Kaunas Day Three

Day three was my last full day in Kaunas, but this time I didn’t have a concrete itinerary. I had a couple of objectives in mind, but was also inclined to follow my nose. Once in Kaunas town centre I headed for a huge, white, art deco church on top of the hill overlooking the town. This is the Church of Christ’s Resurrection. It was begun in the 1930s. The building of a church in Kaunas, the temporary capital, to celebrate Lithuanian independence from Russia was an idea which came about very soon after the end of the First World War, but they didn’t get round to having a design competition until 1928. Ironically it was just about completed by 1940, when work naturally enough had to stop. After the war, Stalin decided that it would be used as a radio factory. Money being scarce after Independence, the Church was not actually consecrated until 2004. To me, it’s so art deco that it brings to me two buildings – neither of which it actually looks at all like – the Hoover Building in Perivale, and the original Wembley Stadium.

Back down the hill then, to do a wee bit more painting in Liesvas Aleja. Here I had my first conversation with a passer-by. He sat down just as I was finishing, and when I replied to what he said with my usual shoulder shrug and “Sorry – I’m English”, he started a conversation . His English wasn’t, it must be said, completely intelligible, whether through a lack of vocabulary, or from the alcoholic fumes wafting from his breath, I couldn’t be sure. I think he said that the UK are crazy, and it’s America for him. You’re welcome, I said. I made my apologies and left.

Museums, then. Handily placed on the Liesvas Aleja is the Zoological Museum. Now, if you like stuffed animals, this is the place for you. Look, I kind of expect that from a Natural History Museum sort of thing, but I did think the room full of mounted stags heads and antlers was taking the pee. I did make a sketch of a coelacanth. Childhood memories of watching Sir David of Attenborough’s “Life on Earth” demanded no less.

On to the Vytautas the Great War Museum. I entered the door, and the woman behind the desk looked at me, and when I did the shoulder shrug thing she asked , “What do you want?” What did she think I wanted? Don’t tell me they get so few visitors that they’ve forgotten what visitors are supposed to do, I thought. No, actually, when I told her “I’d actually rather like to see the Museum.” She told me I was in the wrong place, and that entry was upstairs. Of course it was.

Time was getting on, and I still had one place I really wanted to visit. This meant another long walk back into the Old Town. This time I went by the riverbank for variety’s sake. You may remember that I said it was like a breath of springtime yesterday. Well, this afternoon in Kaunas we had the 12 inch version of that. It was absolutely beautiful, and the first time I can remember being hot outdoors since last summer. Back at the Old Town I wanted to go into the St. Peter and Paul Basilica. I passed by it yesterday and Wednesday, but hadn’t been inside. However I’d since read that the Basilica contains relics of Pope John Paul II, since his canonisation, and thus intrigued I popped in for a holy shuftie. Well, it’s true. There’s a huge oil painting of the lad himself, and a box continuing relics underneath. I couldn’t see what was in it because there were half a dozen worshippers kneeling in front of it. I’m not so impious that I’d have wanted to disturb them, so I left them to it. I hope their prayers are answered.