Mom and I have been covering a fair amount of ground in the old city in Vilnius.  I was going to try to avoid marching her up Gediminas Hill, but the funicular was out of service, so up we climbed.  Apparently, the city cut down the trees that stabilized the hill years ago, leading to years of work and engineering to shore it up.

They apparently admired the hippy freedom thing, and our cousin thought that perhaps he came to Lithuania and said some supportive things at one point.

Some of these pics were from my 6 a.m. walkabout this morning.  I was surprised to find that at 6 a.m. on a Sunday, the streets were mostly occupied by young people who were finishing their night, piling into taxis, grabbing a sober-up snack at McDonalds and/or just stumbling home.  Many looked surprisingly fresh, given the many hours of debauchery I presume must have preceded.  I was also surprised to be passed by a quartet in a late-model white BMW convertible who were singing, waiving, positively rocking out to “Funkytown”.

Despite the total lack of Starbucks in the country, Vilnius appears to be very current on many other American trends.  I’m seeing some hipster beards and Man Bun 2.0 hair styles.

Some fun English phrases spotted on t-shirts worn by locals:

• “Stay messy”
• “You looked better online”
• “Pizza: It’s cheaper than therapy” (on employees of a pizza shop)