I had looked at a schedule of events for the festival, and at 1:00, the schedule said that there would be concerts in the park, on the streets, and in churches. We arrived in Daugavpils at 11:30, so nothing had officially started at that point. Don asked me where we were supposed to go, and I really didn't know. (I think he was a bit frustrated with me, but he didn't say anything.) We found the street where everything was supposed to take place, and we started walking. I figured we would eventually find something. We found a pizza place along the way and bought a pizza for lunch. With Daugavpils not being a real tourist haven, no one needed to know how to speak English. Consequently, it was hard for them to understand what we wanted. We were finally able to show them, and we had our lunch.
As we were walking along, Don decided that he needed to go to the restroom, so I knew that we needed to find one for him if at all possible. Even though we were walking up and down the main street through town, there were no WCs (water closets) available. We saw a huge building straight ahead of us and decided it was the train station. We figured that there would be a restroom there. Don went to find the men's restroom, and I headed for the women's. When I first went in, this is what I saw:
Nice wooden doors, relatively clean. I admit I was relieved, because I didn't know what I would find. When I opened the door, this is what I saw:
It was a hole in the floor! I couldn't believe it. I don't think the brown stuff is poo, I think it is rust, but, whatever it is, I left immediately! Oh, it was sooooo gross! I went outside and immediately saw Don. We looked at each other and started laughing. Neither one of us had ever seen anything like that, except in an outhouse. It was the grossest restroom we had ever seen. Needless to say, Don (or I) didn't use the restroom there, either. In fact, he said that he no longer had to go. I think the sight and smell of the one at the train station was enough to scare it away! We laughed about it off and on the entire day.
We walked a ways to the other end of the street and saw a lot of buses. We eventually heard some singing. We had found the choirs. They weren't performing in the street or park. They were gathered together at the University of Daugavpils and were rehearsing. We figured out that the first group we heard rehearsing was from Lithuania. The group was fairly large, because it was several choirs combined into one group. There were a lot of singers, and there were also several instrumentalists. While some of the instruments being played were the normal ones that you would expect to hear, there were several that weren't. I went up to some of the players and asked them what their instruments were called. Fortunately, they spoke enough English that they were able to understand, and I was able to understand what they said. I assumed that, since this was a festival related to folk music, these were folk instruments from Lithuania. I looked up Lithuanian folk instruments, and these were listed. Here are pictures of them:
This wooden instrument is called a Birbyné (pronounced beer-bee-nee). It is the national
folk instrument of Lithuania. As you can see, it is made of wood. The bottom part is made
of a bone. It is played with a single reed, like the clarinet. Don thought it sounded like a
combination of a soprano sax, a clarinet, and an oboe. We would love to get one,
but they're almost $400, so we won't be getting one any time soon.
Here is a picture off of the internet of a group of guys playing birbynés.
Notice they are different sizes.
This next instrument looks like a hammered dulcimer or zither, but it is called
a kanklès (pronounced conk-less). It is the oldest string instrument
in Lithuania. It is put on a stand and played with fingers.
This next picture is another one off of the internet. It is an ensemble of
Lithuanians playing a kanklès and the birbynè.
This is a picture of a skrabalai (I didn't find out how that one is pronounced).
When I saw them being played, I thought they were sets of temple blocks
that had been put on a stand. Anyway, they look like temple blocks. They
are pitched differently according to their size, and they are played
with mallets.
I wish I could show you a picture of the instruments accompanying the choir from the Folk Festival in Daugavpils, because there weren't just one or two of the above instruments, there were a lot of them. They probably had 30-40 kanklèses and 15-20 birbynès. It was really neat to watch and listen to them. Don and I decided that the group we were watching was the group from Lithuania (duh). We didn't get to see the Latvian or the Estonian group rehearse. It started raining hard, plus it was getting late, so we decided to go and find something to eat.
Since so few people spoke English and the menus were all in Latvian, and since we didn't pass any restaurants that were appealing to us, we ended up going back to the bus station and buying some things to eat at the market there. We bought cheese and crackers, chips, grapes, and bananas. Then we sat on the cement and ate our dinner. Certainly not romantic by any means, but it sure did taste good.
That was our day in Daugavpils. I was looking online for some things to do while there, and one writer said that there were only three things there worth seeing. I don't remember what the first two were, but the third one was the "bus station, which would take you away from Daugavpils." He wasn't really impressed, and neither were we. However, we accomplished what we wanted, which was to hear some folk songs being sung. I guess I can't complain.
The bus ride back was uneventful. Oh, there is one thing -- about halfway through the 3 1/2 hour ride, we stopped for a potty break. I went looking for a restroom, and the only one available was one similar to what you would find in a park. When I went in, guess what I saw? Two girls squatting over two holes in the floor, and there weren't even stall doors to hide them! Needless to say, I left immediately, went back to the bus, and told Don. We laughed off and on all the way home.
Until next time...
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