Hill of Crosses near Siauliai, Lithuania

Before we traveled, I found a brief description of this spot in some guidebook or on some website.  I was determined to get here, and we were fortunate to find it was directly in our path from Riga, Latvia to Vilnius, Lithuania.  We made a three night stop in Siauliai, Lithuania (the nearest town) and this was the highlight of our stay here.  Took a rural bus towards Joniskis, Lithuania and hopped off at an almost unmarked bus stop in the countryside.  A two kilometer hike towards the hill and we found ourselves surrounded by over 200,000 crosses and many more spirits, wishes, dreams, and final resting places of thoughts.  The Soviet occupying forces bulldozed this hill to the ground repeatedly in order to break the will of the Lithuanians.  However, each and every single time they obliterated the hill, it would appear again, with a single cross, under the cover of night.  It is rumored the Soviets even considered building a dam nearby to flood the area and put it permanently under water.  Over and over this tug-of-wills took place until the Soviets finally gave up.  It exists until this day, showing that the resolve of a single man can surmount the terror of millions.
A special day in no way diminished by the gray clouds, if anything the weather helped bring us back down to Earth and see and be among what was directly before us.
(these are several videos of our arriving along the path, and walking among the crosses)

http://youtu.be/9uS2XM-py8Y

http://youtu.be/B_c50HrJwyk

http://youtu.be/sr1oNuaMEbg

http://youtu.be/0ZWzZ6hDUq8