Today, we went to the Museum of Yugoslavia. Before we got there, Hayley told me that it would be an “interesting experience,” which worried me a bit given how she said it. When we got there, we went to the Old Museum, which was just a collection of Yugoslav artifacts and all of the gifts that Tito received from foreign countries and the states within Yugoslavia. I am always more interested in paper items (newspapers, official documents, etc) so I enjoyed looking at all of them in the museum, but I wish that there were translations so I knew what they were saying. I was so surprised by how many gifts Tito received, specifically the decorative batons. He received hundreds of them every year on May 25 to celebrate the Day of Youth and his birthday. Honestly, I just can’t get over how many batons people gave to that man. Unfortunately, the May 25 Museum was closed due to renovations, but I’m assuming that there’s even more of Tito’s stuff there.
After the Old Museum, we went to the House of Flowers. The final resting place of Tito and his wife, the House of Flowers has plants and stones surrounding the grave along with two extensions on each side of the building with additional artifacts. I found it really interesting to look through the memorial book for people to write in and see all of the notes in different languages. While at the museum, I was finally able to start to conceptualize how everything played out during Tito’s reign because everything was laid out in chronological order with lots of supporting information.
After the museum, we went to the Hyde Park Restaurant (as recommended in the scavenger hunt) and it was one of the cutest restaurants ever!!
Kaitlyn Cavallaro: Balkans DoC 