Belgrade was ... interesting.
From there, we headed for the Tesla Museum, an outstanding exhibition of the genius of the most famous Serb who never actually seemed to have ever set foot in Belgrade, Nikola Tesla (as played by the incomparable David Bowie in The Prestige). The museum boasted a very cool exhibit, full of replicas of Tesla's original ground-breaking inventions in the field of physics and electricity, not to mention his ashes, as well as several famous pictures of him with his undeniable "bedroom eyes."
One of the most interesting aspects of the day was all that surrounding Serbia's attempts throughout the past couple decades to rule over all those around them, in a sense. After coming from Sarajevo and hearing the atrocities that the Serbs unleashed on that city, it was hard to come in with an open mind. We just kept walking around, looking at the natives, impossible to not think "I know what you did..." We made a valiant effort and took our time to enjoy the city. We walked past the monument dedicated to the children killed by NATO aggression in 1999, which was in response to the horrific things the Serbs were perpetrating in Kosovo. I can understand backing your young and innocent. But it can be somewhat hard to grasp when there is a t-shirt in a bazaar with Ratko Mladic on it, who was recently arrested for war crimes, an arrest that the citizens of Belgrade rioted against. I know that everyone is indoctrinated into their national belief system, but I find it difficult to comprehend the possibility of rioting to protect the "good" name of a mass murderer. (But let's not bring the Native Americans into this, shall we?)
All that aside, Belgrade is supposed to be renowned for its nightlife. First up was perhaps one of the tastiest and most entertaining meals we've ever had. We found a spot called Little Bay situated in what looked like an old opera house. Recessed seating and opera booths above, it was truly a beautiful restaurant. And then the piano and violin duo came out and serenaded us with everything from "Habanera" from Carmen to "Cruella de Vil" from 101 Dalmatians. Insert the violinist sauntering around the restaurant and having a blast interacting with the crowd, and there was some very Marx Brothers about the entertainment that evening.
But the party barges were yet to come. This is supposed to be where it is at, when you hit up Belgrade. So we flagged a cab, hopped into his Alfa Romeo, and subsequently were completely bamboozled on our way to the barges. Sucker charged us something like $50 for the ride to a deserted club where we sipped our whiskey amongst good conversation until we realized no one else was coming. But we did have the good fortune of finding Belgrade's hottest new club, Blaywatch. We waltzed in, American as you can be, and were immediately the recipients of death stares to beat the band. The bouncer was giving Wendy quite the evil eye. They shoved us into the back corner table by the bathrooms and I got the nastiest looks I've ever gotten from pretty much everyone that passed. When Joe started dancing, the guy at the table next to us was motioning for the bouncer to forcibly remove us from the premises. So we took the hint and hit the bricks. Cue the cab ride back, which cost us all of $7.
Pizza and beer awaited us at our favorite pizzeria, but the torrential downpour that started and we ran through to return to the hostel was just a sucker punch of an exclamation point to the theme of the night, "Get the Americans out of our city!"
Tomorrow, we leave for Budapest. And we can't wait for that train to roll out of the station.
Rolling out of bed, we immediately wanted to throw some Monopoly money at breakfast. An American dollar will grab you about 70 dinar, so conversions began to take on new sense of math to accomplish.
Taking an improvised walking tour of the city, we were confronted with many beautiful examples of architecture, including the Hotel Moscow and several state buildings, but all in an extensive variety of the motley shades of gray. Also interesting was seeing several buildings that had obviously been bombed in the NATO attacks in 1999 in response to the conflict in Kosovo.
And if you need more proof of his genius, check out the Drunk History version of his life.
One of the most interesting aspects of the day was all that surrounding Serbia's attempts throughout the past couple decades to rule over all those around them, in a sense. After coming from Sarajevo and hearing the atrocities that the Serbs unleashed on that city, it was hard to come in with an open mind. We just kept walking around, looking at the natives, impossible to not think "I know what you did..." We made a valiant effort and took our time to enjoy the city. We walked past the monument dedicated to the children killed by NATO aggression in 1999, which was in response to the horrific things the Serbs were perpetrating in Kosovo. I can understand backing your young and innocent. But it can be somewhat hard to grasp when there is a t-shirt in a bazaar with Ratko Mladic on it, who was recently arrested for war crimes, an arrest that the citizens of Belgrade rioted against. I know that everyone is indoctrinated into their national belief system, but I find it difficult to comprehend the possibility of rioting to protect the "good" name of a mass murderer. (But let's not bring the Native Americans into this, shall we?)
All that aside, Belgrade is supposed to be renowned for its nightlife. First up was perhaps one of the tastiest and most entertaining meals we've ever had. We found a spot called Little Bay situated in what looked like an old opera house. Recessed seating and opera booths above, it was truly a beautiful restaurant. And then the piano and violin duo came out and serenaded us with everything from "Habanera" from Carmen to "Cruella de Vil" from 101 Dalmatians. Insert the violinist sauntering around the restaurant and having a blast interacting with the crowd, and there was some very Marx Brothers about the entertainment that evening.
But the party barges were yet to come. This is supposed to be where it is at, when you hit up Belgrade. So we flagged a cab, hopped into his Alfa Romeo, and subsequently were completely bamboozled on our way to the barges. Sucker charged us something like $50 for the ride to a deserted club where we sipped our whiskey amongst good conversation until we realized no one else was coming. But we did have the good fortune of finding Belgrade's hottest new club, Blaywatch. We waltzed in, American as you can be, and were immediately the recipients of death stares to beat the band. The bouncer was giving Wendy quite the evil eye. They shoved us into the back corner table by the bathrooms and I got the nastiest looks I've ever gotten from pretty much everyone that passed. When Joe started dancing, the guy at the table next to us was motioning for the bouncer to forcibly remove us from the premises. So we took the hint and hit the bricks. Cue the cab ride back, which cost us all of $7.
Pizza and beer awaited us at our favorite pizzeria, but the torrential downpour that started and we ran through to return to the hostel was just a sucker punch of an exclamation point to the theme of the night, "Get the Americans out of our city!"
Tomorrow, we leave for Budapest. And we can't wait for that train to roll out of the station.
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