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Published: July 19th 2014
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On our first full in Belgrade, we actually had it nice and easy, relative to other days. We started Sarajevo with a meeting with, arguably, the 2nd most powerful man in the country. Mostar and Banja Luka both included important meetings for the days we were there. Here, we took a tour of the downtown area of the city, then our afternoon meeting was cancelled. The downtown area is actually quite nice and I respect this city a bit more than I said yesterday, having seen its different sides. For one, a lot of the industrial look comes from rebuilding after the Luftwaffe bombing of WWII. I suppose they can't be blamed for that. And there are still some nice old buildings, as well. The tour took us through the government section of the city, as well, including near Parliament, the President's seat, and the Central Bank. Down at one end of the main street, we found the largest Orthodox Christian temple in Europe, on the site where the founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church's bones were burned by the Ottomans. The temple is still under construction, but you can tell it will be gorgeous. Down the other way, we saw
the spot of the assassination of the first Serbian Prime Minister after Slobodan Milošević, who saw Serbia through the war, but also, some argue, caused it, and who certainisly was protested. The new Prime Minister was pro-West, and this did not fit in with the views of some of the Secret Police, so they arranged for one of their snipers to kill him near the Ministry of Finance.
Beyond that landmark, we ran into the pedestrian zone of the city, which seems to be quite large. There are a lot of nice restaurants and bars down there, and then some stores, many of which you'd find in America, like Zara, H&M, MaxMara, and Swatch. For you Bostonians: think Downtown Crossing, but probably a bit cleaner and brighter, and possibly a bit bigger. Walking a bit further brought us to the fortress, which overlooks the intersection of the Sava and Danube Rivers, and the Great War Island. One of the cool things about the area is that, while the west side of the Danube is well populated, the east side is still forest, which I thought was really cool.
After we got back, and rested from the heat
(it's hot here...high 80s or 90s every day), and I had the brilliant idea to go for a run (mistake), we got together for a trip to Sava Lake. The lake's water was literally perfect, so we spent most of the afternoon and early evening there. There was a fountain in the shape of a bottle that launched water at least 100 feet in the air, so taking a paddleboat under the resulting spray was legitimately painful (and cold). As such, jumping in the water, which was a nice cool, actually felt warm. Dinner was at one of the restaurants bordering the lake, and quite delicious.
Tomorrow we start our training with CANVAS: 2 days of 9-5 work. It should be fun, but it'll be a little like being back at work, too. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of it, though. I'll keep you posted!
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