Day of Rest, sort of

On Sunday, we were scheduled to fly from Vilnius to Warsaw to begin the Polish portion of our trip. When we were walking around on Saturday, we had learned that the Vilnius marathon was taking place on Sunday. After inquiring around, and also checking the marathon route online, we learned that the marathon route began and ended at Cathedral Square, making a circular route around the central part of Vilnius, with our B&B located within the circle. We also learned that the roads will be closed at 4 a.m. and won't reopen again until 4 p.m. Since we had to get to the airport for an early afternoon flight, that meant we needed to leave our B&B before 4 a.m. So we got a very early start Sunday morning - not by choice, but by necessity. We therefore spent a large part of the day at the Vilnius airport, trying to sleep in the very uncomfortable world of airport chairs. So our Sunday really was, in a way, a day of rest.

We eventually flew to Warsaw, where we rented a car and drove 3 1/2 hours east to Bialowieza National Forest.

When we arrived at our hotel - Hotel Zubrowka - we were tired and hungry, so we went to the hotel restaurant to get something to eat. Some of the menu items were: Bison tartare with tufts of grass, quail egg, and wood sorrell; Matjas herring served with salmon caviar and pickled onion; Wild boar carpaccio, long-maturing cheese from the Frontier's farm and bison grass flavored oil; and Bison dumplings with goose gravy lard. Very few items were recognizable.

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