15 Degrees

I just had the unfortunate luck of coming into the building as my landlord and neighbor were waiting for the elevator and so I had no choice but to join them in the cramped 1962 lift as they tried to talk to me in Slovak up the five stories. I only understood two words, “me” and “good” , and as we were getting out, I wondered if that meant the landlord wanted to come into my flat, to the squalor I call comfortable, and show me once again where the cheese grader is located and then count the forks to make sure I hadn’t heisted any (which I had and it’s still sitting on my desk at work covered in old salad dressing and cheese – perhaps not long into becoming one with the trashcan). Instead, they just wanted to come in and make sure my windows were closed.

They’ve been closed since I moved in in December. But today, for the first time, the sun came out, the temperature skyrocketed to 15 degrees and the windows should have been wide open, allowing spring and everything else good and fresh, to come in and get rid of the winter. But, I was out enjoying the day, basking in a T-shirt and sandals with no socks (for an hour anyway) and so they remained closed and I remain in the good graces of my landlord for another few days.

But how long do the windows have to stay closed for?

Mostar, BiH

Mostar, in the Hercegovina section of Bosnia and Hercegovina, shares much of the same history and fate as Sarajevo, but not the money. I think the pictures speek for themselves. I will note, however, that the old town is unique and stunning and totally free of tourists, or anyone elso for that matter.

Sarajevo

It is by far the most unique city in all of Europe, and also the place with the most history. Having had three wars in one century, Sarajevo can put to it’s honors the only city with four dominant religions (Muslim, Catholic, Orthodox and Judaism) in a few square blocks, the spark that triggered WWI, the longest siege in history (3 years), the Winter Olympics (1984), and a spirit that keeps the city still going as vibrant and incredibly beautiful. Even in the snow.

All of Sarajevo’s history is clearly shown in the architecture.First you have to old Turkish section of the city which has been a bustling arts center since the Ottoman-Turkish Empire.Most notable is that all of the buildings are only one or two stories, (the only ones I’ve seen in Europe) which lets you see the sky and the Mosques and not feel so claustrophobic as you normally do in the four and five story Austria-Hungarian Empire architecture you can find just two blocks away.

The Austrians came in 1878 and obviously people weren’t so happy about it since they shot the heir to the Habsburg dynasty, Archduke Franz Ferdinand,on this street corner in 1914. This set off a little thing they like to call World War One. Funny how those things we read in textbooks in high school actually start to make sense when you see the places.

Then 1992 happened. Yugoslavia was breaking apart, first with Slovenia, then Croatia, only a little problem seemed to happen when Croatia and Serbia thought it would be best to share Bosnia instead of letting them go on their own. Serbia laid siege in the city and for three years Sarajevo was closed off from the world.

Except for one place, the tunnel, which was dug by the Bosnian army under the airport to connect to the free part of Bosnia and allow in food, oil, and telephone wires, and let the people out.

The same family has been living in this house all of this time, and they have made a small museum, complete with home footage of the Serb shelling on the city. I was touched by the museum until later that afternoon when I met up with a local girl (friend of a friend), Mersiha, who asked what I did that day. “Oh, I went to the tunnel museum.” And without missing a beat she replied, “Oh, I haven’t been there. Well, since it’s been a museum. I went through twice during the war.” And I went from being touched to being floored. And this feeling continued for the next few days as I heard numerous stories of the war, all of which seem so crazy and unreal, and heartwarming and magnificent and scary and everything else, too.

Two last pieces of architecture, though, will sum up Sarajevo. The first are the scars of the shelling on the city. Some have been filled in with red rubber to make “Sarajevo Roses”, others remain the same. The second is the 10,000 graves that now line the hillside overlooking the old town and the city they tried to protect. If you are ever going to come to Europe on vacation, I cannot express enough that Sarajevo must be on your itinary.

March Madness

It's not basketball, it's the fact that someone forgot to end winter. Here we are on the forth day of March, and still, huge snowflakes are falling from the sky as if it were January. Will it ever end??? (oddly enough, I wrote the same thing a year ago...but it still just doesn't seem right. Isn't March part of Spring? )

Forget this winter stuff, I'm moving to Honduras. Rain forests, monkeys, two oceans, and four seasons of summer. I'll be there the first week of August, so feel free to visit when you're sick of the snow.