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MY WORLD - 10

SIMO JELACA, Ph.D.

BUDAPEST - HUNGARY

Budapest, the capital of Hungary, was founded in 1873 by the unification of Buda and Pest. It is the largest city in Hungary, where 20% of the Hungarian population lives, a total of about 1.7 million inhabitants. The largest European river Danube flows through Budapest, dividing it into two parts, Buda and Pest, or connecting these two parts of the city. The city is connected by seven bridges and two railway bridges. There are six river islands in the Danube, in the region of the city.

Hungarians give their capital the nicknames: Pearl of the Danube; Queen of the Danube; The Paris of Eastern Europe and the Heart of Europe. The city has 23 municipalities, numbered with numbers and names. Budapest has the most thermal waters of all European cities, 70 million liters per day, and ten of them are medicinal. The Hungarian Parliament building is the third largest in the world, it has 18,000 m², 691 rooms, 20 km of stairs, 90 statues on the facades and 40 kg of 23-karat gold on the interior decorations. The building was started in 1885 and completed in 1902. Budapest's underground railway, from 1896, is the oldest in continental Europe. Budapest has the second largest synagogue in the world, it can accommodate 3000 visitors. The city has 40 theaters, about 100 museums and galleries, and numerous concerts and festivals are held in Budapest throughout the year. Hungarian opera is among the best in the world. The largest music festival in Europe is held in Budapest. Budapest also has the oldest zoo.

The Hungarian language is directly inherited from the Huns, it is similar to Finnish and Estonian. Hungarians are Catholics, and Lutherans, Jews and Orthodox live next to them in Hungary. Hungary has had 13 Nobel laureates so far, in all categories except for peace. Hungary spends 4.9% of gross national income on education and their literacy rate is 99%. They are good at sports and win gold medals at all the Olympics. Colleges last 3-4 years, and faculties 4-5, with the exception of medicine, 6 years.

Until the 13th century, the capital of Hungary was Esztergom, the birthplace of the first king of Hungary St. Stefan (970-1038). St. Stefan, birth name Vojko (later, when Pope Sylvester II crowned him, changed it to Stefan - István) is the founder of the Hungarian state. His crown was made in Eastern style, written in Cyrillic, and his tombstone was written in Cyrillic, too. He was of the Orthodox faith by birth, so let the readers conclude for themselves what he could have been.

The author has been to Budapest several times, during travels, short visits and stays. In addition to Budapest, he was in other places in Hungary, our neighboring country.

MONTREAL - QUEBEC, CANADA

Montreal is the second largest city in Canada, after Toronto, with about 4 million inhabitants as a metropolis or 2 million in the central part of the city. It is also the second city in the French-speaking world, after Paris. It is located near the Mont Royal mountain, after which it got its name. In Montreal, the majority of the population speaks, in addition to French, English, and some speak a third language. Montreal has the highest number of restaurants per population in Canada. The restaurants offer a wide variety of dishes from many nations, with French specialties. Montreal is recognized by UNESCO as a city of modern design.

In Montreal, there is an underground tunnel, 32 km long, which acts as an underground city. Tunnels connect shopping malls with about 2000 shops, 7 metro stations, universities, banks, museums, various offices, restaurants and more. A larger number of residents use these tunnels more in the summer for cooling, while in the winter they use them much less to avoid the winter. Montreal is said to be the most hospitable on the North American continent. It hosted the 1976 Olympic Games as well as the Expo 67 World's Fair, which proved to be the world's most successful fair of the twentieth century.

Montreal is famous for its Jazz Festival and several other festivals. Every year, Montreal receives 18,000 foreign students from 150 countries of the world and the tuition fees are the cheapest in Montreal. There are 11 levels at Montreal universities, and the city is home to four world-renowned universities: McGill University, Concordia University, University of Montreal and UQAM. Montreal has 9 bridges, 4500 registered taxi cars, 68 metro stations on four lines. In Montreal, the lowest temperature was recorded on January 15, 1957, -37.8°C, with a wind of -49.1°C, and the highest on August 1, 1975, 39.6°C, with a humidity of 46.8°C. The area where the Ottawa River flows into the St. Lorenz Channel Hochelaga Archipelago, with about 200 river islands.

The Queen Elizabeth Hotel is very famous in Montreal, where the most famous world personalities have stayed: Queen Elizabeth II, Fidel Castro, Charles de Gaulle, Princess Grace of Monaco, Indira Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, John Travolta, John Lennon and others.

Quebec produces 85% of the world's maple syrup, which is widely used in French specialties.

Habitat 67 was built for Expo 67 and is one of the most attractive buildings in Montreal, with 12 floors and 156 apartments with terraces (pictured attachment).

Montreal has a long history, even over eight millennia, but it only became famous after the arrival of the first French explorer Jacques Cartier in 1535. Jacques Cartier started the fur trade with the Indians with his son-in-law Samuel de Champlain. Montreal was established as a city only in 1832.

The author stayed in Montreal several times, in shorter visits.

CADILLAC - MICHIGAN, USA

Cadillac is a small town in Michigan, about 330 km north of Detroit, with 10,587 inhabitants (July 1, 2016), surrounded by endless forests (200,000 ha) and 94 lakes in its surroundings. There is a lot of game in the forests, so hunting tourism has been developed in Kadilatak. In the city itself is the lake of the same name as Cadillac, and only twenty meters from it is the larger Lake Michell (almost 1500 ha), so these two lakes were connected by digging a canal, through which logs were once transported as rafts, while the wood industry here was in to its full development. Locals call their city the "City on the Lake".

At first, a steel processing company worked in Cadillac, when they produced railway locomotives, around 1880, then the wood industry was developing, thanks to numerous immigrants from Sweden. That's how little Cadillac became a big industrial center. In 1936, the development of tourism began, so a ski club was formed in Cadillac. Today, the Hayes Lemmerz foundry works successfully in Cadillac, which works for Cadillac and other companies in the auto industry. In addition to this foundry, the industry of plastics and plexiglass was developed in the city. The surrounding forests are rich in mushrooms, the richest in the United States. The town of Cadillac has about 45 ha of public parks, Baker College, with nearly 2100 students, and a historical museum with exhibits from the surrounding area are located in the town. There are hundreds of miles of hiking trails for recreational walks through the parks and surrounding forests. A snow festival is held in Cadillac every year. Cadillac is a nice little place, pleasant to stay and live in, and its residents are friendlier than the population of larger cities.

The author stayed in Cadillac for a month (March 2001), as a supervisory body for his project, swings for cooling castings for the automotive industry. The transportation system of the swing trip was implemented through the premises of the existing foundry, on three levels, so that the full circuit of the trip would last three hours. The project was successfully completed two days before the agreed deadline, for which I received congratulations from the technical director of the company, Mr. Tom Wupper. I stayed at the Hampton Inn Cadillac.

MADISON - NEW JERSEY, USA

Madison, New Jersey is a small town in New Jersey, about 40 km from New York, with about 17,000 inhabitants, mostly from the Caucasus region (90%). Until 1834, it was a village, and from that year it was renamed a city, together with Chatham and Flora Park, with the aim of introducing a city water system. In Madison, schools span the ages of kindergarten through 12th grade. The schools are: Central Avenue School, Kings Road School, Torey J. Sabatini School, Madison Junior School and Madison High School. There are about 2400 children in these schools. In addition to these, there are also private schools, from the third to the eighth grade. Seton Hall College was opened in 1856, and Drew University in 1867.

From industrial production, the pharmaceutical industry and companies dealing with computer processes in the domain of insurance and banking are represented. New Jersey has the most restaurant lunches, the most in the United States. Edison's Menlo Park laboratory is famous in New Jersey, and Princeton University is the most famous university, where Albert Einstein also worked after his arrival in America.

Madison has a rail connection with New York, and there are also bus connections number 873 and 879. There are 88 km of public roads in Madison, number 24 and 124. Princess Maria Louisa (born in 1933 in Sofia), daughter of Bulgarian Tsar Boris III, lives in Madison and Empress Giovanna.

The author stayed in Madison several times, with his relatives Zoran and Vesna Nikodijević. On each visit we went to New York, and once to Princeton and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

PRINCETON, USA

Princeton, a small city by American standards, is very beautiful and pleasant for walks. In America, it is known for Princeton University, which was founded in 1746, as the fourth oldest university in the country. When we visited it, it was full of greenery, with clean streets. Numerous fruit trees were full of flowers, and countless bees were buzzing wherever we passed. We had a good time in the park around the university. The park is quite large and there are a lot of walkers in it, mostly young people, students. University buildings of ancient architecture and monumental construction, on one board with a dedication to Albert Einstein. Einstein immigrated to America in 1933, and since then worked there at Princeton University.

I was interested in where he lived, so I started walking around the surrounding streets to look for his address. And I found her, she was at: 112 Mercer Street. Albert Einstein came to America together with his second wife, Elsa (1876-1936), whom he married after his divorce from Mileva Marić, and Elsa was his aunt's and uncle's sister. Namely, their parents were their two mothers, their own sisters, and their fathers were brothers from their uncles. Among Jews, marriages of such close relatives are common. Albert and Elsa bought a house in Princeton in 1935, and Elsa lived in it for only about a year, she died in 1936. Elsa was also a physicist by profession. For Albert during his life and work at Princeton University, there is no record that he published anything significant, only that the President of the United States F.D. Roosevelt proposed the creation of an atomic bomb, in order to overtake Germany in that achievement.

Princeton University

Princeton remained in our memories as a very nice and decent city to live in, with lots of flowers and lots of small restaurants. During our walks, we were pleased with the chirping of birds from the surrounding trees, as if they too wished us a pleasant visit and a happy return.

PHILADELPHIA - PENNSYLVANIA

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is the largest city in the state of Pennsylvania and the fifth largest in the United States. It has about 1.6 million inhabitants, and as a metropolis with its surroundings, 7.7 million. It was established as a city and the capital of Pennsylvania in 1682. Philadelphia played an important role during the American Revolution, as the meeting place of the founders of the United States who signed the Declaration of Independence there in 1776. During the Revolution, Philadelphia served as the temporary capital while Washington was under reconstruction.

During the immigration of European immigrants, Philadelphia was also the center of their collection. It was the economic and cultural center of the Delaware Valley, and during the 1960s it lost its importance due to the weakening of the industry. During the 1980s, it even formally went bankrupt, and in the 1990s, its revitalization began again. Philadelphia's universities and colleges have become an international destination. It even reached the position of ninth place in terms of industrial development in the world and fourth in America, with a gross income of 388 billion dollars in 2013. The city became known for its artistic and cultural values, which is why 39 million tourists visited it in 2013. Philadelphia has the most outdoor sculptures and murals of any American city. It also has the largest park, Fairmont, which consists of 63 different parks, with a total area of 3,680 km2, and the main park alone is 1,640 km2.

Pennsylvania University has gardens of 36.8 km². In Philadelphia, the first library was opened in 1731, the first hospital in 1751, the first medical school in 1765, the first stock exchange in 1790, the first zoo in 1874 and the first business school in 1881. Overall, Philadelphia is America's only "World Heritage" city. Despite the size of the population, you don't feel crowded in the city, you can feel the neighborly closeness of the citizens.

Philadelphia has a market, which has the largest supply of vegetables, fruits and other healthy foods. In Philadelphia there is a larger Chinatown (pictured) which is entered through gate number 10. The city has 12 important museums, national, Jewish, historical, natural science and others. There is also the mysterious Masonic Temple. Benjamin Franklin's name in Philadelphia was treated as a fairy tale, he established the first fire department there, then a university, and many buildings were named after him: a bridge, a park, a science museum, a football stadium, a shopping mall, a business center and others.

The author stayed in Philadelphia three times (2010, 2012 and 2013). He was visiting his friend Ilija Shauli, who lived in West Chester, about 40 kilometers from Philadelphia.

PITTSBURGH - PENNSYLVANIA

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania) is the second largest city in Pennsylvania, with about 305,500 inhabitants. Spread over an area of 151 km², it is quite cramped between numerous hills and the two rivers Allegheny and Monongahela, which join right there in Pittsburgh to form the Ohio River. There are almost countless bridges on those three rivers and their tributaries, which make the city passable. Numerous hills are not conducive to the expansion of the city, so it has been stagnant lately. In recent years, the city has even stagnated in terms of industrial development and population. For a long time, Pittsburgh was polluted due to heavy industry, and recently there are more and more green areas, so it has reached the second place in America in terms of cleanliness. Pittsburgh is a nice city for short breaks, weekends, and the like.

The first newspaper, the Pittsburgh Gazette, was published in Pittsburgh in 1789; first radio station in 1920; the first aluminum building Regional Enterprise Tower in 1953; the first TV in the city in 1954; first polio vaccine in 1959; the first arena with a movable roof in 1961; and the first robot center in 1979. Many movies are shot in Pittsburgh, so there is a possibility that the city will become another Hollywood. The city has many museums, exhibitions and gardens. Due to compactness, the city rises up in its central part, so there is no space for shopping malls or small parks. The impression is that there are not even enough restaurants in that part of the city. It is possible that for all this you have to go outside the central part of the city. Its surroundings are full of natural beauty, and it is especially pleasant to climb the surrounding hill, which can be reached by cable car. From that hill there is a beautiful view of the entire city, which can be seen as if in the palm of your hand. The sunset is especially beautiful from there.

The author and his family stayed in Pittsburgh for four days in May 2008, during which our daughter Anastasia participated in a professional conference. During that time, we walked little Alexander along and across the whole city and had ice cream with him on the hill we reached by cable car.

LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA

Lauderdale is a city and port in Florida, important as a travel destination for many travelers, mostly tourists, and famous for its beaches. There are plenty of restaurants for evening entertainment. It is also known for its Hall of Fame pools. The city has about 180,000 inhabitants. My first trip was to Fort Lauderdale, to my friend Dr. Nebojsa Lekić. It was winter, in Toronto those days the temperature dropped to -40 degrees Celsius. Nebojša had an apartment of about 100 m2, in a complex where they had an outdoor swimming pool, a sports hall, a library and some other services, which hardly anyone used. When I came to that complex, the water temperature in the pool was 28 degrees, just right for frozen Canadians. Nebojša's friends used to stay at the pool every day, including Mirko Tomić, who introduced himself to me as a member of the former "Foreign Legion", which robbed a train in Liverpool, England, which was then reported by all the world's newspapers and television, such as an unprecedented event at the time.

We were occasionally visited by Nebojsa's friend Ljubiša Stamenković, who had a house with an orchard, in which he had several orange trees, which were ripe at the time and we picked them as much as we wanted. In Lauderdale, I also met Uncle Voja, a native of Leskovac, who built a kindergarten in his hometown, which he was very proud of. I swam in the Atlantic.

MIAMI, FLORIDA

The city of Miami was named after the natives, who lived there around 1600 to 1700. Miami was officially declared a city in 1896. The beaches of Miami are washed a lot by the waves of the Atlantic, so they often have to be replenished with sand. Miami has about 800 parks, and about 15 million tourists visit it annually. It was first made in Miami. Ljiljana Jokić drove me to Miami, and on the way back we stopped by Trivo Railić, from Hasan, who lived in Hollywood. Trivo wrote songs for children, and worked at night as a security guard in some institution, where had enough free time to write. With Nebojša Lekić, I went to a sales center a couple of times, where all kinds of goods were sold, mostly clothes. Nebojša called that sales area "Thieves' Square". Coppertone, for sun protection. Miami is a beautiful city, with many canals.

On the way back from Lauderdale we landed at West Palm Beach, where we stayed longer than planned, and from there we didn't get to Toronto until three o'clock in the morning, and since it was very cold in Canada at the time, the door on the airplane trunk froze, so we couldn't get our things. Later, during the day, they were delivered to our home address.

It will be continued ...

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