Um.. . Tunj

The "token" baroque church.  They also have a Jewish temple or two, dozens of mosques, and a few christian chruches (catholic, orthodox, ect, ect.)

Perhaps we have not fully given you a glimpse of what seperates Sarajevo from the modern world that we all live in.  Let's attempt to give you that glimpse by describing our trip to the National Museum.  It is important to note here that we really wanted to go to this museum because there was an exhibit "Sarajevo Under Siege" which portrays life in Sarajevo during the war that we really wanted to see.  In fact, we wanted to go to this museum so badly that we decided not to do an offered tour we were otherwise planning to do (paid more money to go on a shorter tour) because the museum hours would not have fit with the original tour plan (note:  museum hours short and spotty- our first hint).

So as to not sweat our clothes all the way through, we decided to take the tram to the museum rather than walk the whole way.  The tram ride was sweltering hot, so hot that your arms slipped off the person that was packed in next to you.  Janna ended up next to the ticket validation machine, and got to play ticket validator for a good 8 or so people that could not get to the machine themselves.  By the time we oozed off of the train, faces were red and we were thrilled that we had guessed and gotten off at the right stop (we knew this because we could see the famous Holiday Inn that we knew was near the museum).  Somehow we got quite lost enroute, but found ourselves again and made it.  Paid the entry fee of approximately $2.50 (it is only 1.25 for locals) and asked where the toilet was.  We were directed upstairs to 1 of two of the museums exhibits. 

Well, there was no bathroom up there but the exhibit that we wanted to see was there so we started looking.  It was a crazy juxtaposition.  The material (the pictures, the artifacts, the descriptions) was very powerful and well organized and thought-provoking and non-biased.  Really exceptional quality.  But at the same time, these beautiful, impressive authentic (original) photos and newspaper articles were mounted literally on a contstruction paper background covered with plexiglass.  The construction paper was faded and you could notice sometimes where a picture or description had slipped down, revealing the original darker color of the background.  There are all of these homemade guns and other household items that people of Sarajevo made while the city was under siege (for almost 4 years- the longest siege of a city in modern history) in unsealed cases.  It was honestly heartbreaking to think that in 10 or 20 years the artificacts will begin to be destroyed.  We should add here that it was probably 95 degrees in the museum room with skylights letting the sun fade everyting.  The humidity was also quite high.  Along with the other 2 people in the museum, we were dripping sweat.  Remember, this is the National Museum of Bosnia Herzegovina and most of their pictures and information will be destroyed at some point in the reasonably near future. 

After 1.5 hours of sweaty reading and looking, we could not handle the heat anymore so did not look at the exhibit about Sarajevo's history before the recent war.  As we headed downstairs to try and really find the bathroom on our way out, smoke filled the stairwell- of course smoking is permitted in the National Museum.  The windows on the stairwell were so grimy that you almost could not see out.  Sue asked where the WC was (toilet had not worked before obviously) and we found it.

Sarajevo is an old beautiful city that has a lot of hidden charm a huge amount of potential.  It is vibrant, there are lots of young people, there are beautiful old buildings and a rich history.  The countryside around the city is absolutely breathtaking.  But the city has a lot to do to reach be a touristic charming mecca.  There would be a marked difference if just trash were picked up from the river and the side of the road, if windows were cleaned regularly and if lawns were mowed.  So, back to the bathroom.  Another perfect example of Sarajevo.  There was no working light inside the unisex bathroom and therefore the door could not be shut all the way and we needed to stand guard for one another.  Luckily, the only other person at the museum was still upstairs.  There was toilet paper (better than the experience Sue had at the Tunnel Museum earlier today) and it hung in a grocery bag on the door handle.  The sink "worked" but the handle was broken so it took some jerry rigging  to turn on and off and there was certainly no soap or anything to dry your hands on.  Remember, the National Museum of Bosnia Herzegovina.  At this point, we were so hot and hungry that we had to go outside (we had been hoping for a small cafe or ice cream stand or water at such a famous museum, but we were wrong).  Luckily, we had a can of tuna stashed in our bag, so in the relieving coolness of the 90 degree ouside temperature, we ate our can of tuna (they make tuna here that comes in a can with corn and beans and tomatoes and green beans and has a pop top- it is called mexican tunj- AMAZING food by the way).

Not cat food, yummy human tuna-drianed.  Unfortunately all tuna here seems to be in oil.  We can find no Tunj in Voda.  See the beans?  (Well, 99% sure it is human tuna.  Our Bosnian isn't 100%).

Sue draining the tuna on the muesum steps.  Notice the grass growing around the tiles.  Don't worry, the can made it to the dumpster two blocks away (don't even ask if they recycle here)

Something we have picked up from talking to Sasha (the man at the restaurant last night) and our tour guide (Heron) today is that the people of Sarajevo  worked so hard just to survive during those four years, that many of the people are now content just surviving.  The official unemployment rate is about 50%.  I guess that we need to remember that so many children died and so many civilian men and women died during the seige that the scars of war are not gone.  Even though 80% of the buildings have been rebuilt, they still remember.  For young adults our age, their childhood was wrecked by war and they remember that.

The very ugly, expensive (some rooms as high as $600/night) and visible "Holiday Inn"

Earlier in the morning, before the museum event, we went on our first "guided tour" of the summer.  It was a three hour tour highlighting the war in Sarajevo (do you sense a theme of what we are interested in??).  Our tour guide, Heron, a 17 year old boy was very patriotic and enthusiastic and very adamant with his views.  If only for the point of view that we heard throughout the three hours from him, it was definately worth our time and money.  It was remarkably interesting to hear someone unabashadely tell their story and share their view (and presumably the view of atleast some other citizens of Sarajevo).

In the background, the white and darker large swirl is a civilian cemetery from during the siege.  It used to be a park.  The whiter makers are the graves of Mulsim people(Bosniaks), while the darker graves are those of the Christans (Catholic Croats, and the Orthodox Serbs that stayed behind to fight with the city's defenders)

If you are having trouble seeing it in the picture, look just above the three identical towers.  It is much larger than it seems.  

It definately feels like time to move on, because you would need to stay a week or more to delve much deeper into the city.  At some point, we'd like to be back here to explore the Bosnian countryside in greater depth; it truly is a beautiful place with a very rich history and wonderful, kind, helpful people.

Janna in front of the house that hid the tunnel under the airport.  It was a half mile long tunnel that helped goods reach the city.  What you see on the house are marks from bullets and grenades.  It was the only way for injured people to get out. We saw a statistic at the museum that the hospital took 106 recorded direct hits during the siege.  A maternity hospital was completely destroyed. 

Sue climbing out of the tunnel.  It was only 1.6 meters tall, so don't even think about trying to stand  up straight.

As a side note, we should mention here something else that we have noticed.  Every time someone from here (Bosnia, Croatia, Dutch girls at dinner, etc.) finds out we are from America, they first ask what we think of Obama and then tell us how much they loved Bill Clinton.  He is a hero to many of the people here.  It is so interesting that they mention someone who has not been president for 10 years (here especially- when he became president in '93 he tried very hard to intervene and end the war but apparently England and France would not go along with the plan).  But that's a whole other story.  By the way, we heard that Chelsea Clinton got married, that it cost 3 million dollars and that "Hillary looked dashing in fuschia."  May not be true, but that's what they're talking about on this side of the ocean.

For anyone who would like more information on the breaking apart of Yugoslavia or the seige on Sarajevo or the opinion of people that we spoke with here (especially Heron's opinion) we have a lovely new turkish tea set and would love to serve you tea and tell you more stories when we return to the ZDA (Bosnian for USA).

The man who made our tea set.  This is his hot little shop.  He showed us how he uses the tools. He leared how to work copper from his father. 

This is the WWII monument that now is in the Serb state.  It is in quite a state of disrepair.  There are parts you can't get to on the monument becuase it is snake infested.

P.S.  Aimee V. Are you seriously moving on our street?  Route 4, or Harvard Drive.  We are super excited either way.  What type of tea do you like?