The Three Muses of Vilnius

We had an unremarkable flight on SAS out of Dulles yesterday; that's the way we like it.  From Copenhagen we flew to Vilnius, where we recovered our six monstrous pieces of luggage.  We wrestled our suitcases onto the train into the city center, where we then had to hire a taxi to take our luggage to the Novotel.  Really, we should have just hired a taxi at the airport. 

After dinner, we ventured out into the Arctic chill to explore our neighborhood.  We had a few things on our must-do list, including the money museum, the KGB museum, and a work of sculpture by a Lithuanian artist named Stanislovas Kuzma.  And so we were delighted to find the last one of these at the front of the Lithuanian National Dramatic Theater not two blocks from our hotel on Gedimino Prospektas.  Most sources identify these three muses as Calliope, Thalia, and Melpomene, representing drama, comedy, and tragedy, respectively.  As you can see (above), the composition is a stunner.

After a good night's sleep, we have a short to-do list for today, Wednesday, January 29.  First, we'll check in with Rasa Baukuviene at the U.S. embassy, then have lunch with Rasa and Nina Murray, cultural attache at the embassy.  This afternoon we have a coffee date with Ariana Rastauskaite, cousin of my Ohio State colleague, Stacy Rastauskas.  That leaves all day tomorrow for full-time tourista duty.