We all went to bed Monday night with our rooms draped with wet clothing and hope for better weather in Lithuania. We informed the kids the night before about the time change, but with phones not connected to wifi the kids didn't wake up when expected so we left the boat an hour later than expected and were wet before the ship was even out of sight. Klaipeda research hadn't brought up many exciting ideas; Kate was in charge and hadn't made any solid plans. With the pouring rain, lack of vision for the day, and the frustrating morning waking kids up and waiting for them Greg decided to go back to the boat and wait for the rain to die down.
So we walked through town for a bit feeling a little confused about what to do and frustrated to be all wet again.
This is part of the Klaipeda castle.
We took shelter under the overhang of a restaurant while we tried to make a plan. Monday Andrew had expressed some frustration with not being able to pick anything, so we told him he and Kate could plan Klaipeda. He had spent a little time Monday night on the internet and had hoped to get to a Russian missile sight an hour or so out of Klaipeda so we tried and failed to get an Uber. His backup plan was an amber museum and since we had missed the amber museum in Gdansk we thought it was as good a plan as any and a way to get out of the rain for a while.
Natali and Andrew navigated us to the bus station.
When cars would pass it would splash so much water and could only be avoided by huddling in the corner of the bus waiting area.
That morning when Andrew got off the ship he mentioned he wasn't feeling great and this thing on his forehead hurt pretty bad. I knew he had some kind of infection but with all the stress of the morning we gave him ibuprofen and rubbed some antibiotic cream on it and went about our day but you could tell it bothered him a lot. The pressure and swelling increased as the day went on and we made a plan to see the cruise doc as soon as we got back on board.
Our journey would require two different bus legs and then a trip on a Bolt (European Uber - we learned after our failed Uber attempt). On our first trip I hopped on the bus, scanned my credit card six times and rode the short journey to the next stop. We walked to another station close by and loaded on the second bus where I scanned my card six times again. Everyone sat down but the bus didn't move. The driver started speaking to us in Lithuanian, blank stares. After much looking, miming, asking we came to the conclusion that you had to pay with a different card for each person. Natali and I pulled out our debit cards that made three. Andrew had his on his phone as did Emily and that miraculously worked...5. He kept talking to us but we had no other options, the bus pulled out. I thought maybe he'd let it go but then he stopped at the next stop and two bus police got on. Luckily, one spoke some English and we were able to explain. Unfortunately, the other one went to the back of the bus and started harassing Lily and Kate in Lithuanian. Eventually the man said he could sell me the last ticket we needed but it would cost 16 Euros, the others were 2 Euros each. At that point I said sign me up; we payed the exorbitant fee and were on our way.
We were all happy to exit the bus and leave that drama behind us. We had to take two Bolts to get to the amber museum in Palanga and all was going smoothly till we realized this is where the Bolt would stop. They could go no farther, we had to walk the rest of the way to the museum. A bit surprised we climbed out and stepped into the forest.
Thankfully the rain wasn't too heavy and we actually enjoyed our walk looking and failing to find squirrels.
We did find a slug and got to the museum as the rain started picking up again.
Grateful to hang up our raincoats, we started exploring the many different displays of amber while simultaneously trying to avoid the massive tour groups from our cruise ship.
I had know idea that amber was used in so many ways.
Of course we had to find amber cats.
The rain was forecasted to lighten up soon so we took a little dessert break of cheesecake and sorbet.
The amber museum was located in an old palace, hence the large forest around it and the manicured gardens.
The museum.
We enjoyed the light drizzle rather than the down pour and the time exploring the public garden/ forest surrounding the old palace.
We found a cool grotto and eventually wound our way towards the beach and a place for lunch.
We thought we were going to a Mexican restaurant which it definitely wasn't, but it was dry, there was no one else there, and the food made everyone happy, especially the mango lemonade.
Natali's soup was delicious.
Kate's alai bowl was more like soup but she was thrilled with it. We made our way down to the beach and most of us opted out of getting into the sand (wet shoes and pants don't mix well will sand) but Emily and Natali couldn't resist.
Kate loved this hotel and the flower beds on the balconies.
This time we got a large car that could fit us all and we took it all the way to the boat - no more buses for us.
Andrew and I headed straight to the doctors office once we were back on the boat, but they were closed until 5:00 and it was 3:30 so we actually tried to pop it to release some pressure but that didn't help at all and just made it look terrible so Andrew went to take a nap because he felt absolutely awful. I had a massage scheduled at 4:30 so I told him to go to the doc on his own at 5:00.
When we all got to dinner I realized Andrew hadn't made it to the doctor and Greg noticed that the office closed at 7:00 so Andrew and I had to skip dessert to get to the doctor before they closed. Greg was super sweet and got our desserts to go and brought them to us at the clinic.
Thankfully, the doctor gave him some antibiotics and told him he should start feeling better in a day or two. They even bandaged the wound which looked rather silly and made Andrew feel even more awkward.
We ended the evening playing liars dice and watching the strangest stage performance of the cruise. It seemed to be someone's strange dream lived out on stage. There was also no trivia but we enjoyed scriptures and some chatting in my room before bed and all hoped Andrew would start feeling better soon.
Later when the bill came the doctor's diagnosis said, "acne". That be some strange acne.
Steps: 13,332
Interesting Facts:
Bolt is the European equivalent of Uber.
Amber comes in many colors and is a relatively soft organic gem that can be shaped into a myriad of objects.
Ambers clarity is affected by air bubbles and impurities during it's transformation from resin into amber.
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