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.

Zagreb

My introduction to Croatia, and the Balkans, was a bumpy but interesting one. Immediately upon crossing the border into Croatia the train was stopped and we were all told that we had to get off to catch a bus that would take us to another station where we would then hop on another train. No explanation was given, and I was extra confused because none of this was in English and I had to get an Austrian kid to translate for me. It turns out that there had been an accident up ahead on the rails involving a tractor, so we were taking a bus to get around that section of track. While on the bus riding through a country road, I saw a semi rolled over and lots of police gathered. Accidents abound in Croatia. It was all taken with good humor though, and I was surrounded by some good folks to laugh about it with. The picture above is the second, graffiti-covered train that finally brought me to Zagreb, Croatia's capital.

It was my first nice sunny day in awhile, and it was fairly warm outside, so I finally got to see some Europeans enjoying the outdoor cafe culture. I only had a six hour layover in Zagreb before catching my night train to Sarajevo, so it was all R&R for me as well. I found a nice park bench to watch the sun set over Zagreb...

I found another park bench to relax on while waiting for my train. It felt like a warm spring night, and it was very relaxing.

Vienna: The Gig

Radio appearance on Austria's state radio station earlier in the day. Klaus is sitting closest to the camera, he is the most awesome dude who booked this most excellent gig for me.

I was opening for Mark Geary, and Irish songwriter raised in the U.S., think Damien Rice or David Gray. He has really wonderful lyrics, and I've been listening to his cd a lot since he gave it to me. Check him out.

Playing my opening set

I handed my camera to someone in the crowd to take these pics.

Mark in motion

Vienna: Schonbrunn Palace

The day of my gig in Vienna, I took some time in the morning to visit the fabulous Schonbrunn Palace, "Vienna's Versailles". The Hapsburg emperors of the Austo-Hungarian Empire lived in this huge palace. I toured the right hand side, where the royal apartments are, and let me tell you, its pretty posh. Unfortunately, they did not allow photography inside. I guess you'll just have to settle for the view from the outside...

This is a victory monument for some obscure Austrian battle, and it was built on a hill overlooking the palace.

This is the view from the monument.

Vienna

Compared to Budapest, Vienna had a much more bustling, tourist-friendly, commercial scene. In one way it made Vienna more exciting since there were more people out and about, but I really loved how un-touristy Budapest was.

The American Bar with a really cool exterior! Had to go in for a (1o euro!) gin & tonic.

The central Palace for the Austrian Empire back in the day. In my next post you'll see where the emperors actually lived, Vienna's Versailles...

Vienna's plague column. Many European cities have one, and I ran into one in Budapest as well. They were usually built after the plague to give thanks to higher powers for sparing citizens.

Vienna's beer man is nowhere near as cool as the Polish ones.