I feel like a Jetson!

I feel like a Jetson!
Originally uploaded by matthew_reames.

(Originally written on Friday, July 27, 2007.)

Yesterday (I think that would make it Thursday...don't laugh...I put the wrong MONTH on four postcards today), I visited the Vilnius Television Tower. The tower is historically important to Lithuania. Fourteen unarmed civilians were killed and 700 were injured while trying to fend off the Soviet military during the events of January 13, 1991.

At its very top, there are lots of antennas and things like that. But 160 meters (that's 524.9 feet) up is an obervation deck complete with revolving restaurant! (Have you noticed yet the definite geekiness of my trip?)

For years I've wanted to eat in a revolving restaurant. I don't know why...it just sounds cool

And it was. I'm not sure what it was like during Soviet times, but the observation deck and restaurant level is now decorated like something out of the Jetsons (although I don't remember any origami birds in the cartoon).

(If you don't remember the Jetsons, it was a cartoon set in "the future" where everyone flew in flying saucers had robot maids, and ate in flying-saucer-like restaurants...which is where the Vilnius Television Tower revolving restaurant comes in.)

Anyway, the tables and booths are arranged on a rotating platform along the outer wall of the observation deck. The platform rotates once every hour or so (wikipedia says 45 minutes, but for me it was about 60). I had a wonderful lunch of pepper steak and baked potatoes, all while watching the Vilnius-ian landscape below.

The photo shows the seat across from me and the wall curving away in the background. Apologies for the poor photo. For some reason, at this most interesting of sightseeing sites, you're not allowed to take pictures. I saw no less than four signs telling me this. I asked my waiter if I could take pictures out the window and he looked oddly at me and said he didn't know, all the while looking worriedly over his shoulder. (Contrast this no-photo rule with the post below.)



More about the Vilnius Television Tower at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius_Television_Tower