Bosnian Pyramid?

Before I left to come to Bosnia I was watching a TV show that was talking about mysteries of the ancient world.  They were talking about these large stone spheres that had been found in Costa Rica.  According to their legend they were cannon balls used by the gods.  Anyway, they then mentioned that the only other place these have been found is in Banja LuKa, Bosnia.

picture of one of the spheres found in Costa Rica

you can do a google search if you want to see more

I did some more research and found that stone spheres have been found in a number of places around the country.  Anyway, while looking up more information on this I found that some believe that there are also pyramids in Bosnia.  When I got here I asked the people if they have ever heard of these.  They said they never heard of the stone spheres but have heard of the Pyramids but that they were fake.  They said National Geographic came here a few years back and said they were just natural mountains that happened to look like pyramids.  At first I didn't want to believe them.  I figured if there are stone spheres that date back thousands of years and evidence shows that they were man made and actually made from molten rock in some type of mold and not hand chiseled then who says that there couldn't also be pyramids.  I didn't say anything else about it but I got teased a little bit for bringing it up and then one day they asked me if I wanted to go see the pyramid.  So I said sure.     

Now, I thought at the very least the pyramid would be a stand alone structure, but it wasn't.  From a distance it definitely looks like it has three sides but the fourth side just goes into another mountain.  Then I was at the base of this "pyramid" and even though I have never been to the Pyramids in Egypt or South America I could tell this would have been much bigger making it all the more unbelievable (I later did look up the dimensions of this "pyramid" and it is much bigger than those of Egypt and South America.)  

I did more research once I got home about the pyramid being a hoax and the evidence disproving it is much more scientific and, well, true.  Basically the guy who started everything, really does believe it is a pyramid.  However, he only excavates in certain areas that reveal natural geological formations that he tries to say resemble the large building blocks or paver stones that would have been used to build it.  There was a documentary called The Biggest Hoax in History (or something like that) and this guy comes across a little crazy which doesn't help his case.  Scientist say that because of the way he is excavating the mountain, that he is going to be the one who shapes the mountain into a pyramid and not men 10,000 years ago.  I wanted to believe that this could have been real but instead I can say I saw a neat looking mountain that looked like a pyramid, however, I still would like to see the stone spheres.      

'84 Olympics

First, I should note that these pictures have been taken at different times from multiple locations in and around Sarajevo ie: these things are not all in the same place.

I have heard two different stories about the ‘84 Olympics.  First, Sarajevo I am told gets a lot of snow.  From where I am staying to the mountains is about a 40 minute drive and they say that usually by the beginning of November there is snow and skiing.  One person I was talking to was saying that back in ‘84 in the weeks leading up to the Olympics there hadn't been any snow.  He said that the whole city was excited to be hosting the Olympics but they feared that it might not snow and that that may interfere with the games. He said it wasn't until the end of January, just about 2 weeks before opening ceremonies, that it finally snowed.

The other story that I heard is a little funnier.  A woman I know was working at the Olympics as a French guide and interpreter.  She was at one of the pavilions and Prince Albert II of Monaco showed up.  He said he wanted all of the people in the pavilion to leave so he could be there by himself.  They told him they couldn't make all of the people leave.  Then somewhere he got some paper (or it could have been a napkin) and drew a picture of Yugoslavia in the shape of a falice and said that was his opinion of the country.  So the people working there then got everyone to leave.

It is custom here that when you enter someone's home you take off your shoes and they will often give you a pair of slippers to wear.  So when Prince Albert enter the pavilion they told him he had to take off his shoes.  He did this and then went about whatever it is you do at the Olympic village.  However, while he was doing his thing they took his shoes and hid them.  Then when he went to leave he asked where are his shoes and everyone pretended like they didn't know.  They said he got really mad at this but they kept laughing.  Then finally they told him if he wanted his shoes back he would have to get down on his knees and beg for them.  At first he refused but then eventually he relented and after a little begging they gave him back his shoes.

These pictures of the tower are basically right up the street from where I live and in the city of Sarajevo.  The rest of the pictures have been taken up in the mountains and are about a 40 minute drive out of the city.

A billboard that (if you could see it) has the different events color coded.  One color showed where the downhill skiing would be, another color shows where the bobsleds would be etc.

I am told that this is literally all that is left of the bobsled track

The sight of the ski jump.  At the base of the hill there are a number of people camping in tents.

The two ski jumps.  At first I thought those brown things were the end of the ramp (these pictures were taken with my zoom and I couldn't see all of the detail from where I was at) however, when I got closer I could see these were put in afterwards to stop people from trying to use them as jumps.

The winners circle/platform.  You can't see it in this picture but the orange piece in the center still has the remnants of the Olympic torch that was burning there back in '84

This picture I took at the end of the ski jump ramp looking down.  

The sketchy steps I walked up to get to the bottom of the jump ramp

Franz Ferdinand part 2

So the reason why I gave a short run down of the spark that ignited World War One is because I got to visit the site where the assassination took place.  A museum now stands on the corner where the archduke was shot and there is an inscription on the side of the building.  I was there back on June 29th, 99 years and 1 day after what can be argued as the most significant event of the 20th century.  There were a lot of tensions in Europe but that assassination was the spark that ignited WWI.  Then because of the treaties that ended WWI, largely punishing Germany, it allowed a climate to exist that would allow someone like Adolf Hitler to rise to power.  Then WWII ends which leads to another power struggle that would turn into the Cold War which had many peripheral wars (Korea and Vietnam to name a few) and then when the Soviet Union collapsed there were still more wars such as the Bosnian war of the 1990's.  Without the assassination would there have been a WWI and then all of the events over the next 100 years that can trace their orgins to WWI?  who knows.

anyway, her are some of the pictures that I took:

 The pants worn by Princip and the bag that he was carrying when he assassinated the archduke

 

Franz Ferdinand part 1

The events that lead to the outbreak of World War One are very complex.  Often it is over simplified that there were a lot of alliances between the countries of Europe and therefore when two countries went to war with each other then basically the rest of Europe would also be dragged into the war.  These alliances were forged over the decades prior to the outbreak of WWI due to other conflicts throughout Europe.  Two of the big things that lead to these alliances were imperialism and nationalism.  To keep things simple the Austria-Hungarian empire (led by archduke Franz Ferdinand) decided to annex Bosnia (Imperialism) in 1908.  Not all of the people in Bosnia wanted this.  Those who were Serbian either wanted and independent Bosnian state or to be a part of Serbia (nationalism).  Serbia supported Bosnia and threatened war and Russia agreed but then backed down so there was no war.  Then there were some other wars in the Balkan region and when it was over Austria-Hungry made Serbia give up some of its new land acquisitions.  So Serbians in Serbia and Bosnia did not like Austria-Hungry.

Then on June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife decided to visit the city of Sarajevo.  On their way to city hall an assassin tried to kill the archduke by throwing a bomb at his car but missed.  However, when the archduke and his wife left city hall there were more assassins waiting in the crowd.  As the archdukes car drove down the street to leave the city it stopped at one point, right in front of an awaiting assassin, 19 year old Gavrilo Princip.  Princip fired 2 shots killing the archduke and his wife (he said he wasn't trying to kill his wife).  He was captured and sentenced to 20 years in prison but died of TB a few years later in 1918.  Princip and the other conspirators were captured and gave some testimony that they were supported or received support from the Serbian Military (Princip belonged to a group known as Young Bosnians but there were other anti-Austrian groups/revolutionary groups such as The Black Hand that had been around for many years and had direct connections to the Serbian military.)  Anyway you can see how when the Austrians found out that the assassins received help from the Serbia how this could then lead the Austrians to be mad at Serbia and long story short would lead to war, but then Russia jumped in to support Serbia and then Germany jumps in to support Austria and then France jumps in against Germany so Germany attacks France and when France is attacked England jumps in and you have a world war.

Here are some pictures I pulled from the internet:

Princip      

Princip being arrested

archduke and his wife leaving city hall

More Pictures from the Film Festival