Not at the Table, Carlos.

Hey again from Riga.

It's been an exciting couple of days in Vilnius, Lithuania. We sang at a Vacation Bible School before seeing the Hill of Crosses, which was phenomenal. More on that later. Vilnius was incredibly interesting, with history and culture and the like. It was the beginning of their once-every-four-years music festival, so everything was really crowded and expensive, requiring us to cut our stay to one night. We saw many of the sights walking around and ate at Pizza Jazz, which isn't quite as American (or Italian) as it sounds. After others went to bed, Beesh, Rachel and I decided to see a little more of Vilnius, but due to the apparent early-bird nature of their society, there wasn't much fun to be had. We did meet a nice Scottish gentleman in an establishment who informed us that Obama was doing a fine job until he started "bombing the shit out of Pakistan." Of this I was not aware. Leave it to the Scots, I guess.

After checking out of the hotel, we did more sightseeing, including the castle/fort of Gedeminis, the founder of Vilnius and the tile representing where the last person stood in the human chain. During the demise of the USSR, the three Baltic satellites were the first to rebel against the Soviets; as an act of solidarity, what had to have been millions of people made an unbroken human chain stretching from Tallen(sp?), the capital of Estonia to Vilnius. The location of the tile in the square is not publicized or documented; rather the locals encourage that "each person needs to find their own freedom." It is an inspiring display to say the least.

We arrived back in Riga last night. After taking in The Hangover at the local cinema, we found a hotel, then ventured out to find food. We lucked out when we stumbled upon what seemed to be the only thing open, and each took in some traditional Latvian fare, and while I'm not sure how it's properly pronounced or spelled, I believe it's something like "Big Mac combo."

Today will involve a relaxed day of shopping and sightseeing before we fly out tomorrow. Once I process everything I hope to have something a little more inspiring, but until then I will remain descriptive. Peace to all of you and