Well Serbia may have started out with unnecessary craziness, but the second half of the trip went splendidly (and reasonably smoothly…except for the stifling heat…)
The first night we arrived in Belgrade, we immediately went to the center of town (on the cobble stone promenade street Knez Mihajlova, which is lined with shops. Hundreds walk up and down the street into the wee hours of the night). Ethan and Andy seemed to like it even better than Wencelles Square in Prague, since it was full of locals rather than tourists, which apparently made it seems “more real.” Luckily, we found an internet café, so we were able to plan out our trip immediately and book the necessary flights. Since we no longer had tickets to Istanbul, I decided to go home right after Serbia, and end the trip a week early. I had a pretty bad bout of insomnia during the first week, and wasn’t feeling up to the challenge of visiting two more countries. Now that I’m well rested after four nights in good old Serbia, I kinda regret the decision, but I am nonetheless excited to see you all back in Cali.
We got back to the Belgrade apartment at midnight and Ethan and Andy stripped down into their boxers so they could wash the very few articles of clothing they had with them. I offered them a couple of night gowns to wear, so that they could wash the boxers they were wearing. Andy tried the pink, flowery, frilly, somewhat shear one while I was in the bathroom, and I heard him cry out, “No way am I wearing this! This is so demoralizing!” So the boys remained in their boxers. We all had a good laugh over it (I couldn’t stop snickering for a good while, in fact).
The next day was incredibly hectic. We went to see Kalemegdan, a fortress from the 1400s that lies at the intersection of the two rivers passing through Belgrade, the Sava and the Dunav. We called the airport nonstop, trying to find out whether/when our bags would arrive. We were told 1pm, so we booked a bus to Banja, my home town, at 6pm. We called at 1pm to confirm, and were told to call back at 2pm. We did, but the phone was busy for the next 2 hours! During what felt like the hundredth call, we finally got through and were told our bags had arrived. We hightailed it to the airport and then to the bus station, barely making our bus, which unfortunately didn't have AC. We bathed in our own sweat for 4 hours in the 100 degree heat, but the locals were intrigued by us, so we had some good conversations (The 23 year old guy behind us must have been very excited to get to practice his relatively fluent English because he didn’t stop talking. He told us the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rolling Stones had done a concert in Belgrade a couple days ago, and that Banja had just had this huge carnival drawing over 200,000 people. We were pretty bummed to have missed all this!) Exhausted upon our arrival to Banja, we nonetheless went for a stroll in the downtown area (again, a cobble stone promenade street adjacent to the park with shops, restaurants, and many people). Finally, sweet sleep.
The next day I took the boys to see the mineral springs, and laughed as their faces contorted in disgust upon drinking the rusty-tasting water. Andy was amazed with the bustling market and cheap fruits and veggies, so we decided to stock up and have a picnic at the park. We strolled up and down the small creek that runs in between the park and the promenade street. We passed a playground, and Ethan and Andy just had to play on the seesaw, as I looked on embarrassed. Later, I was pressured into joining Andy on the seesaw, and we determined that Ethan was clearly the fattest. Once we were sufficiently tired, we had dinner at my favorite Pizzeria and then some gelato. Since the Pizzeria is next to the movie theater, we couldn’t resist and went to see 300. The movie started playing without sound, at which point Andy and Ethan cried out, “Nothing in Serbia works!” This was in reference to the horrible airport experience and the lack of AC in the bus. I tried to explain that nothing like this had ever happened to me in Serbia before, and that they must simply be bad luck. After the movie, we walked by a club. We wavered as to whether the cover charge of less than $2 was worth it. When I said the club was too loud, Andy replied, “Well the balcony up there where those two high school girls are hanging out doesn’t seem that loud.” Ethan and I had a hearty laugh over this! Nonetheless, we decide to call it a night. Being the big nerds that we are, we played cards (Egyptian Rat, to be exact) at home instead. Andy bragged that he always won this game, but unfortunately we were both creamed by Ethan.
The next day we left for Belgrade with a nicely air-conditioned bus, which made me feel redeemed. Ok enough babble. Time for dinner!
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