ACassel's Pages

Tag: Vilnius 2015

  • *היימ–ארבעט

    איך האָב ניט ליב זיך צו באַרימען מיט מיין יחוס, אָבער איך וואָלט פאָרט געוואָלט דערמאָנען, אַ דער זיידע מיינער איז געווען אַ שטיקל פאָלקלאָריסט. ניט קיין פּראָפעסיאָנעלער און דאָך אַ גאַנץ פעאיקער. סוף 19טן יאָרהונדערט, ווען די פּעטערבורגער פאָרשער – גינזבורג און מאַרעק – האָבן פאַרבעטן די פאָרשטייער פון דער אינטעלעגענץ זאָלן זיך פאַרבינדן מיטן פאָלק…

  • Churches

    Churches

    You can’t throw a rock in old Vilnius without hitting a church, not that anyone should throw rocks at churches, of course. Last night I stood with a few hundred others in the nave of St. Casimir’s, a gorgeous Renaissance-era structure, and heard a wonderful organ concert. There are all kinds of churches here; Catholic, Russian…

  • Mushroom hunting

    Mushroom hunting

    A lovely warm day in the forest, about 20 miles south of Vilnius toward the border with Belarus. Dima — a Russian former newspaper editor who lives here, and whose acquaintance I owe to the inestimable John Pancake — his friend Mischa, my American friend Ellen (who instigated my coming here in the first place) and I…

  • Eating Yiddish

    Eating Yiddish

    Speaking of eating, classes began yesterday at the Vilnius Yiddish Institute’s summer program, my reason for coming here. Inexplicably, I am in the advanced class, which means that after two days my head is about to explode. The teachers are scholarly, erudite and eloquent. Following along is like holding on to a roller coaster with…

  • New food

    New food

    You’d think, living in the cosmopolitan foodie U.S., that the chance of running across something totally new and unknown to eat would be fairly small. South Asian, East Asian, Ethiopian, Peruvian, been there, done that, check check check. But it’s a big world, and apparently a lot remains out there to be tasted. Witness last…