boys)  - had told us about where it was, so I set off on a mission this morning.

Through the archway just across the street (that's our local "bio" - organic store - next to it) there was a small park and narrow streets jammed with snow-covered little cars.

And a few yards farther I came to this statue honoring Gaon Elijahu ben Shlomo Zalman (1720-1797), a great Jewish rabbi and leader. The name of this narrow street is Zydu (Jews) street and it's the heart of what once was the large Jewish community in Vilnius. In 1941 it was for a short time the "small ghetto" into which Jews were herded by the Nazis before 11,000 were marched out to the Panerai forest south of here and murdered. Overall, many thousands more were killed and the thriving Jewish community obliterated.
We're planning on at least one tour of Jewish sites, so there'll be more about this horror.

A couple blocks farther on - past the French Embassy -

across Pilies gatve (Palace Street) and through this door into the courtyard of the Art Museum -

 down a pretty steep street with construction on one side

and across the Vilnele River into a "foreign country" called the Uzupis Republic - established in 1998 by dreamers (and drunks?), with a flag, an anthem, and a constitution guaranteeing hot water, a tiled roof, the right to be happy (or unhappy), and to be a dog.

The angel of Uzupis, the "republic's" official symbol.
And up the street to -

my goal! No, it's not an armadillo, it's a croissant! I've found the Thierry Kepykla (bakery). I bought four croissants and two pain au chocolat and headed home.

We only ate half of them, but we should have just polished them off - they won't be good tomorrow. Next time we'll both go and enjoy them with coffee right there.