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Ambassador decided not to go, after all, so Irene and I went just with Stefan and Heinz, in Heinz's car.
We started at 8 from the embassy and met the KFOR soldiers at 10. First they showed us a monastery that had been burned down during the conflict in March 2004 (ethnic Albanian population attacked orthodox churches and monasteries all over the place during that time). At the moment the Germans are guarding it, and in a typical close-the-door-after-the-cow's-gone reaction they've developed an elaborate plan for defence and rescue for the place, which will in all probabiliy never again be attacked. If it wasn't so sad it would be fun. But at least nobody was killed in 2004.
Then we went on to the next town, Prizren. It's quite charming in a run-down, balcanic way, and we had lunch there. Afterwards we climbed up the hill to have a look at the remainders of the fortress -- very, very interesting, and one of the soldiers gave us an excellent historical overview.
Down again, a stroll through the old part of the city, and then on to another monastery.
At around 5 we arrived at the KFOR camp, where we were first greeted by the camp commander (Austrian, too -- its a mixed German-Swiss camp). With military band and all the trimmings, wow.
Then tour of the camp, including a demonstration of video communication by satellite with headquarters in Austria, the water processing plant (wow!) and demonstration/explanation of some of the material they use in action (no, I wouldn't wan to have to run wearing a 25kg bulletproof jacket...). At the end, tour of the camp in a tank.
Then, an excellent dinner.
I have never seen such an amount of top totty in one place. It was quite dizzying.
And we had fantastic weather, too, with sun and a temperature of 15°.
What an absolutely wonderful, fantastic day :-) It's hard to imagine that, not so long ago, there used to be actual ethnic cleansings, with people getting killed and being driven from their land. Now it's quite peaceful, mostly due to the fact that Serbs are now such a small minority that nobody bothers with them anymore, and peope are sick and tired of all the fighting and conflict -- the just want to get on with their lives, which is probably a better incentive for making peace than any political measures could ever be.
We started at 8 from the embassy and met the KFOR soldiers at 10. First they showed us a monastery that had been burned down during the conflict in March 2004 (ethnic Albanian population attacked orthodox churches and monasteries all over the place during that time). At the moment the Germans are guarding it, and in a typical close-the-door-after-the-cow's-gone reaction they've developed an elaborate plan for defence and rescue for the place, which will in all probabiliy never again be attacked. If it wasn't so sad it would be fun. But at least nobody was killed in 2004.
Then we went on to the next town, Prizren. It's quite charming in a run-down, balcanic way, and we had lunch there. Afterwards we climbed up the hill to have a look at the remainders of the fortress -- very, very interesting, and one of the soldiers gave us an excellent historical overview.
Down again, a stroll through the old part of the city, and then on to another monastery.
At around 5 we arrived at the KFOR camp, where we were first greeted by the camp commander (Austrian, too -- its a mixed German-Swiss camp). With military band and all the trimmings, wow.
Then tour of the camp, including a demonstration of video communication by satellite with headquarters in Austria, the water processing plant (wow!) and demonstration/explanation of some of the material they use in action (no, I wouldn't wan to have to run wearing a 25kg bulletproof jacket...). At the end, tour of the camp in a tank.
Then, an excellent dinner.
I have never seen such an amount of top totty in one place. It was quite dizzying.
And we had fantastic weather, too, with sun and a temperature of 15°.
What an absolutely wonderful, fantastic day :-) It's hard to imagine that, not so long ago, there used to be actual ethnic cleansings, with people getting killed and being driven from their land. Now it's quite peaceful, mostly due to the fact that Serbs are now such a small minority that nobody bothers with them anymore, and peope are sick and tired of all the fighting and conflict -- the just want to get on with their lives, which is probably a better incentive for making peace than any political measures could ever be.
