Temperature dropped over 10 degrees Celcius over the weekend and it's grey and drizzly buuuuut it's my last day in Kaunas and I don't have to work so I guess I should go for a long hike anyway.
I went to the National Art Museum today, which is named after and mostly about and full of the works of Čiurlionis. Turns out it was also his 143rd birthday today, so the audio guides for his section were free (as opposed to €4). I'm not super into art museums/galleries, but I was in the mood today, and I've never done with an audioguide before. So that was interesting. I had to take it a lot slower than usual, hearing some (often long and rambling) history and context to the paintings, and also having details pointed out to me that I might not have noticed by myself, I really appreciated the art.
Plus Čiurlionis paints super rad alien fantasy landscapes, so that was cool.
When I was deciding how to divide up my month in Lithuania, I looked at the map, zoomed in on the cities, checked out the bus routes, and a voice inside me said "spend two weeks in Kaunas." It's the second biggest city in Lithuania (still not big), not by the sea, and fairly unremarkable apart from having the longest pedestrian street in Eastern Europe going through the middle. The voice was so convincing, I booked two weeks in an non-refundable hostel as far as two months in advance.
Anyway, the voice was right, this place is super nice. Maybe I was predisposed to love it, but my first impression on the afternoon I arrived was at least as powerful as my immediate love for Bratislava.
Food options are good, stuff is cheap, there's a really nice river and a castle, a new town and an old town, some lakes not too far away; I've made myself at home in a co-working space, and people seem friendly.