Darbas:
dole-scroungers trying to intimidate you into buying a copy of "Socialist Worker" (which is, of course, a contradiction in terms). And as far as I know there's no bar named after Nelson Mandela.If you go all the way across the University complex from Piles gatve and leave through its western end you'll come out on the road imaginatively named Universiteto on which lies the President's Palace. The present building dates from the early 19th century and among its previous occupants was (briefly) Napoleon Boneparte (ironically, after independence the building was (again, briefly) the French embassy). Unfortunately the inside of the Palace is only very rarely open to the public.
Heading back up Piles gatve head off down the side road called Sv Mykolo upon which you'll find the Amber Museum (number 8); as well as amber jewellery, shaped amber and chunks of natural amber the museum has numerous pieces of amber with preserved insects in them, just like in Jurassic Park.
Keep following Sv Mykolo until you come to another road, called Bernardinu. Pretty much where the two roads meet you' ll find the Adam Mickevicius Memorial Appartment-Museum. Mickevicius, for those of you who don't know, is probably the best known figure in Lithuanian literature (certainly in Lithuania anyway) which is kind of ironic as he was actually Polish. The museum is housed in a former house of his (he used to study at the University) and there are various exhibits charting his life and work.
If at this point you're in an ecclesiastical bent you're in luck as there's a collection of rather nice Churches around this area. If you go to the end of Bernardinu you' ll find St Michaels Church which dates from the 17th century and now holds a small architecture museum, which includes plans of the reconstruction of Trakai Castle.. Cross over Maironio for perhaps the finest church in Vilnius, that of St Anne. This 16th century building was long thought to have been the work of German craftsmen, the thinking being that this level of workmanship was beyond their Lithuanian counterparts. It is now more or less accepted that the Church was built by locals. Napoleon liked this Church so much that he apparently wanted to take it back to France "in the palm of his hand" . The thieving, French bastard. Right behind St Anne's Church is another one, this one formerly part of a Bernardine monastery. There are no monks here now, and the Church is currently being renovated. If you're in the mood for another Church keep going South along Maironio until you reach the Persil-white Church of the Holy Mother of God. This Orthodox Church, has had a fairly turbulent history since it was built in the 14th century, having been used as, among other things, classrooms for the University, a smithy, and
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