On a fine day in July I took a bus from Vilnius out to the countryside. A few hours and one flat tire later, we arrived at a festival celebrating the first King of Lithuania. Many reminded me that he was also the last, with a gleam of independence in their eye as they said it. The festival was held in a park beside a river, where three large earthen mounds had been raised about a thousand years ago as forts. Each was an acre or more on top and about 20 meters high. Below some folks enjoy sitting in the lush grass, and many more tromp up, down, and around the hill forts.