Blogs from Belgrade, West, Serbia, Europe - page 14

My hiking backpack landed with a weighty thud on the bench I attempted to sit on (attempted, because the damn thing was so big, there was no room left on the seat for me to sit on!). I still had another hour to go before my train was due to arrive, the one that would take me straight to Belgrade. So tired. Somehow I managed to forget, after a whole month in Montenegro, how difficult it is to get around without knowing more than a few words and broken phrases of the local language. Silly me. The clerk at the train station knew no English, but fortunately, I prepared a brief, but comical oral presentation, titled "attempt to order a train ticket in accented Serbski." Haha, it's pretty funny to think about it now, how grim ... read more

Back on the road, so the speak. After a really comfortable flight, during which I drank my last Bionade to formally bid farewell to my old life in Germany, I arrived in the city of Zagreb. The bus ride to the city was fine, so was finding the right tram, and even getting off at the right stop. Everything went nice and smooth. Strange? Hell yeah! I already got a bit suspicious and expected the worst from my host, but Dunya, who fetched me with her boyfriend Ivor, gave me a warm reception, and immediately offered me some pasta with a great tomato sauce. Only then did I find out that she worked as a vegan macrobiotic cook for an institute in Zagreb, which operates a restaurant, offers courses on healthy lifestyle, and cooks for people ... read more

I knew there was a reason why I hated long flights. Cramped seats, nonexistent leg room, disrupted circadian rhythms...oohhh yeah. But at least I was able to blow through a new airport: the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris (yay!). Unfortunately for this little ignorant American, Charles de Gaulle fully intended to unnecessarily complicate the entire flying process. After spending a full hour running around like a headless chicken on speed, I finally managed to crawl my way to my gate. Who the hell puts check-in counters next to the gates?? Hm. On second thought, that makes the world of sense. Needless to say, as the French would say, I was...le'tired. When I finally arrived in Belgrade, I met up with Steve, who picked me up from the airport, which turned out to be this one-story ... read more

Well after an interesting train ride here we are in Serbia, part of teh former Yugoslavia. Got to the train station in Budapest last night with no troubles, too early if anything. Finally our train came to board, and we had no idea where we were going. there were 4 cars, two with beds and two with seats, one each of first and second class. so we knew we didnt'have a bed but didnt'know which class. so we asked two employees who were less than helpful so we just got in first and hoped for the best. and it worked out ok, got a cabin with 6 seats to uorselves. sleeping was not much of an option. the train was noisy, smelly, and we had our tickets checked twice, and our passports twice. finally fell asleep ... read more

After Slovenia, we headed south to Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia. In the three hour train ride, the temperature outside rose almost 10 degrees, so we arrived to a hot, sunny day. After checking into our hostel, we took a quick wander around the old town. Since we arrived late, it was already dark, but the big old church near our hostel was lit up and quite spectacular. We stopped at a little restaurant that served Italian food and ate outdoors. Zagreb has a real coffee shop culture, where at all times of the day and night people can be found sitting outdoors on the patios of little cafes, sipping coffee and beer and socializing. After dinner we found an empty couch and joined the locals. TJ sampled the local beers and Teija enjoyed some ... read more