Written 10/27/11:
Now it’s time for a short post about our bus rides to and from Italy. The Sarajevo Philharmonic rode all together in a private bus. It was a 12-15 hour ride each way, but it wasn’t as tiring or uncomfortable as I expected. First of all, I didn’t have to worry about getting the right bus, buying tickets, etc. Secondly, it’s a lot of fun to ride with all of my friends and colleagues. And, finally, Bosnians are big fans of frequently breaks (“pausa”) so we never had to stay on the bus for more than three hours at a time.
I was really looking forward to watching the scenery out the window during the rides through Slovenia/Croatia. Unfortunately, it was a little dark, cloudy, and rainy both ways, but I think I got a general sense of what the areas looked like. I was surprised by how flat Northern Croatia is, especially because Bosnia and Slovenia are so hilly. Croatia was mostly farmland, and reminded me a little bit of the Midwest. Slovenia must be incredibly beautiful in good lighting. The fall colors were quite striking, and the hills are lined by cute little towns, whose architecture reminds me of fairy tales.
The most unpleasant parts of the bus rides were the border checks. It took much longer to cross the borders into Croatia and Slovenia (entering the EU) than it did to return to Croatia and Bosnia. We had to wait for quite a while on the bus, and then usually had to get off, line up, and show our passports.
At the Croatia/Slovenia border, I got in line between several Bosnians and a few Albanians, while Sara, Matt, and Tim stood in a different line. I showed the guard a US passport with only Australia stamps in the front part of the book. He started speaking to me, and seemed concerned that I was somehow lost, traveling with a large group of Bosnians across the Croatian/Slovenian border. Haha. No, no, I’m supposed to be here, I promise.
On the way to Italy, I sat in the middle of the bus, with Sara. On the way back, I switched, and sat in front with our Bosnian/Italian translator Alma. I guess by switching seats, I broke some unofficial rule, and some of the older violinists started lecturing me about how everyone has to stay in the same seat every time the orchestra goes on a bus ride. Grumpy old ladies in the front, taking up 2-3 seats each, and everyone else squished in the back. Oh well.
As I said before, the trip back to Bosnia was much quicker, with fewer stops and much faster border crossings. When we were about 2 hours from Sarajevo, I started thinking about how happy I was that we were making such great time. Suddenly, the bus pulled over to the side of the road. I wasn’t paying much attention, and had my headphones on, so I asked Alma, “pausa”? She replied, “No. Get you instrument and passport and get off. Now.” I looked out the window and saw smoke billowing out from the back of the bus!
Yes, the bus caught fire. Fortunately, the drive pulled over and turned off the engine, and the fire went out on its own. It was a little scary though. We all had to stand on the side of the road for a few minutes and decide what to do. Tim tried to wander off into the field and practice while we were waiting. Fortunately, some of the orchestra reminded him that it’s a bad idea to wander off into an unused field here, since there are still land mines.
Of all of the places for our bus to catch fire, it happened to do so right across the highway from a café. So we had a nice place to wait while the bus company sent another bus. Matt, Sara, and I ordered some drinks, so the wait wasn’t too bad. After an hour or two, another bus pulled up, and we loaded it and finished the drive back to Sarajevo. Home safe and sound. As an added bonus, I found out that I don’t have to play in the children’s opera tomorrow, so I have two days to catch up on sleep and get my reeds in order. Next week we are playing Tchiakovsky’s Violin Concerto and Sixth Symphony, conducted by our music director.
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