Plungiškės visited all the streets of Vasario 16-osios in Lithuania: “All through Dalia Grybauskaitė”

It took me time to convince

“Uh … What a happy and sad feeling at the same time: two odysseys have been completed -” Collect Lithuania “and” Vasario 16-osios gatvės “, – Laima recently shared his impressions on his Facebook account. The first project, dubbed “Collect Lithuania”, it was conceived by Lina Baublienė from the Ukmergė Business and Tourism Information Center, and the second was conceived and executed by Šedvydžiai herself.

In early 2018, when Lithuania was celebrating the centenary of Lithuanian independence and Mr. Grybauskaitė was invited to offer ideas on how to mark this anniversary in the most original way possible, Laima began to turn his head and how his family will remember this memorable date, write newspaper “Žemaitis”.

Since the Masters love to travel, the idea definitely had to be travel related. And remembering that the Act of Independence was signed on February 16, he was left to shake hands. After all, are there many streets in Lithuania named after this important date for the country? Why not visit them all?

The idea is simply brilliant, but Laima’s enthusiasm did not initially captivate her husband Tom. It took time to convince her, so the inhabitants of Plungia moved on the first hike when they moved to the other side in February.

“We got a call from a reporter from a local newspaper. He wanted to write about our idea, so the man had nowhere to retire, we had to travel,” Plungiškės smiled, recalling the favorable circumstances at the time.

The first shot – 9 streets

The woman said she wanted to start the route from Samogitia, but was surprised to find that there is no February 16 street in Plungė or in neighboring Rietavas (as well as January 13 and March 11). I had to search for more cities.

With the help of maps and online search systems, 27 of the so-called streets in Lithuania were found. Determined to begin their own odyssey, on February 21, the Šedvydžiai embarked on the first and largest journey dedicated to this purpose. During his day, he managed to find and visit even the streets 9 of February 16.

“The initial objective was to get to that street, to find a house marked with the number 20, because there were so many signatories who signed the Act of Independence, they immortalized it, perhaps to have fun with the people who lived in that house, to tell them our idea, “he recalled.

But, as is often the case, life goes according to plan. “When we got somewhere, we saw that those streets are very short and there are not so many houses, or the house we need is uninhabited, or there is no table with the inscription of the street and the house number. In such cases, we look for other solutions where we could immortalize ourselves to see that we really are on February 16 street. We have photos at the ATM, at the SODRA and in the rectory, even at the bus stop ”.

On the first day, the people of Plungė managed to visit Kaunas, Garliava, Marijampolė, Kalvarija, the town of Pilviškiai in the Vilkaviškis district, Šakius, Jurbarkas, Tauragė and Šilalė. Later, they decoded those streets when taking other trips or driving to visit relatives. And this summer, she looked around to see the last one: Vasario 16-osios street in Panev Studežys.

“I tell the man – what are we doing? He is what we do, what we do. After all, it is still clear what … – the woman laughed. – This is how we recently completed the implementation of our idea, Although, in fact, finding the required street in Panevėžys was not easy. I had to go around twice because the streets around it are being repaired and traffic is prohibited. By the way, it is a lot in Lithuania now.

Traveling with children is extraordinary

There are up to 4 pups that grow up in the hedgehog family and travel everywhere with their parents. 12-year-old Saulė, 10-year-old Rusnė and 8-year-old Martyna – already schoolgirls, and the little one – 5-year-old Karolis – will march to kindergarten this fall.

Hearing that spouses travel everywhere with such an escort, the eyes of none of the surprises are opened. And the interlocutor herself does not hide that it is often difficult to reconcile everyone’s wishes and needs.

“If parents think that the children are going to sit in the car all the way without making noise, with their hands crossed and looking out the window, it is better not to leave the yard with that attitude. Because plans will fail soon. They need to give them a movie to watch in the car and stop more often, ”says Laima. And she adds that even these tricks do not always help to avoid conflicts, annoyances, fatigue.

“After each trip we say: never again. But it takes a while and pulls to reload the bags,” laughs the interlocutor.

The woman says she could now open a travel agency and help others plan their trips. And indeed: the baggage of her experience is impressive.

“When you are traveling with children, you cannot just move around regional churches and museums, because eventually the time will come when they will refuse even to get into the car. The solution is to include both objects that are of interest to adults and those that are suitable for the entertainment of children when creating a travel plan ”, advises Laima.

The Masterpieces themselves, wherever they travel, never miss an opportunity to scale the local mounds. And lo and behold, it is said that museum visitors are less and less frequent. Be that as it may, children dictate their own rhythm and, like it or not, they have to adapt to it.

The family not only mixed Lithuania but also Latvia. The 6 have flown and relatives to Ireland to visit them. And here you do not look at the tourist centers of hot countries. They say they offer entertainment in the pools and on the beaches, not for them.

“Once we went to the lakes of Molėtai. Karolis was still very small, so we got tired before reaching those Molėtai. When we arrived, we told ourselves that the next day we would just lie down stretching our legs by the lake and we would not go anywhere. And what do you think ?! When we wake up and have breakfast, maybe we lay by the lake for an hour and then maybe we go somewhere to look around?

Where is it next?

When asked which lands the family promises to explore in the future, the woman smiles and says that she will definitely find new routes. According to her, even those cities and towns where you have been before can be visited again and again, because it is difficult to see all their attractions at once. And where opportunities to travel at different times of the year, when the same landscapes are painted in different colors, are still underused.

“It’s also good to travel because then you can see how beautiful Plunge is. And how diverse our Lithuania is in general. This does not surprise us ”, she adds at the end of the conversation.