details

ok, ive stopped in to an internet cafe so that i can use a proper keyboard. the hostel has this weird rubber pad with touch buttons that basically have to be pressed one at a time. its awful.

ill sum up the time in budapest first. it really did rain there the whole time i was around. i went for a few walks, and on the last day actually got in a good tour of the central part of the city. i was out with a guy named robert, and we put in a full day walking tour of the castle hill district, then across the river to tour around the cathedral and the parliament. theres a building across the street from the parliament where there was a machine gun massacre many years ago. theyve filled all the bullet holes int he building with these large steel balls, so that you can walk around there and actually tell where the shooters were by the placement of the holes in the walls and pillars. very interesting.

another highlight was a place called Heroes Square. the statues here were unbelievable. it took a million phots. matt, youre going to love some of them. the central area has this hugely tall spire with a statue on top of it, but at the base, on an elevated platform, are 7 medieval horseman outfitted in hungarian battle dress. these things are like 20ft tall weathered bronze (meaning theyre green and black), and theyre all carrying huge axes and maces, swords, armour, shields, etc. one of the horses had these stag antlers strapped to the side of its face, and man did it look bad ass. it was bamf. hope those pics turn out well.

otherwise budapest was ok but not brilliant. sarajevo, however, is brilliant. the hostel here was, as i mentioned earlier, a little overwhelming at first. looking back, i can understand why - weve all become good friends in a matter of days, so new people walk in a feel like theyre imposing themselves on an established crowd. the beauty is that you can -establish-yourself in a matter of hours.

by the way, theres no apostrophe to be found on this keyboard, but otherwise its nearly normal. the only other weirdness is the z and y are reversed. when it gets weirder ill start using my magic keyboard translator, but at this point its not necessary.

so, Sarajevo. wow, this city is amazing. the people are very nice and the old town is brilliant. its not exacty the most beautiful place youve ever seen, but its picturesque and macabre at the same time. There are still many, many signs of the war that was fought here. the city was under seige from the serbian army four 4 years between 92 and 95, and the evidence is everywhere. theyve rebuilt the majority of it, but the patchwork is still evident and there are bullet holes all over the place.

today we took a tour of the city with Haris, the host of our hostel. we went to the tunnel museum, which is the old house from which the Sarajevans built a tunnel underneath the UN-held airport to open territory on the other side. the Serbs had them boxed in except for a narrow route through the north, and the airport blocked access to that escape. the UN would apparentlz not allow them to cross for fear of losing their impartiality, so the serbs built an 800 meter tunnel. throughout the war over 3 million crossings were made to bring in food and weapons to the 250000 people that remained in the citz. they had a movie that they played for us that had footage of artillery shells landing amidst cars dodging and weaving down the street, and sides of buildings being blown off while people tried to escape by climbing down the rubble. crazy.

Haris himself is actually only 19 years old. he and his parents decided to open a hostel in order to pay off the loan they had to take out in order to rebuild the 2nd storey of their house. Haris is the only one that speaks English, so he basically runs the place while the family lives downstairs. i understand that theyve almost paid it off, which is pretty impressive given that they had over 40000 Marks to pay. thats 20000 euro or roughly 27000 CDN. theyve done it in three years, at the same time aquiring a nice van to do tours, modern laundry, vacuum, etc etc. The only downside is they have to put up with 25 rowdy travellers every day!

the old town is very neat to walk around, and its particularly cool because all the locals frequent the shops, cafes and restaurants too, so you dont feel like your getting ripped off by buying and eating there. A .5 liter beer is around 2CDN and a basic meal is about 4. a nice meal at a nice restaurant where you sit down and are served can be had for less than 12 CDN with a couple beers. sweet!

So far Im way under budget, so im going to try to do something interesting in montenegro, like head up to their national park and go whitewater rafting or something. the weather appears to be breaking, as the clouds are randomly parting today and letting through some very strong sunshine. its pretty much off and on still, with bits of rain, but it should get hot and sunny again soon.

people here seem to think that my plan to hit northern albania and then go into kosovo is a good one. i hope itll be relatively easy to figure out. more on that as it develops.

next ill be going to Mostar and then Dubrovnik, where i want to do a sea kayak tour if the weathers nice. One more full day here in sarajevo before leaving, and ill be traveling to Mostar with a friend named Tim. We may go on to dubrovnik together too, although well be splitting there as hes booked ona one week cruise of the dalmatian coast, while ill be going south into montenegro. anyway the train to Mostar is supposed to be beautiful, so were going to get up early and take the morning train isntead of the one at 9pm so we can do it during the day. ill try to update again once im there, but i am planning a shorter stay in mostar, so it might not happen until dubrovnik. i guess that will be thursday or so. man, its hard to keep track of which day it is. i love it!

hope all is well back home. thanks for all the comments thatve been left, its a treat to read them!

cheers,
bms