Topical: Staircases

Today's topical picture post might seem boring at first: staircases.

Lets bust that myth right away...

This picture is from Prague, and obviously depicts a crazy-ass snowboarder trying to kill himself. There wasn't even any snow, either (aside from a small pile at the bottom). Crazy and cool.

Now that that is out of the way, lets move on to some more graceful staircases...

Graceful? I guess not so much, but this winding set of stairs takes you inside the dome of St. Peter's Cathedral in Vatican City, leading to breathtaking 360 degree views at the top of Rome. It gets pretty narrow towards the summit, and you have to duck a lot.

If you guessed that these regal stairs could only belong in a government building, you guessed correctly. But which government? Why these belong to the Swedish Embassy building in Prague, my favorite spot to couchsurf!

These steps led to my hostel in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina when I visited last year. Some girls that were also staying decided to set up a cool picture by dropping these streamers down the stairwell. I decided to mooch and take my own picture.

Taken during my first tour ever, and my first time in Philadelphia to boot back in 2006, this is a staircase within Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed back in 1776. I toured the building a year later with my dad, and they did not take us upstairs that time. A pity, this is one classy staircase.

Videos from Ljubljana concert

So my father found these videos on YouTube the other day when he typed my name in, they are from my February 10th show at Tovarna Rog in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The Rog is an old bike factory that has been taken over by squatters, and they have a really cool music venue set up there. The first video is of a brand new song I wrote on my way into Bosnia, its called "Night Train To Sarajevo", and I'm glad that someone captured the song. I also have a live recording of the whole concert, so I maybe I'll have to release that some day... "Live from Slovenia". Anyways, enjoy the videos!

Pt. 1: "Night Train to Sarajevo" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_-5S81d9aU&feature=related

Pt. 2: "Song and Dance Man" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrryhnL5jNY&feature=related

Sarajevo - Finale

So me and some of the other hostel guys went out for a pretty crazy Saturday night in Sarajevo. I wont give away the details, suffice to say I might have had a bit to drink and if you're my facebook friend you can see some unflattering pictures of myself... The picture above is of me and Jim, a random American from Tennessee that we ran into. There is not a weirder accent to hear when walking the streets of Sarajevo at night than a southern accent from the U.S. Jim, who is currently helping to build the new American embassy in Bosnia, came out with us to a biker party.

This map, while probably a little hard to read, gives a good idea of the situation Sarajevo found itself in during the siege from 1992-1995. The red area all around the city is where the Serbian forces took up hilltop positions to fire on Sarajevo. The small gap in the red at the top is where the airport is, which was controlled by the U.N. forces, who had an agreement with the Serbs not to let locals use the airport.

This is a section of the tunnel that Bosnians built underneath the airport to reach the free territory on the other side. Through this tunnel was smuggled all sorts of food and other items that kept Sarajevo sane during the siege.

Another "rose".

Sarajevo at dusk.

Sarajevo - Pt. 2

One of the older mosques in Sarajevo.

This is Princip's Bridge (or Principiv Most in the native language). On June 28th, 1914 right on this very bridge Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian activist, assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his pregnant wife. It was this action that sparked World War I after Austria declared war on Serbia and the rest of the allies jumped in.

Sarajevo

A sprawling cemetery, every grave is dated between 1992-1995, the years Sarajevo was under siege. There are far too many fresh gaveyards around the city.

I climbed to the top of this hill with some excellent dudes from my hostel, Pete and Rod. We had some amazing views of all of Sarajevo. Best to stay on the beaten paths, though, they're still working on a bit of mine clearing in the hills.

Sarajevo - Pt. 1

I arrived in Sarajevo, Bosnia at 6:30 am, fresh off the night train (see my earlier post about the song I wrote on the train), and this is the first sight outside of the station. A very modern-looking skyscraper, and it feels very out of place in Sarajevo, the rest of which feels quite old and anything but modern. It is a very real city, and I feel fortunate to have gone before it becomes a tourist destination. Many scars from the war 15 years ago are still there, and you'll definitely see some bullet holes and such in my postings about the city. I have to say that up to this point (I am now in Verona, Italy) it has been my favorite destination. I will try and show the different sides of Sarajevo...

There is the war side, and you will see it everywhere you go. I think it makes the city a more interesting place to visit, as they simply don't have the money to fix it. Here is the library, which was destroyed when the Serbs that were laying siege to the city intentionally shelled it with incendiary grenades to burn the books inside and kill the city's morale.

This plaque explains it pretty well.

This is "Pigeon Square", with Sarajevo's beautiful fountain in the middle. This old part of the city feels more like a middle-eastern town, which isn't too far off because the majority of people in Bosnia are Muslim.

This is called a "Sarajevo Rose". You will find them around the city at various points in the concrete. The red fills in where a mortar hit, and honors the death of those that were killed in that spot. Most of the time it was just people waiting in line to get some bread.