Third Set of Photos

After our garden walk in the morning, we went to the Memorial to Tito who was president of Yugoslavia after WW II.  Yugoslavia actually means South Slavics and was many combined nations that we were now visiting.  These countries were behind the Iron Curtain after WW II and our tour guide said about the situation "the Russian bastards forgot to leave and life under them was no better, and in some cases, even worse."

Tito was the best of the communist leaders that we studied on our trip.  He didn't lean too far to the east or west and stayed on the fence as much as possible to use that position to gain from both fronts.  He did use the available labor and resources to rebuild the country and was better to his people than most.  After his death the whole scenario fell apart, the individual former countries went to war and the geography I learned in school went kaput and now there are all these small countries again trying to make a go of it.

We traveled through 8 countries that had 8 languages and 8 currencies.  Our Serbian program director said what she envies most about the U.S. is our common language, common currency and we are ALL Americans.  On the football fields we may be Semnioles or Gators but that doesn't define our allegiance to our country.

A look at St. Sava's Cathedral from the gardens.

Ted's contribution to our photo contest, take a picture of a lady in a red dress.

 
Flowers in the Tito gardens.  Very nice landscaping throughout the place.

Tito's grave.  His third wife is buried next to him.  She died not too long ago.

Kara's up next with a local standing at a fountain.  Did you notice the pretty girl and handsome young man Kara and Ted got compared to our waiter I got?

We traveled down into town and visited St. Sava's Cathedral the largest Orthodox cathedral in the world.  It is just concrete inside, no altars or anything yet beyond the main altar.

We moved on to Vukovar, Croatia that was 90% destroyed by a war with Serbia in the early 90s.  I was amazed at how much had been rebuilt.  You probably have seen people buying large containers of water but did you ever see someone buying 5 gallons of milk?  We called it the electronic cow!

Bullet holes that remain in many homes.

Inside the monastery chapel within the Fortress.

A crucifix made from elements of war.

 
The town square in the neighborhood of the Fortress.

Our hostesses for lunch. 

The Danube from their back yard.  The trees to the left and that ground was not there before the war.  I don't know exactly what happened to create the peninsula but it has only been there for about 20 years.

A little light humor from the neighbor next door.

A modern church built to replace the demolished church and the locals hate it.  You can't tell from this perspective but the tower is shaped like a swan's neck and the body of the church is humped like a swans back.  It really doesn't blend in with the architecture of this centuries old town. \

Some damage is not being repaired as a reminder of the war.  This is the water tower on the river banks and probably very visible to Serbia across the river.

Here is a house that has been repaired next to one that still has shelling damage that has not been repaired.

Another unrepaired house.

The biggest contrast.  The house on the right has been restored but the house next to it still has the pockmarks of shellings. 

This house in the commercial district appeared on the cover of National Georgraphic.  The owner places the flowers there each year and said he doesnot intend to repair it,  he wants it there as a reminder.