Vilnius - October 2013

When I travel for work, I often fly to a place I'd probably never visited if it weren't because of a meeting or conference. With Vilnius, that was different, because I am quite sure I would have visited sooner or later - I have been in Tallinn a few years ago and ever since wanted to come back to the baltic countries. Now I had a chance to see Vilnius, only for a few days, but I looked forward to going abroad this time. We arrived very late in the evening and on the taxi journey from the airport to our hotel I didn't actually have the time to look out the window, I was too busy being scared - the taxi driver seemed to dream of a career as rallye pilot. Of course the darkness also kept me from seeing much. I hoped to find some time to walk around the next day, but the conference started very early and when the last session of the day came to an end, it was again already dark outside and I had only one hour to prepare myself for dinner. So it had to be Saturday - we had been offered a guided tour in the afternoon and I subscribed right away because I hoped to see at least some of the nicer parts of the city (if I don't have much time and am unprepared, I tend to end up in slightly scary parts of cities instead of the nice ones).

When we started the tour, the guide said the weather was very nice for an autumn day in Vilnius. Oh well. Very nice. The sky was grey, the sun not to be seen, but at least it didn't rain. And I had to agree that the trees looked awesome with their colourful leaves. As soon as I took out my camera for the first time, I regretted to have only one of my lenses with me (the 50mm prime, because I travelled with hand luggage only and this one is much lighter than the big zoom lens). But then I did something I'd resolved to do for quite a while: taking pictures in the manual mode only. The weather (with the sky almost white and no direct sunlight at all) made this a challenge first, but then again it's easier to do it when there's no constant change of light and shadow. I must say I'm quite satisfied with the results, the colours of the pictures are very much like they have been in reality this afternoon.

Vilnius is a really nice place, I'd love to come back one day with more time and better weather, if possible. The old town has its very own charm, there's many restaurants and cafés and a lot of young people, which makes for a lively atmosphere. I felt at ease right away. I couldn't listen to what the guide said because I had to concentrate on my camera, and now I feel a bit bad because I don't know much about the city's history. But as I said, I'd like to come back one day, with more time to explore and learn. The pictures will remind me of a really beautiful autumn afternoon in an interesting and friendly city.