Tuesday arrival Belgrade, Serbia and Today in Belgrade

Arrived Belgrade after 11-hour train ride in first class, but couldn't escape the smokers. Luckily had a wonderful gal compartment mate who is in her final year of medical school in Belgrade who was from Montenegro - - Ivanna. Ivanna gave us the most sumptuous licorice candy during our trip and was so dear to us. She guided us to the right bus stop upon arrival in Belgrade and made sure we were taken care of. We hope to host her at dinner tonight at our floating hotel www.ArkaBarka.net. What a place, the ArkaBarka! It is this hip-hop 6-month old hostel run by owner "Pike" (Pee-kay) who welcomed us with a drink late last night after we somehow found the place on the water in the dark after asking people. We have become very un-shy about asking for help in Eastern Europe. Younger folks speak halting English and are normally helpful. We have found we really like Belgrade. We have hiked to the Turkish fortress, seen the Military Museum there, strolled the promenade, and are now catching up on 4 days of blogging here at a very reasonably priced internet cafe. Things are a lot cheaper here. The currency is the dinar. Serbia is not in the EU, of course. It is a hopping vibrant city with a killer night scene of clubbing and people staying up all night.
One of Europe's oldest cities,^[3][4] Belgrade's wider city area was the birthplace of the largest prehistoric culture of Europe, the Vinča culture.^[5] The foundation of the city itself dates back to Celtic and later, Roman periods, followed by the settlement of Slavs around the 7th century. In medieval times, it was in the possession of Byzantine, Frankish, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Serbian rulers, until it was conquered by the Ottomans in 1521 and became the seat of the Pashaluk of Belgrade. It became the capital of an independent Serbian state for the first time in 1284 (lost to Hungary in 1427), the status that it would regain only in 1841, after the liberation from the Ottomans. In the 20th century, it was also the capital of several incarnations of Yugoslavia, up to 2006, when Serbia became an independent state again.

Wendy standing by exibit showing F-16 pilot's gear of shot-down American pilot from 1999. Also on right is piece of F-117 stealth fighter that was shot down.

Menu showing "young bull's sex organs" for good eats. Yum. No, we had the goulash, thank you very much.
This is how they impaled bad guys during days of yore.





Emily likes little things like little tanks and little trucks.