| Submitted by: Evelyn C. LeeperUnited States |
| Submission Date: 10 February 2005 |
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Finally
we found someone eager to practice the English he had learned from
the Voice of America and we got directions; he even accompanied us
part way.
We were unable to understand the woman at the door, even when
she spoke Spanish (at least she claimed it was Spanish, but that's
about all I understood), or she us. Finally she directed us to the
fifth floor, where we waited about five minutes for them to find
someone who spoke English.
The exhibit was closed.
Somehow this didn't surprise us; by now we were used to this.
After the synagogue renovation is finished, the exhibit will be re-
opened there. My suspicion was that there was also a pro-Communist
tinge to the descriptions that may be expunged. Other than that,
I'm not sure why they would close the exhibit before it was time to
move it. Had we not been so befuddled by the heat and our constant
problems communicating, we probably would have asked more questions
about the Jewish community, but we weren't hitting on all cylinders
at that point.
We went back to the center of town, where we had some sodas to
fight the heat, then split into two groups to shop, etc. Mark and I
went through a large department store and bought some cassettes of
folk music. As in Thailand, the cassette itself isn't even labeled
(nor are the write tabs popped), but the outer label says 'All
Rights Reserved.' (Actually, we bought one that didn't even say
that--it was an Ennio Morricone cassette that misspelled his name in
one place and was *not* the album whose cover was photocopied on the
label.) We also picked up a science fiction magazine--sounding out
the authors' names in Cyrillic took a while, though. We can read
them, but not easily.
We walked around a while longer and were just about to return
to the hotel to get out of the heat when we passed a movie theater
showing what appeared to be a horror film, entitled MYXATA II. I
looked at the prices; it was 4 leva (25 cents each). I looked at
the times; the next show was in ten minutes. 'Let's go to a movie
in a Bulgarian movie theater!' I said. We didn't even know what
language it would be in, but what the heck. While we waited, there
was a little boy running around the lobby saying, 'Myxata, myxata,
myxata,' over and over--he was looking forward to it (or just liked
the word).
Not to keep you in suspense, the film was THE FLY II, a fairly
mediocre film. When the title came on the screen, it was in German,
but the film was in English with Bulgarian subtitles. It was fun to
try to recognize words in the subtitles. We sat in the balcony,
there was no refreshment stand, and people everywhere wince at
hypodermic needle scenes in movies. We also bought an Arnold
Schwarzenegger fan magazine in Bulgarian. The magazines have a very
different style of artwork than we're used to in the United States.
After the movie we took the tram back to the hotel. We
couldn't find a kiosk to buy a ticket, so Mark offered the fare to
the driver instead. She motioned us on, but didn't take the money.
Maybe she figured it wasn't worth trying to explain where we should
get a ticket. Or maybe the offer to pay is as good as paying
itself. Certainly most people seemed to get on and off without
validating tickets, though they may have monthly passes or
something. On the tram an old man tried to talk to us, but again we
had no language in common. He was able to communicate that they
would have no more Communism, only democracy, those being words the
same or similar in most languages.
Dinner was al fresco (that means 'with bugs'). There was a
good salad bar and then a mixed grill. Mary had a beer, so I got my
Bulgarian beer bottle. I didn't get my friend one from Austria, but
those are probably relatively common in the United States.
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We left the hotel and drove in circles for a
while trying to find the way out of the city. Eventually we did,
and headed for Belgrade and Yugoslavia (which still was Yugoslavia,
until June 26). The ride was enlivened by the usual history and
sociology lectures. Well, I find them interesting anyway. We were
in the Balkans, a term meaning 'fight of the beasts.' I don't know
where the name came from originally, but given the events of the
last few hundred (or even thousand) years in the area, it's
certainly apt.
We crossed the border with more of what Mark calls 'pivo
diplomacy.' ('Pivo' is Slavic for 'beer.') On the Yugoslav side,
there was someone entering with a car full to the roof with clothing
still in the wrappers. They couldn't have hoped to sneak by, so
they must be merchants who plan to sell the stuff.
The scenery became even more dramatic, with mountains and
gorges, and with many tunnels to drive through. We also continued
to see donkey carts--the Balkans seems to be an area where horse and
donkey carts are still in common usage.
Actually, since I've been through all six countries we're
visiting, this may be a reasonable point to compare and contrast
them (as they used to say in school). Yugoslavia is a country of
great variation, both physically and culturally, but in a bad state
politically. The result is the economy, heavily dependent on
tourism, is suffering. Austria is the most 'Western' of the
countries, not surprisingly, and provides a contrast. It's also the
most expensive. Czechoslovakia seems to see democracy as an
opportunity for greater artistic freedom--books, art exhibitions,
art everywhere, even an author for president. Hungary, on the other
hand, seems more interested in the free market and there is a much
more mercantile atmosphere in Budapest than in Prague. Romania is
still trying to dig itself out from under the double whammy of
Communism and Ceausescu, and the situation is still grim and
unsettled. Bulgaria is better off than Romania economically, but
the fact that they have always looked to the east, to Turkey and
later to Russia, will hamper their advancement. As a partner,
Russia/the Soviet Union is not in the best of shape. The mere fact
that the alphabet is different is a stumbling block, though Greece
provides some opportunity there. (Yes, I know the Japanese have a
different alphabet, but in general this will cause problems.)
So there's my capsule comparison. I'm sure everyone will tell
me where I'm wrong and how I shouldn't form opinions on a two-day
visit, but that's why it's buried in the middle of this log. :-)
Belgrade has been destroyed between thirty-six and sixty times
in its history (I guess it depends on what you count as destroyed),
most recently on April 6, 1941 (my mother's birthday!), by the
Luftwaffe. It seems the king of Yugoslavia signed a secret peace
treaty/alliance with Germany, but when the people found out, they
demonstrated against it and Hitler decided to invade anyway. As a
result, Belgrade is mostly a new city, with little of historic
interest. Our hotel was across the river from the older part of
Belgrade, in a new hotel and convention area. Boring!
We had originally planned to try to see the Nikolai Tesla
Museum with our spare time in Belgrade. Somehow I had gotten the
idea we had a free afternoon there, but even when it turned out that
we didn't, I thought the day of our arrival would provide an
opportunity, since the city tour was listed for the following
morning. However, this was changed to the afternoon we arrived,
with an early morning departure the next day, so we had no chance to
get there. (The 'ripple effect' from this eventually got us to
Dubrovnik early enough for a pre-dinner swim, but caused some
problems in Sarajevo, as will be related then.)
Anyway, our city tour started with us noting the long lines for
gasoline. It turned out the price was scheduled to go up a lot in
the next day or two and people were stocking up.
Our first real stop was the Church of St. Michael and
St. Gabriel, a Serbian Orthodox church built in 1840. One unique
feature of this church was its use of oil paintings instead of icons
in the iconostasis. There was also a stained glass window honoring
St. Sava (CB. CABA), who founded the Serbian Orthodox Church in
1219. A new church honoring St. Sava is being built; when it is
finished it will be the largest Orthodox church in the world and
among the fifteen largest religious structures. (I wonder if they
count things like the Temple of Karnak.) It will be 83 meters high
at its highest point (slightly less than the spire of St. Vitus'
Cathedral in Prague).
Slobodan, our guide, also said that Orthodox churches do not
use musical instruments, only human voices. We're gradually
collecting a list of differences between Roman Catholic and Orthodox
practices, but only a bit at a time.
Our main stop was at the Kalemegdan Fortress. Dating from
Roman times, this has been added to by all the successive rulers of
Belgrade. Given that Belgrade has been successfully invaded
something like sixty-six times, it doesn't appear to have been
entirely impregnable as a defense. In fact, the guide pointed out
that conquerors who built it up later found it used against them
when newer conquerors took the city.
There were many women in the park selling hand-made crochet
work. Business has been very bad for them this year--tourists are
staying away in droves.
The rest of the tour was mostly newer government buildings--
embassies and such. Included was the Parliament, notable mostly for
its statues outside of 'Wild Horses Having Fun,' leading protesters
to refer to 'horses outside, horses inside.' We also saw Tito's
tomb, large but simple. He of all the Communist leaders seems to
have remained popular, probably because he fought the Germans during
World War II and broke with Moscow shortly after the war. As a
result, Yugoslavia didn't go through a lot of the problems the
Soviet bloc countries did (such as the collectivization of farms).
Of course, this is not to say Yugoslavia is without problems.
To a great extent, Tito was what held Yugoslavia together and now
that he's done, the centuries of ethnic rivalry are resurfacing.
Everyone is busy remembering how the other nationalities oppressed
them. The Croats feel oppressed by the Serbs. The Serbs point out
the Croatian Ustase sided with Germany in World War II and massacred
thousands of Serbs. The ethnic Albanians distrust the Serbs, and so
on. Even though the pogroms of the past are less likely now, given
that the world is paying a little more attention these days,
everyone is either worried history will repeat itself or wants
reparations. Those who forget history may be condemned to repeat
it, but those who remember history may well be misled by it. Or, as
D. Keith Mano said, 'If Wilsonian self-determination were applied
strictly to Yugoslavia there would be no kingdom larger than
Greenwich Village. Yugoslavia isn't a nation: it's some form of
ethnic and political super-collider.' (NATIONAL REVIEW, June 30,
1989)
Dinner was at a 'national restaurant' a ways out of town, with
traditional music (for which they did *not* pass a bowl asking for
tips--a nice touch). |
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