Kaunas is Lithuania's second city but is in no way a poor relation. For a time it acted as temporary capital and as such benfited from investment and the status.
We visited in February 2007 - not everyone's idea of peak holiday season but I think it added to the city's appeal. Yes it was -15 degrees C outside, and yes there was snow and ice and it took 10 minutes to dress before venturing out and another 10 to undress when you went back inside but when else do most of us get to experience that ? It's not like England where one snowflake brings the transport network to a halt. Don't forget the people of Kaunas are used to it and life goes on with great efficiency. Museums have cloakrooms, everywhere is well heated and draft proofed, supermarkets have lockers to leave your coats, hats, scarves, gloves, sledges and so on and nobody minds you sipping vodka from a 200 ml bottle to keep your insides warm. As well as the usual attractions this time of year allows you to go sledging (sledges from 3 LTL in supermarkets) or across the bridge to the park on an island in the river to build snowmen, have snowball fights and drag huge chunks of ice up to the bridge to send crashing onto the frozen river below. Incidentally we noticed that some couples had attached padlocks to the bridge with their names scratched or painted on - a custom we first observed in Riga. I'm not sure of the exact significance but the gist is pretty clear and the bridge to the park is an ideal location to continue this eastern european (?) custom. There is a locksmith who sells padlocks in a courtyard off the northern side of Laisves Aleja towards the eastern end - reasonably priced too. Go for the ones with the longest hasp (loop) as the bars of the bridge are really thick. Failing that attach yours to one that is already there - we did ! See if you can find it (Mike and Theresa 2007).
Eat
