[Youth Hostel room]

The night is marked by honking and general destruction. Good job it's not just the English who are anti-social. We're up at a sensible time and graze on our supplies in the room.

[Gates of Dawn]

[St. Theresa's church]

Once I'm actually awake, we head out and walk down the road towards the Gates of Dawn, where we're surrounded by Catholic nick-nacks. There's a service going on in the chapel over the Gate, which houses a scared icon of the Virgin. There's also a service in St Theresa’s church just down the road which may or may not be in Latin. The interior is breathtaking, covered in gold detail.

[Graffiti]

[St. Nicholas' Church]

[Market]

We wander off down an alley to get lost. The area with find ourselves in is much more run down, with a huge amount of graffiti. Our random walk ends up in a market, with paintings, woodwork and other crafty stuff. Cathy buys fish, then we head to the tourist info in the nearby town square, and get a map.

The map gets us to the cathedral square, passing all manner of t-shirt and crap sellers all the way. Cathy is particularly surprised by the amount of hammer and sickle t-shirts on sale, not that anyone seems to be buying.

[The stebuklas tile]

Cathedral Square appears to be the place to practise your roller blading. The first landmark I'm looking for is the "stebuklas" or "miracle" tile, which marks one end of the 2 million person human chain which stretched for 650km from Vilnius to Tallinn to protest against Soviet rule, in 1989. These days you're supposed to spin around on it, and optionally make a wish, which is how I find it.

[Statue of Grand Duke Gedimimas]

Also in the Square is the statue of Grand Duke Gedimimas, the traditional founder of Vilnius. According to our guidebook, the stone for the plinth, from the Ukraine, was discovered to be slightly radioactive and the official advice is not to stand too close to it on two days in a row. Which is reassuring.

[Gedimino prospektas opposite cathedral]

[Cathedral]

[Museum]

[A Bridge]

We ramble on past the cathedral, through a token park to the Lithuanian National Museum where Cathy spots a bridge and has to take a photo. Then we walk round to pay for the funicular up the hill, because Cathy’s having a foot crisis. It takes more money to get into the tower, which includes

[Vilnius]

models of Vilnius’ fortifications in earlier times. Bits of armour on the next floor are less interesting. There's an unsurprisingly good view from the top.

[St. Anne's Church]

And then we disappear into the back streets again looking for St Anne’s church. Then food. We walk across town to find a cheap potato place. Cathy is disappointed by the selection and is forced to have a veggie salad. She goes wrong and has to have a McDonald’s milkshake and fries.

We walk down Gedimino Prospektas, which is in pieces all over the floor. Not quite what you expect for a major city street. We pause in Likiskiy aikske (formerly Lenin Square). It feels a bit empty without its statue. We decide against visiting the genocide museum, housed in the former KGB building and staffed by former prisoners.

[Barricades marking Russian attack on Vilnius]

[Anti-Russian graffiti]

As we continue down Gedimino Prospektas, we find ourselves in the parliament area, with is looking run down to say the least. Here also is the memorial to the defense against the Soviet Union in 1991. Absurd to think that a pile of concrete could defend Vilnius against the Soviet Union.

We decide to see about getting a tram back as we're a long way from our hostel. A tram stop isn't far away, and the guide book hints promisingly that you can pay the driver. We get on first trolleybus to appear, relying on the holistic method of navigation, and successfully pay the driver. We follow the tram route on our map, and we're pleased when it finally arrives at the train station a short walk from the hostel.