Dear fragrance friends,

With a joyful heart I am returning to you after a couple of days. They were filled with loads of mini trips, exciting visits to fragrant stores / markets, and also a few history / culture related tours.. 🙂

1. #SOTD – I was indeed bouncing in between the Salvador Dali perfume (you may find a little review on it in a previous blog post, from Day 16) and Love, Chloe. Dali tends to disappear off my skin in a few hours, and I felt like applying it again and again.. However, it sits really cozy with me in the evening, when I am relaxing at home after a nice hot shower… So, it is definitely not a loud perfume. Rather gentle and very very well blended… 🙂 ❤

2. Little discoveries of the day

At one end of Gediminas ave., a very wide and very central street in the heart of Vilnius, there is a building of great historical significance to all Lithuanians – the Parliament, called Seimas. It is a place where the current government of the country resides, but it had also played a very important role during the fight for independence from the Soviet Union in 1990-91. I had an opportunity to visit a little glass house just beside Seimas – the memorial for tragic events that happened on 13th January, 1991. This construction is a tiny museum. It covers the barricades that had surrounded the parliament, displays photographs taken during that year, and also children’s drawings. It was quite a memorable moment for me, taking those steps back in time… as I myself remember drawing tanks, TV tower, fight for freedom themes at primary school… And that little glass building is curated by a very pleasant elderly gentleman, who holds and shares all the knowledge and experience of those times, and who has the warmest smile…

At the other end of Gediminas ave, there is the Vilnius Cathedral with the Bell Tower just beside it. I finally climbed up to the very top of the tower 🙂 This was a very pleasant visit, as it had just started snowing when I got in… Here are some pictures 🙂

You can visit the tower every day, except Sundays and Public Holidays. And the cost of the ticket is only 4.50 euros.

Lastly, I have paid a little visit to Panorama shopping center and was very pleasantly surprised to see a huge Christmas market, with stalls displayed on two floors. Items for sale vary so much, and anyone with even the most elaborate taste would find something of interest. It was lovely to see a lot of hand made jewellery, perfumed oils, soaps, woolly blankets, knitted socks, home aromas; also smoked meat and fish produce, sweet cheese made of aged stewed apples with different spices, and of course – honey! – our Lithuanian gold 🙂 It is impossible to mention all the goodness and describe the atmosphere, so a visit to Panorama is a must 🙂 The market is open every single day up until 30th December, 2017.

3. Something to be thankful for

I have experienced very mixed emotions during these days… and every single day I am re-discovering my birth country from a different angle, with a different light… I didn’t realize how patriotic the Lithuanians were, until just recently.. I didn’t know how much pain, but also joy, and passion resides here… how much soul… I am retracing my steps and am uncovering the love for this beautiful country in Northern Europe.

J.

xxx

P.S. There were some perfume related discoveries too, but you can read about them in tomorrow’s blog post 🙂

P.S. All the prices are correct at the time of publishing this blog, 30th Nov 2017.