So it snowed. The day we were leaving and, yes, it snowed. It is what we wished for before we came and we got it. At least it wasn’t Storm Henk, which had battered the UK the day before with 94mph winds in some places, and flooding yet again. If we’d been flying home yesterday it would have been a totally different story. I’m not sure if the plane would have been allowed to fly.
We had breakfast at about 8am, and then quickly went outside to capture a photo or two of the snow. It was minus 11, so I didn’t stand outside too long considering I had no coat and only had hotel slippers on my feet.
Vilnius is just magical. It is one of those places that has left me with the feeling that I need to return, perhaps when it is summer and the place will look completely different. The people are wonderful, respectful and friendly. There are still places that I need to visit both in Vilnius and further afield.
I need to also mention Hotel Relais and Chateaux Stikliai. I would say that it’s been one of the best places I’ve stayed in, in terms of customer service and value for money. Four nights cost us the same as two in central London. The room, as you can see below, was just fantastic.
There is no wonder that there is a long plaque on the wall inside the hotel, listing all the people that have stayed there – royalty, presidents and celebrities:
VIP GUESTS SINCE 1997
Royalty:
HM King Albert II and HM Queen Paola of Belgium
HM Queen Silvia of Sweden
HM Queen Margrethe Il of Denmark
HM Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
HRH Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana of Thailand
HRH Princess Caroline of Monaco
HRH Prince Turki bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet
Politicians:
The President of France Emmanuel Macron
The President of France François Mitterrand
The President of France Jacques Chirac
The President of Finland Mauno Koivisto
The President of Finland Tarja Halonen
The President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski
The President of Poland Lech Kaczyński
The President of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus
The President of Hungary László Sólyom
The President of Switzerland Micheline Calmy-Rey
The President of Switzerland Moritz Leuenberger
The President of Albania Alfred Moisiu
The President of Croatia Stjepan Mesić
The President of Austria Thomas Klestil
The President of Ireland Mary McAleese
The President of Bulgaria Georgi Parvanov
The President of Portugal Jorge Sampaio
The President of Mongolia Natsagiin Bagabandi
The President of Turkey Süleam Demirel
The President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev
The President of Latvia Vaira Viķe-Freiberga
The President of Latvia Valdis Zatlers
The President of Slovakia Ivan Gašparovič
The President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves
The President of Armenia Robert Sedraki Kocharyan
The President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso
The Vice President of USA Dick Cheney
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
US Senator Dick Durbin
The President of the IOC Jacques Rogge
The Secretary General of NATO Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
The Secretary Ceneral of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen
The President of Slovenia Borut Pahor
The President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili
The President of Iceland Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson
Celebrities:
Montserrat Caballe
Yehudi Menuhin
Mstislav Rostropovich
Riccardo Muti
Valery Gergiev
Gidon Kremer
Jeremy Irons
Helen Mirren
Woody Harrelson
Malcolm McDowell
Daniel Craig
Paco Rabanne
Krzysztof Penderecki
Vladimir Spiyakov
Naomi Watts
Violeta Urmanavičiūtė – Urmana
Pavel Kogan
Alla Pugacheva
Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Maya Plisetskaya
Inna Churikova
Oleg Yankovsky
Kylie Minogue
Rod Stewart
Yuri Bashmet
Liev Schreiber
Mikhail Boyarsky
Aishwarya Rai
John Malkovich
30 Seconds to Mars
losif Kobzon
Simply Red
Seal
Some I’ve never heard of, but plenty I had. I wonder if I’d slept in the same bed as Daniel Craig….?! 😉
So, it was the end of the trip, and we took a taxi to the airport. Security was stress free, as was the wait at the other side. We had a bit of a wait as the plane needed de-icing, but it was no bother and the flight went ok. The worst bit was getting home to find out that my boiler had packed in, but that’s another story…..
jctraveller 
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