Fortunately we were able to sleep in as I'd had way too much coffee last night at the Pizza Place (yes, I admit it... even I was able to have too much coffee!). The mess hall stopped serving breakfast before I awoke so I went to the little resaurant where they served food and disovered I had no Deutchmarks! John, Tim, Lisa and Fritz were there and John came to my rescue 'til I could change some bucks to marks. Thanks John!
Next on the agenda was going to the PX to see about those Magnum boots... let's see... 6's, 7's, 8's, 13's... damn! "We have a truck coming in tomorrow and I'm sure there'll be some in your size then!" "Thanks ma'am! See you then!". Oh well, I've waited this long...
Dean made arraingements to get us a 10 passenger van to take us all into the city of Sarajevo and the surrounding area. He has been in this region for quite a few years and was well versed in its long term history. Brad brought his video camera along and ended up with a couple hours worth of a most amazing tour on tape. As soon as I am able there will be MPEG snippets of the highlites available here for download. At the time of this writing a month has passed so forgive me if anything is overlooked.
On this tour we saw the following sites: The "Romeo & Juliet" bridge (where the young lovers, each from opposing sides of the war, used to meet until they were gunned down by snipers), Titos Palace, The Newspaper Building in Sniper Alley (shown below), the bridge where King Ferdinan was assasinated- starting WW I, the Olympic Stadium with it's unlit torch, the Luge track (shown below), the "bridge to nowhere"- a project that was abandoned before completion, a tunnel at the north end of the city where tanks were sheltered- giving them a safe place to shell the city from, The Holiday Inn / Sarajevo where the don't take American Express (...Visa OR MasterCard). Every building was riddled with holes from the shelling though many were patched up. In one area the inside walls of the houses were painted with murals by the occupants before evacuating or upon thier return, I'm unable to remember.
Everywhere we went the people were dressed like it was Sunday. In the midst of all the devistation and rebuilding, the self esteem of these people was evidant in thier dress. From what Dean was telling us, the local economy is still in a shambles. With unemployment at 80%, 15% is black market, 3% is working class and 2% is upper class. At the moment, the currency is the Deutchmark. This is soon to change as the Bundesbank is pullin out and only God or Allah knows what it will be replaced with.
At one point we got out of the car and walked the streets where the shops sold fine silk and jewelery amoung other things. Sarajevo is on what's known as the Silk Road and is famous for its silk brought in from the east. Beautiful scarves and dresses were everywhere. I was able to buy a small scarf for my sister Nora for her recent birthday... we also stopped at a cafe to get some fine, fine coffee! A pretty little girl came up to the table where we sat and was swooning all over Johnnys long hair. Quite flattered with all the attention, he was taken aback slightly when it became apparent that she was begging. "You don't love me for my hair- you only love me for my money!" How was she to know we were dirt poor musicians that volunteered to visit her country to play for the peacekeepers, living on a per diem?
As soon as the war ended, CNN and the presses of the world left the country and it's people to go cover the "next" war elsewhere. That was some years back and although the rest of the world no longer thinks about it, Bosnia i Herzegovina is doing what it needs to to rebuild itself. And that's why the job the SFOR (Stabilization Force) troops are doing is such an important one. And why Uncle Albert is here to give them any little show of support we can.
(LEFT:) The Newspaper building in Sarajevo. There are estimated
to be anywhere from 50 to 135 bodies remaining in the ruble that are
unretreivable. The plan is to clear away around the structure but
leave the tower in tact as a memorial to those who lost thier lives.
(RIGHT:) Dean Butler showing us around the luge track (a turn of the
track can be seen behind us) used in the '84 Winter Olympic Games. I
heard that the International Olympic Committee has designated
Sarajevo as the site for the 2004 Winter Games. If that's correct, I
plan on going back.
UA plays for the multinational NATO/ SFOR troops at the BUTMIR
Base, Sarajevo 09, July, 99.
