Uzupis

In April 2007, my two sisters Dinah and Cynthia and I took a trip to Lithuania to look into tracing the Pikarsky family line. This was only made possible due to huge support from my Bear.

Three easily distracted creative types, trying to fit as much as we could into three days, we all got slightly sidetracked.

Wandering off through the backstreets of Vilnius (as is my usual way in new places) we found ourselves veering off over the river into the weird commune of Uzupis. Photo opportunities? ...oh yes...

Declared an independent republic in 1998, Uzupis is a picturesque suburb of Vilnius, where locals have their own president, national anthem, a flag for each season and the Dalai Lama as an honorary citizen.

On April 1 each year, mock border guards stamp visitors' passports, but the most absurd thing about this place is its constitution, which has 41 points of varying madness, including giving inhabitants the right to cry and the right to be idle.
The Lithuanian authorities take a fairly relaxed attitude towards Uzupis. Hitler or Stalin may not have been quite so liberal.

www.vilnius-life.com/vilnius/uzupio