Yesterday's Walk

We took a three hour walk yesterday from the flat to downtown (literally, down) Pristina and back. These stairs were the first part of the trip. We took them down, but took another way back. They're the shortcut from our hill to downtown. All in all, they're about a quarter mile of stairs.

This little goddess is what they're trying to make as one of the symbols of Kosovo. It's a neolithic find from somewhere around here. The provenance on the museum pieces left a -lot- to be desired. Anyway, she sits in the state museum toward the front. The first floor of the museum is archaeological propaganda. The second floor is an homage to the Kosovar Albanians who fought in the recent war. It'd be nice if at least the archaeological part wasn't so tainted with nationalism, but what do you expect from the national museum, I guess?

I was told this is the minaret to the oldest mosque in town. (And I was just corrected by the same person who told me so that it might not be; there is possibly one older.) Needless to say, the minaret's a rather new reconstruction. Looking through the windows to the entryway to the mosque, it looked shabby, as if neglected. Perhaps they will refurbish it when they become more integrated into the economy of Europe.

The Newborn sign sits right in front of a shopping center and next to the American school. It's covered in celebratory graffiti, and they're looking for a permanent home for it. The sculpture was unveiled when they declared independence in February.