Journal Entries:
26-2-2009
22:30 Keleti Palyudvar, Budapest. Listening to The Clash "London Calling" album from iPod. I saw a dude in front of the train station with an eye patch and, I swear, a fake plastic hand.
23:01 Train jerks forward, Elliott barely made it, Esperenza had to hold the door open while he ran to board.
22:30 Put The Clash back on, Clampdown is playing while our tickets are checked. Martin, a student from Germany who is studying in Istanbul joins our compartment (he heard the train is a little sketchy when traveling alone). Discussing currencies:
Martin: "Have a Turkish Coin"
Me: "Thanks, I can give you some forrints in exchange..."
Martin: "I'm not rich, but I'm not that poor!"
27-2-2009
06:30 Early Morning. Arrive, depart train, find hostel on 6th floor of an old apartment building nearby train station. Hostel host is from Miami, and has been living in Europe for 4 years, the last 2 in Serbia. We venture out for crepes and money. I withdraw 5000 dinar (~$70) for the weekend expenses, and a little extra for souvenirs. We are guided by Jeff (he's been to Belgrade at the beginning of the semester) to a fast food place offering pizza and crepes. Best idea ever. I have a nutella and "plazma" crepe (plazma is kind of like the stuff inside Whoppers candy crumbled up...). Return to the hostel, watch some Discovery channel, then Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Serbian. Fall asleep until 11:00 AM.
11:00 For the day we explore the fortress and the war museum. Kalemegdan, the old fortress, stands at the meeting of the Duna and Sava rivers. Belgrade was once entirely enclosed by it's walls. It was conquered by the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires, and eventually returned to Serbian rule. Lots of awesome ruins. One currator of the war mueseum fought against the KLA in the early 90's.
15:15 It starts raining, we escape to a delicious Italian restaurant for dinner and dryness.
18:30 Returning to explore the streets. First glimpse of bombed buildings from 1999. Just put on Dave Brubeck.
20:30 St. Sava Cathedral. Impressive. Huge. Still in construction.
22:00 Return to Hostel. Chess Time. Lost the 1st game (lost the queen early, I'm rusty), well see how the second game goes...
23:00 Stalemate
28-2-2009
2:00 Going to sleep. Wandered around a bit, most of the crew went to a club on the 9th floor of some office building.
14:10 Waiting on people for forever. I just want to go explore more! Listening to Dert Floyd on iPod.
14:45 US Embassy, lots of police guards.
14:58 People made to delete photos of the Embassy by Police...(still have mine, don't look like a tourist, duh).
15:20 Made it to Tito's memorial. The green grass and birch tress are covered in white snow and bark.
17:00 Eat some more crepes at our favorite place. Explore Skadarska, the old Bohemian street of Belgrade.
20:00 Head back to the Hostel to pack up stuff. We pick up pizza to take on the train.
21:30 Make sure to choose a compartment with a working window. Share the compartment with Jesper, Jake and Brett. Talk about the sights we saw in Belgrade, and plans for future weekend trips...
1-3-2009
6:30 Arrive in Budapest. Go home and sleep for a big part of the day. Finish up some homework later in the day and fall asleep again (preventing a cold I feel trying to come on)
2-3-2009
9:50 Somehow my alarm didn't go off, so I rush off to get to lab on time. Hungarian Language class in the afternoon, and now finally at home!
It was a great weekend, and crazy to see other parts of the world, the bizarre differences that 7 hours of travel can make. The difference of being inside and outside the EU. The difference of a city with recent violent history. I really enjoyed traveling with the group, staying at the hostel, and exploring a new place. Looking forward to more good (and safe) trips.
Photos!!! and Flickr Photos!!!
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