A Whole Lot O' Weirdness

There is a neighborhood in Vilnius called Uzupis, which lies on the other side of a small creek, that has declared its independence, in a rather tongue-in-cheek way, and developed its own Constitution. This Constitution has 41 points, including:
- Everyone has the right to die, but this is not an obligation.
- Everyone has the right to make mistakes.
- A dog has the right to be a dog.
- A cat is not obliged to love its owner, but must help in time of need.
- Everyone shall remember their name.
Frankly, I am not convinced this was conceived in a state of sobriety. Apparently, on April Fool's Day, they will stamp your passport for you.

In the center of this part of town, atop a pillar, apparently sat this egg and nest.

Some time later, this angel "hatched" from the egg and took its place. The egg was moved across town. (Again, not a lot of sobriety going on here.)

I decided to eat lunch in this part of town, but didn't manage to meet any locals who could explain the rationale behind this craziness. But I did manage to find the world's most hopeful cats. Maybe it's because they think they have rights.

Then I moved on to another form of craziness that is perhaps just as hard to understand -- the museum at the former KGB headquarters. This exterior wall contains the names and dates of people killed by the KGB here.

The museum had a lot of creatively displayed historical information, but the part I found most interesting is the recreation of the basement prison that once housed hundreds of enemies of the Soviets.

Communications room.

A single cell could hold as many as 15-20 people. They contained no furniture, the prisoners slept on the hard, concrete floors, the light was always on for observation (and exhaustion) purposes, and the windows were covered to block the sunlight.

The walls were constantly being painted to cover any writing on the walls. This particular cell, as shown by this display, had 18 coats of paint applied.

You probably learned a lot about the KGB and Soviet occupation of the Baltics in school, so I will spare you the history lesson. Let's just say it was all the weirdness I could handle in a day.