A main drag doesn’t tell you everything about a city, but it does tend to concentrate activity, and thus become part of the local narrative. This is Gedimino Prospekt, roughly Vilnius’ Champs Élysées – or Broad St., if you prefer a Philadelphia analogy. In Tsarist times it was St. Georgjius Ave. After World War I, when the city was given to Poland, it was renamed in honor of Adam Mickievicz, the Polish national poet. When the Soviets took over in 1940 they renamed it Stalin Prospekt. The next year the Germans renamed it Hitlerstrasse. It became Stalin Prospekt again after the war, but after Khrushchev’s secret speech in 1956 it was renamed Lenin Prospekt, which lasted until Lithuania became independent in 1991. Now, visitors are met by Micky D and the Colonel. Draw your own conclusions.