This winter we have a lot of snow here and weather is very cold.

Lithuania is a special country for me. It`s my motherland! It has so many nice places, and I show you the best places! So look and feel my country.

Fragments of the old pier of Šventoji. It is the pier in the  Baltic sea. This pier was renovated in 1923 – 1925. This pier  looked very nice, but now he is tumble down.

St. Anne’s Church . Church is a Roman Catholic church in Vilnius‘ Old Town, on the right bank of the Vilnia River. It is a prominent example of both Flamboyant Gothic and Brick Gothic styles. St. Anne’s is among the features of Vilnius Old Town that enabled the district to be included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Beautiful woods grew there a few hundred years ago. They were cut down or burned down during the fires.Deserts appeared in this place. Strong winds carried sand and covered up even fourteen villages. The dunes there are called “the dead dunes”.
Sandy hills stand in this place now. People planted pines around the sandy hills so that winds couldn’t destroy the dunes.
Kuršiu Nerija is a national park. These dunes stretch for even 9 kilometres

 The Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. The Baltic Sea is heart of the leisure and chill-out. Gold of the Baltic Sea is amber.

The first church in Svėdasai was built at the begining of the XVI century. Now it is always renovates. The built St. archangel Mykolas’ church is of the traditional plan and facade, only one tower is of the bizanthic form, which is alien to Lithuania. I love this church,because she is in my village. I spend my holiday there. This village have a good aura.

The forest of Šimoniai. In this forest are a lot of lakes, snares of the river Šventoji, „Monkey“ bridge and etc. This forest is between Svėdasai and Šimonys . Šimonių forest resound our flora and fauna . This forest is in my village Svėdasai too.

Aleksotas is an elderate in the southern section of the city of Kaunas, Lithuania, bordering the left bank of the Neman River .It looks wonderful nightly. In this photograph you can see all nightly
Kaunas panorama.

 Trakai Island Castle is located in Trakai, Lithuania on an island on the shores of Lake Galvė. The castle is sometimes referred to as “Little Marienburg“. After World War II, a major reconstruction project was begun in 1946; active work started in 1951-1952. The major portion of the reconstruction was finished in 1961. The castle was reconstructed in a 15th century style.

The city where I live is Marijampolė.

 Marijampolė is an industrial town and the capital of the Marijampolė County in the south of Lithuania .The Šešupė river divides the city into two parts which are connected by six bridges. The nicest object in Marijampolė is Šv. Arkangelo Mykolo church, railway station , a lot of parks and etc.

So you saw all my favorite places, where I spend my days. I love my country. It is very small, but a snug little country.

Sigita, Marijampole Rygiskiu Jono gymnasium.

Teacher: Odeta Gruselioniene

Odeta Gruselioniene, Lithuania, Marijampole Rygiskiu Jono gymnasium teacher  

Dear MARIANA RADULESCU (Scoala “Liviu Rebreanu” Mioveni, Arges),

Congratulations! You have been just awarded with the Quality Label for the work you have done in eTwinning.
All the best,
Simona Velea

such-a-beautiful-europe-ql

The story of Cracow bugle call can be found in many tourist guides. Here is one of the stories I have found on the internet::

From the tower of the Church, for centuries past, the Hejnal, or Hymn to our Lady (whose Church it is), was played by a trumpeter. He played it four times to the four winds, and he played it every hour.

One day, many, many years ago, as he played, the trumpeter saw in the distance a cloud of dust which grew bigger with every passing moment. It was a large army of Tatars galloping towards the city. These cruel invaders from the east had more than once advanced to Krakow, nay, even farther, and they had pillaged and burned, looted and murdered and carried off the young people to be slaves in their camps. The trumpeter was horror stricken. How could he warn the city, how could he convey to the people the approach of danger and give them time to prepare their defense? There was only one thing he could do. To go down into the town and spread the alarm would be foolish, for it would waste precious minutes. He must play the Hejnal, over and over. That would surely arouse the citizens, they would certainly be aware of approaching danger. So he played, again and again. At first the people of Krakow were puzzled.

Why was the trumpeter playing over and over? and with such loud urgency? But they quickly realised that it was a warning and that from his lofty tower ha had seen danger approach. The soldiers sprang to arms and took up their stations on the walls of the city. The burgesses ran to secure their houses and place their wives and children behind locked doors. The apprentices seized their arrows and their cross-bows, the artisans seizes what tools they could lay their hands on, and they all marched to the defense of their city. Suddenly, the sound of the Hejnal ceased abrubtly.The notes had reached the ears of the Tatars as they approached, and their keen eyes had espied the figure of the trumpeter. As soon as they came within bow-shot, their leader, the surest marksman of them all, loosed his bow, and the deadly projectile logged in the trumpeter’s throat.

But his task was accomplished, and Krakow was saved. Thanks to his warning, the people were able to defend their city, and they inflicted a crushing defeat on the Tatars, killing one of their princes.

And since that day, the Hejnal has been broken off at the same note on which it was broken off by the Tatar arrow in honour of the trumpeter who gave his life for the city.

The bugle from Cracow ( the Hejnal Mariacki) traditionally announces the hour on the national radio.

Below there is a video of Cracow with its bugle being played:

Gimnazjum nr18, Gdańsk, Poland