Belgrade or Bust

Well, after a few more days of wrapping stuff up, I finally finished up my work here in Bulgaria and started off on my grand adventure. We set off a day later than I had been hoping for because the night train that I had been planning on taking left the country before midnight, which I was not allowed to do since I was still officially a volunteer until midnight on the night of the 7th, but there was an early morning bus up to Belgrade the next day, so it all worked out.

We ran in to a few problems after reaching Belgrade, however. We were supposed to meet up with our couchsurfer in the afternoon that day, but after waiting around that the pre-arraigned meeting spot, she never showed up. We asked all the people we could find if we could borrow a cell phone to call her, but no one was willing to help us out at all. Serbs are apparently not the friendliest people to strangers, but then again, maybe it was just bad luck that all the ones we were meeting were rude. Either way, we got stuck having to search out a hostel at the last minute and found a place with the least friendliest and helpful staff that I have ever stayed at. The receptionist couldn't even point us in the direction of a restaurant for dinner, she just said "They're out there, I'm sure you'll find one." Gee, thanks lady.We ended up having a nice time walking around the old city though, checking out the sights. We even got to watch the old guys in the park playing speed chess, which was pretty sweet as well. Belgrade is a lively and interesting city, but it also still bears scars of the war. Bombed out buildings still stand in stark contrast to all the improvements and reconstruction that has been completed, and it serves as a reminder of the dark history that Serbia is still working to overcome.
Anyway, it was a nice day that ended with a crazy dinner. We finally found a little diner-cafe joint that we sat down at to have our meal, and after looking through the menu for a while at a bunch of dished we didn't recognize, we decided to ask the waiter what he recommend. He pointed out two items that he said were "fantastic" so we each decided to order one of them. I ended up with a Serbian style hamburger, and Braden got a plate of sausage. It sounds good at first, until you realize that ALL I had was one giant two pound hamburger, sans bun, toppings or side dish, and all Braden had was a mound of sausage, also with no side dish or dressing. It was just one giant pile of meat. There was no way either of us could have hoped to finish such a meal, and I remember just looking at each other laughing at the ridiculousness of it all when the plates were served. Crazy old Serbia....
The last night in Serbia ended up with Braden and I catching a night train out to Slovenia. We reserved a private room for the two of us complete with bunk beds and a little table/sink. Braden set up his laptop and we were able to enjoy a movie before going to bed while the train whisked us away to our next destination.

I will try to get more pictures posted soon, but my net is super slow at the moment and I was lucky even to get these ones posted as it is. I should have a new post up in the next few days. Peace