The end of the trip is going very quickly, which is one
reason I haven’t been posting as much. There’s not much time. Currently, I have
a little time on the bus between Sarajevo and Vienna – about 12 hours – but
I’ve also been editing pictures, so I’ve only got 38% left on my battery. So I
must type quickly.
The kids have enjoyed Sarajevo more than I thought they
would. So far, 3 of the students told us that starting in Vienna and saving
Sarajevo for last was awesome because if we had started in Sarajevo, they
wold’ve had a tougher time adjusting. Vienna is not unlike the US – big city,
lots of people, shopping – but Sarajevo is a bit of a different world. One of
them said to me, “When we first drove in, I was really kinda scared and figured
I’d spend the next 3 days in the hotel room. But it was good that you took us
out immediately and showed us around. Then I wasn’t scared, and now this is my
favorite place we’ve visited.” Which is exactly the reason we wanted to bring
kids here - they unfortunately would never come on their own. And I understand
that because I also would have never visited Sarajevo on my own. If hubby
hadn’t asked me to go with him, it would still be a city I’ve never visited.
But of course, once I got there and got used to it, I enjoyed myself. And I
enjoyed myself this time. Burek is super tasty, and it confirmed that I am
making it right. It was nice to walk around the bacsarija, and we even got to
see the green drapes in our old apartment from the road. We went out to the
Tunnel Museum again, and hopefully I took some better pictures, though I have a
stellar one from the last visit. We had a guided tour of Sarajevo and the
Tunnel Museum, so we went to a few places I hadn’t been to before, like up to
the old ruins that gives a great view of the city and surrounding mountains. At
the end of our trip, we watched footage from the war, and it was a terrible way
to end the tour. That should’ve been first because by that time, we had been
told that we were done, and we were hungry and were ready to go, and then we
had to sit and watch 10 minutes of graphic, horrific scenes. I couldn’t watch.
At first I did, but then I started crying and had to look away. There were
pictures of the massacre just up the street from where we stayed. I honestly can’t
imagine how Sarajevans lived for 4 years running across roads, trying to dodge
bullets. There was footage of a sniper taking out legs of people and their
friends having to drag them to get them to safety. A mother held her child, not
more than 2, and ran as fast as she could so they didn’t get shot. Thank god
they didn’t. There was no water, no electricity, no heat. And Sarajevo is in
the mountains. It makes me so sad and at the same time infuriates me. This is
still happening today, only this time it’s in Syria. It’s in Darfur. It seems
like it’s everywhere. There is no room for violence in this world, and to those
people who ask why the US has to always get involved in other people’s
business, the reason is because it’s everyone’s responsibility. Everyone in the
world should do their part to end any war that is happening. It’s everyone’s
responsibility to end needless suffering and killing of people. In Sarajevo,
1600 children were killed during the almost-four-year siege. 300 grenades a day
were dropped on the city. Our guide was 5 years old when this happened, and
mostly I think he’s desensitized himself from the war in order to be able to
talk about it to tour groups, but I just think that he might have been one of
the kids who died and how lucky he was that he didn't. So after that video, I had to leave the group because I was
just falling apart. I cried over my burek at a restaurant, and then I went back
to the hotel to try and process my emotions. Afterward, I was able to go back
out with some of the students, but it still weighs heavy on my heart. This war
did not get my attention when I was a teenager; I barely knew about it. I was
so ignorant, and I feel terrible about that. But I also feel very strongly that
we as a nation need to step in and help like we did with Sarajevo, and we need
to do it before 8000 people are killed in 2 days as was the case in Srebrenica.
Aside from the tour ending on a sad note, visiting Sarajevo
has been wonderful. The kids were able to do some shopping, as was I, and while
I was waiting for the Laundromat to open, I got to chat with a grandmother who
was watching her 11 month old grandson for her son. He was a small, fat little
boy with feet that were about as wide as they were long, and he liked holding
onto her wallet and keys. It was darling to talk to them and essentially play
charades because I am woefully deficient in speaking Bosnian, which I’ve
decided never to be again. So this coming year, I will attempt to learn Bosnian
like I’ve attempted to relearn German. That way, I’ll be ready for next year.
Before we hopped a bus to Sarajevo, we spent 2.5 days in
Split, Croatia, and that was vacation. We stayed at the Radisson Blu, which is
swanky. They have a spot on the beach, along with a bar, and they have two
pools – one indoor and one outdoor. It was a lovely place to stay. Our room had
a view of the Adriatic. I even went swimming in it. Not only was it freezing,
but it was super salty, which surprised me more than the temperature did. I was
in for about 2 or 3 minutes before I decided to come out. The students of
course stayed in longer. The only downside to staying at the Radisson was that
it was about a 2 mile walk into town. It was along the Adriatic part of the
way, so it’s very scenic, but still, arriving in town all sweaty was not much
fun. But Split itself is very beautiful, and Diocletian’s Palace is
interesting. You can see history piled on top of it, year after decade after
hundreds of years. People even have apartments in it. How cool would it be to
say that you live in Diocletian’s palace?
We still have about 7 hours left on the bus before we arrive
in Vienna for the next day. The students leave on Wednesday and we leave on
Thursday. One student will be flying back with us because she booked the wrong
dates, and another is hopping a train to Slovenia to visit family and will come
back a week or two later. So the next couple of days will be filled with
kaesekriner, French fries and lots of walking before we head back on Thursday.
I’ve had a great time, but I am looking forward to seeing my son again. I’ve
missed him a lot. And now, some pictures.
We went to Krka National Park, which is about an hour or so away from Split in Croatia.
Monastery
These were taken at the end of the day:
