Lithuania’s Soviet “Brutalist Architecture”

Kindadukish's Blog - I am not a number, I am a free man (The Prisoner)

On my recent rain drenched visit to Lithuania I was taken on a photography expedition by my friend Antanas and also accompanied by our mutual friend Renata who came along to see that “good order” was maintained during our wanderings.

We were fortunate in that the Saturday morning of our outing was relatively dry but with a very dull overcast sky and the threat of a shower constantly hanging over us. But this kind of weather does not deter three intrepid explorers and so after meeting in front of the “white cathedral” we set off walking.

First we passed the National Museum of Lithuania with the imposing statue of King Mindaugas at the entrance to the museum (which is still on my list of places to visit) and then walked across the Green Bridge over the River Neris.

Just across the Neris River from lies a trio of disused public…

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How Basketball, the Olympics and the Grateful Dead Forever Changed Lithuania

Lost Postcards

The Other Dream Team is a 2012 documentary that illustrates the importance basketball has played in Lithuania’s history and culminates in their participation in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Last week the Lithuanian Men’s basketball team was knocked out of the group round at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. They wouldn’t continue to the semi-finals and had lost out on a shot at a 2016 Olympic medal. I watched my husband come home from work looking absolutely defeated at the news. I knew most other Lithuanians, which had undoubtedly watched the match, were experiencing a similar feeling. While other countries might just be disappointed in the loss, basketball is the pride and joy of Lithuania. So much so that it is called the “second religion” of the small country and there is nothing bigger than competing in the sport at the Olympics.

Basketball became popular in Lithuania during…

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FC Bradford City, FK Atlantas and the “missing” Lithuanian fans………………..

Kindadukish's Blog - I am not a number, I am a free man (The Prisoner)

I was having a large espresso this morning and reading “99 Stories About Klaipeda” by Vygantas Vareikis* (excellent book if thou are interested in Lithuania and particularly the history of Klaipeda) when I came across a page about football in the city and read the following “nevertheless, the main team of Klaipeda sailed to deeper waters, and met Moscow Spartak and FC Bradford City – teams that earlier could be seen in the stadiums of Klaipeda only in a dream.”

As I live only a few miles from Bradford I was quite fascinated by this statement as I had no idea that the football team had played in any European competitions let alone travelled as far afield as Lithuania.

After a little research I found an article about the match between FC Bradford City and FC Atlantis (Isaiah Rankin entered the Bradford City history books on Sunday 2 July 2000…

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The Other Dream

Allez Lietuva………………

Kindadukish's Blog - I am not a number, I am a free man (The Prisoner)

Ramunas Navardauskas wins the 19th stage of the Tour de France in appalling conditions, after making a break and holding off the chasing pack to take victory.

He is the first Lithuanian to win a stage in the Tour and was a late replacement for the British rider David Miller who was surprisingly dropped from the Garmin team at the last-minute.

Navardauskas paid tribute to Miller and said he had received a very nice tweet from him congratulating him on his win.

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More success for Lietuva…..Ruta Meilutyte breaks 50m breaststroke world record

Kindadukish's Blog - I am not a number, I am a free man (The Prisoner)

Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte claims her second world record of the World Championships in Barcelona, in the 50m breaststroke semi-final.

The 16-year-old, based in Plymouth, clocked 29.48 seconds to beat the 29.78 set only hours earlier by Russia’s Yuliya Efimova.

Meilutyte, who won the 100m breaststroke title on Tuesday after setting a world record in her semi-final, will swim in the 50m final on Sunday.

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More Success for Lietuva……………. (with a little help from the UK)

Kindadukish's Blog - I am not a number, I am a free man (The Prisoner)

Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte broke the 100m breaststroke world record in the World Championship semi-finals.

The Plymouth-based 16-year-old clocked one minute 04.30 seconds in Barcelona, 0.15 secs faster than the previous best time set by Jessica Hardy in 2009.

Earlier, Meilutyte had recorded 1:04.52 in qualifying, the second-fastest time in history and a new European record.

London 2012 Olympic Champion  a little help from the UK)Meilutyte will seek to win Lithuania’s first ever World Championships gold medal in Tuesday’s final.

Coach Jon Rudd: Meilutyte can be all-time great

“I’ll be have a relaxing day tomorrow and will save all my energy for the final,” she said.

“My biggest aim is accomplished now and I’ll give it my best shot in the final. Obviously, a gold medal would be a cherry on top of the ice cream.”

Her coach Jon Rudd said: “It feels a bit surreal, but now I remember the…

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Beach Volley Ball in Vilnius?

Absolutely. Here on the banks of the River Neris in front of the VCUP shopping centre.

Sports Day in Vilnius

Gedimino pr., the long avenue that stretches from the cathedral to the parliament buildings, is like a boulevard. It’s often closed to traffic for special events such as farmers’ markets.

On my last visit in June they had a Sports Day. Children were being given tuition in badminton and basketball.

There was also a fitness class for adults in full swing as you can see.

More Lithuanian success…………….

Kindadukish's Blog - I am not a number, I am a free man (The Prisoner)

Team Sky’s Sir Bradley Wiggins finished safely in the pack on stage 11 to maintain his hopes of winning the Giro d’Italia for the first time.

The 2012 Tour de France champion came home alongside his title rivals to retain fourth place in the standings.

Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali kept the overall lead and is two minutes and five seconds ahead of the Briton.

Lithuania’s Ramunas Navardauskas won the 182km stage in four hours and 23 minutes after a breakaway.

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