We had a wonderful Christmas Eve! It was relatively warm and sunny day and we took advantage of the unseasonably like conditions. The video above is of the boys and Uncle Diego playing football in our backyard. Owen is totally into football and is constantly carrying around a football and he is following the NFL and college bowl games. Oliver is a tough little guy and Sebey showed some athleticism. You can watch some other highlights on the Flick page.
We also went for a long bike ride at my favorite place in Belgrade. There were not many people there and we enjoyed showing Diego the beauty of Ada Ciganlija. We stopped for a hot chocolate before watching the NFL games for the evening. We had a Skype call with my Dad and brothers and their families.
The Kralovec Family did the Central European Tour on the way home from Vienna. We stopped in Bratislava and Budapest for more Christmas shopping. When we leave Europe, we will miss the different languages and currencies within a few hour’s drive.
The kids are shown above in the Ikea parking lot in Bratislava. There was snow on the ground and we took time out to have a mini-snowball fight. Bratislava, Slovakia looked and felt much like Belgrade. It is only about an hour from Vienna. It also marked a new country for all of us. I am up to 45 countries as a lifetime total. We then spent the night in Budapest, Hungary. Of course we had to visit another Christmas market! We all found it better than the markets in Vienna. I did notice the global economic crisis in Budapest however, as there were lots of buildings for rent and I see they are raising their sales tax to a whopping 27% to generate more revenue for the government.
We made it home safe and sound and are looking forward to re-joining the Wells/Chavez family for Christmas and New Years Celebrations. We put up more lights around the house last night and bought a turkey for our Christmas Eve dinner.
We visited the Mumok, the basalt-rock building behind Nadia and Ale. Note that Ale is my sister-in-law and she maintains an amazing art blog for kids. The tagline for the site is “Inspiration for Parents, Teachers, and Anyone Who Loves Teaching Art.” The museum is part of the Museums Quartier, district rich in museums and cafes. We dropped the kids off at the Zoom Children’s Museum while we visited the Modern Art Museum.
Although I found the art pieces interesting, I don’t agree that these works should be valued and thought about by our society. For example, there were canvases with just a single color or geometric figures that anyone can do. I understand there may be a story behind them, but they should not be considered art. I thought it was a waste of such a great space. There were classes there however and as i wrote, I did try to attach meaning to the works and it did make me think a bit about what is aesthetically pleasing in my life. I liked the intellectual part of each work, the history behind the piece and what the artist was trying to say.
The highlights for me were a painting by Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol. This is the first time I saw actual live works by those two icons. The piece below by Warhol, is a print screen of a car accident.The repeating of the image is supposed to make it less tragic and more mundane, simulating the effect of modern media. It also has the deeper meaning of a luxury item for someone, (it is a convertible) instead of bringing them pleasure, brought them death.
Today is our final day in Vienna. It was good to see family and the sights of Vienna. I understand a bit better the Hapsburg Empire and Austrian culture. The city is much larger than Belgrade and the Austrians much colder and almost bitter when compared to the warness of the Serbs and the Balkans. Every empire brings its culture to the forefront and exposed to the world, and the Austrians gave an order and attention to detail to the their sphere of influence.
Today is also the shortest day of the year. It gets dark around 4:00 PM and doesn’t get light until after 7:00 AM. We are driving back to Belgrade and will meet up again with our family. They are staying with friends for an extra night in Vienna.
Nadia found the Christmas Nutcracker she was looking for as we visited even more of Vienna’s famous Christmas Markets yesterday. In her opinion, the best market was found in front of the “Rathouse” or Town Hall. It had the biggest variety of products. I still can’t get over how much the Viennese love Christmas. They have decorations everywhere, including hanging Santa Claus lights in the many trees around the city, Christmas songs playing on the radio, markets all over the city. I thought Americans went overboard Christmas!
I was impressed with the opulence of the Hapsburg dynasty. The number of huge palaces around the city is amazing. Both Budapest and Vienna have some great architecture.
Owen at the Guardpost
Today is our last full day in the city. We hope to visit a couple of the museums today to wrap up our visit.
We are spending a few days in Vienna this week. Last night we ended up at the Schonbrunn Palace and one of the famous Chirstmas Markets. The place was packed with holiday shoppers, but we were disappointed with the quality of items for sale. The mulled wine did not taste good and the kids were cold and bored. Overall, not a good experience and overrated.
Earlier in the day in contrast, the Vienna Zoo was great. They do a good job of educating about the natural history of the animals and there was a wide variety of species. I feel zoos are “animal prisons” but in thinking of habitat loss and humankind’s negative impact on most species, at least they are safe inside a cold, central European city.
Wells % Kralovec Families at the GrosSchlongBrun Station
The kids enjoyed the adventure of using the city’s train system. We moved around the city yesterday quite well with maps in hand. It has been a while that we used public transport, and ethically, I am for it. Practically however, with kids, it is a bit of a hassle. We were in fear of losing one of the four kids in getting on and off busy trains. After four mulled wines though, the fear left us and we all enjoyed the day together.
Ale, Sebey, and Diego are visiting us over the holidays and it was super to see them again. They are faced with climatic challenges, going from tropical heat to temperatures around O C.
This week we attended school Christmas shows which are an annual part of the holidays. Owen and Oliver performed in the new gymnasium of their school.Oliver is pictured below performing a Serbian Folkloric dance that was part of the Kinder and Grade 1 Performance.
Both boys even had a singing part! They nailed their lines, especially Oliver “arrrrbol de Navidad” line. Owen’s dance routine was a take on ballet and Devon and he pretended to be gymnastic performers and the chorus were the judges holding up cards with 9.2, etc.Owen is shown below with his friend Lelani, singing a duet.
Ocean had her school performance debut with a stunning array of Christmas songs, including a Spanish number. She is shown below putting her heart and soul into her singing.
I know they are my children and I may be biased, but they do have talent!!
This weekend I visited the Terra Art Colony located just outside the town of Kikinda. Kikinda is a city of 45,000 near the Romanian border in the heart of the plains of Vojvodina.
The Terra Art Colony is a government-funded project that provides an amazing studio and property for the fine arts. It is a former brick and roof tile factory that closed down in the 1950’s. The “Banat” region of Vojvodina is a historical region in the agricultural plains of Hungary, Serbia, and Romania. The area was once a sea and has rich, red, clay soils that were perfect for bricks and terracotta ceramics. The factory is an amazing place for making a movie or hosting a Halloween party. The head artist-in-residence Jovan, showed us around the complex. There were several studios and exhibition areas. Most of the art was terracotta sculpture and there were many interesting pieces on display. Behind the main building, there was a long drying shed that used to be for the tiles. The kids loved running up and down the spooky aisles between the drying racks. It is very nice that the factory was preserved and is put to good use. I bought a small statue of a “Lala” which is a typical guy of the Banat region. He is a chubby guy because the food is so good in the “breadbasket” of Serbia and he is pictured on top of a pumpkin. This is because the Banat is so flat, that one only has to get on top of a pumpkin to see a long way.
The Summer Studio
The artists also had a pet dog that is a breed typical of the Banat region. The Puli is a working dog known for its athleticism in protecting sheep and other livestock. They have a thick, curly coat that is waterproof. They are usually black and their fur can be very long, almost like dreadlocks.
A Puli dog
I recommend visiting the town and especially the art colony complex. I am not sure what the opening hours of the gallery and if they give tours. My friend introduced us to the place and I think the artists came just for our group. That is one of the best features of Serbia is that it is not geared for tourists at all, so there are not many maps, brochures, advertising, etc. for the place and it felt like we discovered a secret place. I’ll try to get our visual art students to spend a day at the place.
We celebrated Owen’s ninth birthday yesterday with a party at the Jungle. The Jungle is a birthday party venue. We celebrated with a classmate, Bor M.,who also had a birthday on December 13th. The kids had a great time using the Jungle’s playground and disco. The wii dance game and karoake machine were in full force.
Nadia and I had a good time chatting with friends and playing with the kids. It is so nice to have someone else do the party so the parents can relax and socialize. Bor’s mother Jasmina was very nice.
We can’t believe it has been nine years since Owen’s birth. He is halfway to 18! It was great to watch him interact with his friends. He is growing up too fast.
The third Kralovec child is now getting school photos done. She has really changed the past few months going from a baby to a little girl right before our eyes. Below is Ocean’s class.She goes three times a week to the International Nursery School of Belgrade which is just down the road from our school.
Ocean is pointing out the perfect Kralovec family Christmas tree at the Zuče Tree Farm. We traveled out to the plantation located near Avala Mountain, about 10 miles outside of Belgrade. The weather is unseasonably warm, with temperatures in the teens (50-60 F) and it felt more like spring than winter.
There were many trees to choose from and we picked a North American Blue Spruce. We took the option of having the tree dug up and potted so we can re-plant it after Christmas. It is a nice way of doing things and our Christmas Tree from a couple of years ago is growing in the garden of our old apartment. I hope to plant this tree somewhere in Dedinje.
After getting the tree, we drove once again to Timisoara, Romania for some Christmas shopping. We had fun with Brian, Anna, and their children, Miles and Posey.
It was sad to see the “plastic bag forest” below. As we were driving out of the Serbian border town of Vršac, near the city landfill, it this area of bags caught by bushes. Serbia has a long way to go with air, water, and land pollution, as do many Eastern Europe nations. I’m not sure why this plastic bag area is like this, and it puts a bad image to a rather lovely little town.
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