Šventoji – Summer 2023 – Part 1

We needed a vacation, this much was certain. So far, we’d been having a summer of uncertainties. We had been looking for a place to buy, but prices were soaring, way above what they should have been, so we were stuck in a holding pattern there. Rasa was working on finishing the details for her defense of her dissertation and Monki had graduated from first grade, but now we were looking at different summer camps and things for her to keep her occupied for the summer.

We’d looked at a couple of different options, like all-inclusive trips to warm islands, but the biggest obstacle was that dissertation thing. The machinations to make it happen were/are worse than actually writing the thing. There are so many little details which need to be attended to, that, quite literally, taking a couple of weeks off and leaving the country in the middle of the summer just wasn’t in the cards – Not to mention the fact that Monki’s birthday fell smack dab in the middle there and, for the first time, she actually wanted a birthday party, with friends and everything. 

So basically, we just wanted a little getaway. 

Rasa decided that maybe we should hit Šventoji, a beach town about 10 km north of Palanga, where we had gone on a little getaway last year. This seemed like a good plan. So we booked three nights in a hotel, thinking we could go up early on the first day, get the lay of the land, spend two full days at the beach and seeing whatever sights there were to see, and then have a nice, leisurely drive back on the last day. We booked it for midweek (to save some money) the week after our birthdays and we were good to go. 

Until we weren’t. 

Yup, sure enough complications with the diss arose and had to be dealt with. They weren’t major issues, but they could have been had Rasa not had easy access to her computer and the time to sort it all out. At the end of it, she breathed a sigh of relief that we weren’t off someplace out of contact because had it not been dealt with, it could have become a big deal – you know, like a splinter that gets infected: It’s nothing as long as you take care of it, but the longer it sits, the worse it gets. 

Then the meeting was scheduled. A couple of days before we were scheduled to depart, Rasa got a call for a meeting to take place in the afternoon of our first day away. No worries. We just took a deep breath and decided we could drive to the coast after the meeting. Then we crossed our fingers nothing else would come up. 

Tuesday – July 18

On Tuesday, July 18, Monki and I waited at a local coffee place for Rasa to finish her meeting. One of Monki’s big joys in life these days is to have decaf. Once a week or so she gets it at home (a decaf espresso with lots of milk) and it makes her feel so grown up. Since we were technically “on vacation” now, she got a small decaf Americano, and we played games until Rasa joined us and we were finally on our way. 

Of course, leaving town at rush hour (and let’s all remember “rush hour” is a relative term – this was 3am traffic on the 405, but for us, it was crowded) caused some slight delays, but overall, it was an easy drive. Well, it would have been except for the race. 

In Lithuania, there is basically one trans-national highway, highway 1, which bisects the country from east to west, running basically from Vilnius, through Kaunas, to Klaipeda and the coast. Makes sense. These are the three largest cities so people want to get from one to the other easily. The easiest way to get to Šventoji, then, would be to drive straight to Klaipeda, make a right, and soon enough you’ve arrived. 

But this week, there was an annual road race happening. This meant the main highway was blocked off in preparation for the day-long, 1000+km event. No worries. We had GPS and eventually made it to the city.

For a Tuesday at around 8pm, Šventoji was hopping. The pluses and minuses of the place we had booked was that it was right off the Main Street in town. This meant that driving in, we had to contend with all sorts of people paying no attention as they crossed the street willy-nilly. The two blocks it took us before turning off and finding a parking spot at the hotel took (hyperbolically) nearly as long as the rest of the drive!

It was still light out, though, and we hadn’t eaten, so we figured we could check in and then check out the sights. Monki was very excited since we passed a fun-fair on the Main Street. Our room was on the third floor, with no elevator, and Rasa had packed as if we might have to evacuate the country. 

The thing about the room, though, is that it was on the third floor. There was a beautiful terrace all the way around, but this meant that the only way to get to our door was by walking outside. So if it was raining, or windy, or some other weather, we had to brave it. This wasn’t helped by the fact there was a huge gap between the door and the frame, which let in any wind and or noise which happened to pass by. 

Ah well, nothing to be done about it now. We were hungry and daylight was wasting. After taking a quick look at the restaurants nearby, we decided on Cili Pizza, a national chain which was around the corner. As I said, it was late and rather than try and figure out something else, for this first night, we decided to play it safe. 

After dinner, we headed off to one of Šventoji’s major tourist attractions – the Monkey Bridge. According to the maps, it was at the end of the main street in town, the one we were already on, so it wasn’t far at all. It seemed like it would be a nice walk. I’m not sure where these bridges got this name, but basically, a Monkey Bridge is a bridge designed to sway in the wind. Usually, when I’ve experienced them in the past, they we’re made of rope with wood slats (all perfectly safe, I’m sure). This one, though, was much sturdier, made of metal and had the look of a small suspension bridge. It certainly wasn’t what I was expecting.

 

I’d been hearing about this bridge, and Šventoji in general, for years now. It was supposed to be like Palanga only less developed, less expensive, and more casual. And there was the bridge. The bridge turned out to span the river, maybe 100 meters from shore to shore, and was designed for one-way traffic (there were signs saying this, signs which everyone ignored). We dutifully went across and turned left to find the water. 

The weather was not our friend that night. Last week, it had been warm, shorts and sandals weather, but this week it was cold and windy and there were red flag surf warnings all up and down the beach. We still walked to the water’s edge, through the chilly sand, and dipped our toes in, enjoying the sunset and hoping things would warm up for the rest of our stay. 

After a half hour or so of Monki writing in the wet sand, and Rasa and I shivering, we headed back to the hotel. On the walk back, though, Monki pondered the possibility of going to the fun fair. She’s developed this pattern of broaching subjects with a roundabout style that basically goes something like: “I know you probably don’t want to do this, but if you did, I would really like to go on the Ferris Wheel (or whatever).” Or she’ll wish out loud she could do something: “I really wish we could ride the Ferris Wheel,” but saying it in such a way she understands it’s a foregone conclusion that she’s not going to get her wish, but still holding out hope. 

In this instance, Mommy thought it might be fun for me and Monki to go and ride a ride or two while she went back to the hotel and rested/unpacked/looked into plans for the next few days since our primary plan, the beach, may not be an option. 

So this is what we did. Monki and I checked out the fun fair which was very expensive and had rides I absolutely didn’t want to go in (you know, the spinny, up and down rides which are great when you’re a teenager but at a newly minted 56, I knew would get me quite sick). We did find the Ferris Wheel she wanted to go on, but honestly, it was the kind designed for little kids, reaching a height of maybe 3 meters so I suggested we do something else instead. We settled on bumper cars, something Monki had never done before. But since driving is one of her favorite things, and this was driving plus crashing into things, so we decided to try it out!

Since she’d never done it before, she wanted me to go with her, which was fine, and it was also okay that we were the only ones on the grid. This meant she could try things out and get used to it without anyone smashing into her. It took her a little while to get the hang of it – at first not really understanding that banging into things was the plan. She also had a hard time keeping her foot on the pedal, but eventually, she got it and we had a great time…up until the point when she went full speed into the wall. She was belted in so no injuries, but after that, she asked me to steer while she pressed the gas. 

After that, she still wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel, but at €5 for a ticket, I really didn’t want to pay for it. Thankfully, we had a solution. 

See, several months ago, Rasa and I instituted “Monki Money.” These are units of currency, with a value roughly equal to €1 and Monki gets five of them every week, on Sunday. This isn’t tied to chores or anything like that, it’s just pocket money for her. So when she wants something, and we don’t want to pay for, it comes out of her funds. And she’s very good about it. We have a monthly conversation about games for her iPad which have monthly subscription fees. I’ve offered to pay for one game a month, but if she wants any more, she pays for it. And there have been times where she didn’t have enough to cover the fees, so she didn’t get those games that month (the deal is we renew games once a month so if you miss the deadline, you have to wait). She’s also gotten good at making deals with us to split costs on things, and we usually pick up shipping if we’re ordering from Amazon.de (our preferred shipping partner since there’s no import fees because it’s in the EU), but I think she’s learning. So here we were, she wanted to go on a ride I didn’t want to pay for. She said she would and so she got to ride the Ferris Wheel (and when we got home several days later, the first thing she did was pay me the 5 Monki Moneys she owed me).

With our rides out of the way, and the sunlight fading, Monki and I went for a little walk to the other end of the main street and then back to the hotel, where Rasa was waiting. It was then we learned yet another negative about the place – the Wi-Fi was atrocious, and we had a hard time connecting.

Nothing to be done about it now, so we went to bed…Wednesday would be a brand-new day!