24-Jul-2002 -- In our way home from Finland to the Netherlands we planned to fill some gaps in the Baltic countries. After two successful visits and an attempt in Latvia we had gone to Lithuania where North 54 East 24 was the only confluence on the mainland that had not yet been covered.

This confluence is located in the south of Lithuania, near the village of Druskininkai, only a few kilometres from the Belarus border. In its vicinity are Dzukia National Park and a soviet sculpture park (in Gruto) that shows a great collection of Lenin and Stalin statues and lots of other paraphernalia from the soviet era. We could park our car a few hundred metres from the spot, on a sand road that led to some allotment gardens. The spot was very easy to reach, we only had to make a small detour in order to find a bridge to cross a small river. The confluence was in a field with grass and flowers that was surrounded by the forest, so the view was almost exactly the same in all directions.