Hi Everyone!
Just a couple of photos tonight, because I'm tired and because the connection here is pretty slow. This first picture is the famous Stari Most, or Old Bridge, in Mostar... at dusk. Isn't is Beautiful?! Just a glamour shot, but it will show you a little bit of why we fell in love with Mostar.
Today we drove from Mostar to Sarajevo, which took about 3 hours or so. We drove through one of the most spetacular and amazing and magical places I have ever seen. Bosnia and Herzegovina is full of absolutely stunning landscapes. The drive was mostly all alongside the Neretva river (same one going under the Stari Most)... and up through the mountains, with HUGE dramatic rocks, and crystal clear acquamarine water, and wildflowers, and farms... wow. We were ooohing and aaahing for about 2 hours straight.

Finding a place to stay in Sarajevo turned out to be a difficult, tiring, and pricey endeavor... and it took a few hours too! We're settled in now at a little pension. It's alright, a pretty room but quite cold! Sarajevo has a lot of beauty, but also so much destruction... it really is so heartbreaking. By and large, the people are exceptionally friendly ... and we have found that most people speak at least enough english to help answer our questions!

One thing that has us both so fascinated is the experience of meeting and seeing so many white, European muslims. This is certainly not the image of Islam that we see so often in the American press. 70% of the 605,000 people here in Sarajevo are Muslims. It's very interesting. Some of the ladies have hijabs on (headscarves), and some the men have traditional beards, but mostly they all just look like the hip, friendly, and extremely(!!!) stylish Europeans that they are!

Here in Sarajevo there is an Iranian Embassz which hosts a very sweet little Iranian Cultural Center. We popped in to check it out, and here I am with the great woman who talked with us. We are standing in front of a case of stunning enamel platters from Iran... such exquisite worksmanship!! She was very sweet and fun to talk with. She is Bosnian, but works at the embassy-cultural center. She speaks Bosnian, English, Farsi, and Arabic! Whoa!