General Information

Location
The Meeting  will be held at Radisson BLU Hotel Lietuva
Address: Konstitucijos av.20, Vilnius, Lithuania. tel.: +370 5 2726200, fax: +370 5 2726210

Registration and information desk
The desk for registration, information and distribution of documents will be located at Radisson BLU Lietuva hotel Conference Center and will be open as follows:

Sunday, July 22  - 14.00-19.00
Monday, July 23 - 08.30-19.00
Tuesday, July 24 - 08.30-19.00
Wednesday, July 25 -  08.30-15.00
Thursday, July 26 - 08.30-19.00

Vilnius Tourism Information Center
Vilnius Tourism Information Center will have a desk at Radisson BLU Lietuva Hotel next to the registration office. Here the participants will be able learn about the best places of interest, museums, cultural events, entertainment, restaurants and bars in Vilnius and surroundings, receive free city guide and a map of Vilnius, also to acquire Vilnius City Card.More info about Vilnius City Card can be found here: VVC

Vilnius Tourism information Center will be open as follows:
Sunday, July 22  - 14.00-18.30
Monday, July 23 - 08.30-14.00
Tuesday, July 24 - 08.30-14.00
Wednesday, July 25 -  08.30-14.00

Badge
All Participants will be provided with a badge which must be worn at all times to ensure admission to the meeting sessions, lunches, excursions and evening social events.
Plesae note: The Partiicpants who obtained the tickets to Trakai Excursion and Gala Dinner will be provided by specially marked badges.

Coming from Vilnius Airport to Meeting Venue
No official transfer will be provided to participants.
Just outside the Vilnius airport building you will find a bus stop. Take a No.2 bus for coming to meeting venue - hotel Radisson BLU Lietuva. It will take about 20-25 minutes to get there. Your station will be - "Europe square" (Europos ikshte), i.e. 2^nd station after crossing the river. The bus fare in Vilnius city is 2 Litas if purchased at newspaper kiosks or 2.5 Litas if bought directly from a driver. Currency exchange is available close to the exit from the airport as well as the cashing mashines. Bus No 2 available from 6.14 a.m. to 23.47. The fares and schedules also can be found at www.vilniustransport.lt
The meeting venue can be reached by cabs of any of the taxi companies servicing the city. Taxis can be found curbside nearby the arrival terminal. Approximate price - 60 Litas (18 - 20 EUR)

Coach Services
No official transfer will be provided to participants from the other hotels to the main meeting venue - Radisson BLU Lietuva hotel.
For the Panoramic Tour of Vilnius including Welcome Reception, official excursions and Gala dinner  the pick up and drop off point for participants is the Main Conference Hotel - Radisson BLU Lietuva. All participants staying at the other hotels are requested to walk to Radisson BLU Lietuva Hotel.

Official language
The official language of the Conference is English. No simultaneous translation will be offered.

Insurance
All Participants and accompanying Persons are advised to insure themselves against loss, accidents and damage which could occur during the conference, social events and excursions. International Society of Chemical Ecology and/or the Local Conference Organizers cannot be held responsible.

Useful Telephone Numbers
Emergency Services – 112
Telephone Directory Enquiries - 118

Time difference
GMT +2.00 (Eastern European Time)

Climate
Climate is transitional between maritime and continental. The average annual temperature is about 6 C. The average temperature of January is -4.8 °C . The average temperature of July is 20.2 °C, fluctuates from 20.5 ° C (in Klaipeda) to 23.6 ° C (in Kaunas). The mean annual precipitation varies from 540 mm (in the Middle Lowlands) to 930 mm (on the southwest slopes of the Zemaitija Uplands). The greatest amount of it falls in August, at the seaside - in October. The vegetation season in Lithuania lasts from 169 to 202 days (the shortest - is in Eastern Lithuania, the longest - at the seaside).

Largest cities
(statistics Lithuania 2011)
City                 Population
Vilnius              542 932
Kaunas             336 912
Klaipėda           177 812
Šiauliai             120 969
Panevėžys        109 028
Alytus               63 642

Language
Official language of Lithuania – Lithuanian

Currency
The unit of currency in Lithuanian is the litas (Lt), which comes in denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500Lt notes. The coins can be divided into two categories: the significant 1, 2, and 5Lt coins; and the nearly weightless and worthless centas/centai/centų coins of which there are 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1.
The currency in Lithuania is Litas (LTL). It is fixed to EURO.
Exchange rate: 1 Euro = 3,4528 LTL.
Currency can be exchanged at the Banks or at some hotels.
Most places of any note in cities now happily accept credit cards, and ATMs dot the streets ensuring cash for everyone with money in their account and a card attached to the Cirrus or Visa network. Travelers' cheques can be redeemed for cash in hotels and banks. If you're heading out of town, cash-up before you go - it can be as hard to find an ATM in small cities and villages.

Religion
The main - Roman Catholics, but every person shall have the right to freely choose any religion or faith and, either individually or with others, in public or in private, to manifest his or her religion or faith in worship, observance, practice or teaching.

Smoking
From January 1 2007, smoking is banned in pretty much all venues. That includes cafés, bars, restaurants, clubs and any establishment that serves anything alleged to be food. The new rules only offer exceptions for 'specially equipped' cigar and pipe clubs, none of which exist. Yet.

Driving
Drive on the right, even if no one else seems to bother.
In town, keep your speed around 50 km/h unless indicated otherwise; on country roads, no higher than 90km/h. On the Vilnius-Kaunas motorway no faster than 100km/h is legal and all other motorways are 110km/h from Oct 1 - Apr 1 and 130km/h for the rest of the year.

Electricity
Regardless of where the electricity is produced, it pours out of European style two-pin sockets at 220V, 50Hz AC.

Shopping
A great place to do some comparative shopping is on Pilies street in Vilnius, where artisans, pensioners and others hock their finest works: including woodwork, paintings of Vilnius and Lithuania, hand-crafted knickknacks and, of course, things made with amber that would stretch the imagination. There are some true bargains here, and some poking around and patience can lead to some real gems.