EuroBasket 2011 is over

The basketball event in Lithuania is over. For Lithuanian team it was over earlier than anyone expected. Sad.

Lithuanian team after losing to Macedonia

But it’s time to move on. We had a really great time here in Lithuania during EuroBasket 2011. Basketball was our life. I know that guests and basketball players from other countries were quite happy about the organization of the event. It’s a relief… The only ones disappointed were Lithuanian businessmen. Not so many fans as expected came to Lithuania. And those who came were not willing to pay cosmic prices for hotels, beer and food. It’s a good lesson for Lithuanians: maybe basketball is a religion in Lithuania, but in some countries people don’t even know about EuroBasket.

EuroBasket 2011: so far, so good

EuroBasket 2011 continues successfully for Lithuanian team. I believe Lithuanian team is getting better every day. We will beat French team today!

Lithuanians celebrating after beating Serbia

You can feel that there is a festival in Lithuania these days! People are crazy about basketball in Lithuania!

I live not far away from the hotel Le Meridien Vilnius where all teams (except Lithuanian) are staying. So I can hear police sirens when they escort teams from and to hotel at least 20 times a day. It’s really annoying cause it wakes me up in the morning  (I love to sleep till late…).

Mushroom picking time!

Today I will tell you about interesting phenomenon in Lithuania – mushroom picking. I know that in many western countries this is not popular at all, so I hope you will be interested about mushrooming in Lithuania.

Mushroom picking time in Lithuania starts in the middle of summer and lasts till first frosts. I believe that mushroom hunting is second favorite sport in Lithuania after basketball :) When rumors start to float around that mushrooms are starting to grow in the woods, Lithuanians take baskets, get up at 6 am on Saturday morning and go to the woods. You can actually get into traffic jam at that time :D

Mushroom picking in 2010. I have never seen more mushrooms in the woods than in the fall of 2010!

Dzukija is a region in southern part of Lithuania known of its mushrooms and berries. We even have a saying in Lithuania: If not mushrooms and berries, girls of Dzukija would be naked. People in Dzukija often gather mushrooms and berries, sell them and make money for living.

I picked all these mushrooms myself on one autumn day in 2010!