Alexander & Sons Restoration
The Vilnius Holocaust Museum The drive from Riga to Vilnius went a bit faster than I had anticipated probably due to light Sunday traffic. Having a few hours before I could check into my hotel, I decided to pay a visit to Vilnius’s holocaust museum. Vilnius was once home to one of the largest Jewish communities in …
Stepping back into East Prussia On my return to the Baltic States, I thoroughly debated on whether I needed to take a second visit to Hitler’s East Prussian headquarters, the Wolf’s Lair. The drive south to Kętrzyn, Poland is a good three plus hours of twisting, turning country roads from where I was staying in Kaunas, Lithuania. On …
After a long flight that took us from Southern California, to Toronto to Vienna and finally to Vilnius we have arrived in the Baltic. I have to admit being in Lithuania is somewhat of an emotional experience for me. My Great Grandfather was an ethnic German, born and raised in a small village called Nowinikin just south of …
After concluding our visit to Estonia we headed south to the capital of Latvia, Riga. Riga was established in 1201. The city has a long history over the years, it has played host to a number of different groups from Vikings to German merchants. Riga’s one unique claim to fame, is that the Christmas tree tradition was started there by the city’s …
It is day two of the Baltic trip. Today we drove south away from the Baltic and into Poland. Our trip across the boarder was uneventful and almost boring. The border check point is no longer manned due to the Schengen Agreement. The first town we came to in Poland was Suwałki. Suwałki once had …
Wednesday we left Kaunas and drove to see Klaipeda Lithuania. Klaipeda was once known as Memel and was the northern most city of East Prussia. After WWI the city was taken from the Germans and given to Lithuania. In 1939 German troops were sent into Memel to reoccupy it and return it to Germany. Today there is sadly …
