Last Day in Belgrade

I really enjoyed my stay in Belgrade. I only have a couple of hours left until my train departs to Monte Negro.

Where to...

My friend Emily who is living in China just confirmed that she wants me to visit! Emily is one of my good friends who I went to school with and greatly admire. In China, she is researching people living with bipolar disorder. She received an unbelievable grant from a philanthropist fellowship to do any research that she chooses as long as it helps to understand or advance humanity.

I found a ticket for only 300 dollars to fly there rather than fly home to Boston on the 6th. STA is truly amazing! Plus, I don't need a visa to fly to Beijing. It would be a wonderful opportunity to see Emily again and Beijing!

I also contacted my friend Claudia. I met her last year while working for Let's Go. She and her friend Nina live in Switzerland. They said it would be alright if I wanted to come for a visit. So I either go West or far East.

First things first. Tomorrow I travel to Monte Negro.

I walked down to the train station in Belgrade and it looks like there are no trains leaving to Dubronik until Friday. I think I am going to try an alternative route. I will travel by train to Monte Negro. Its right on the coast and should be very nice. Then I will go to Bosnia for a day and from there make my way down to Croatia. The train ride tomorrow is seven hours and leaves at 10 in the morning. I probably can only stay in MN for a day since they are on the euro and it is an expensive beach resort town.

Last day with the family. Just got back shopping with a Serbian girl. She was telling me how to find all the great deals. Most of the labels are the same as in the US. The vendors go to China directly were these clothes are made and somehow get better deals for these brand names than if they bought them directly from the company. The prices are marked down 3 times less than what you would find in the US. I don't have that much money or space in my backpack so I am not going to buy too much. The whole idea of buying ripped off clothes isn't appealing either.


Tomorrow I am going to Dubronik, Croatia. I want to see Monte Negro so I might come back. I will be traveling alone from now on. Lots of challenges ahead. Especially when figuring out the different currency for each of these small countries.

I will miss my family. Wish they could come with me, but in a way I prefer to go alone.

The wedding

I am writing from a toilet stall at an old sugar mill where the wedding reception is being held. I needed to find a place to write and this was the only area that I knew I wouldn't be disturbed. This place is beautiful. From the exterior it looks like a run down mill with broken windows and peeling paint. The interior is covered
with elaborate decorations and rows of tables with white table clothes. The ceiling has tiny lights that illuminate the dim setting. It looks like little stars sparkling in a big Midwestern sky. It is amazing to think that this mill used to supply sugar to Serbia and now it is catering the wedding of my cousin and his high powered friends from Chicago. Most of them are helping with the Barak Obama campaign team.

As for the ceremony, it was held in a Greek Orthodox church located in the city center. Driving to the church we went passed a half standing Serbian government building that Clinton bombed. At the church there was a tribe of Romes or Gypsies begging for money. We walked inside for the 10 minute ceremony. The priest did a chant like call that was responded by a guy with a baritone voice in a Hawaiian shirt. That was the first oddity I noticed. The second was a loud brass horn gypsy band playing outside. They were really good too. The sound of this Gregorian sounding chant with brass horns was bizarre combination.

Joe does not understand Serbian. His best man, Vladamir whispered the vowels to him. The priest placed a crown in front of Joe. He wasn't sure what to do then finally kissed it. Vladana did the same to her tiara. The priest placed the crowns on top of their heads and tied their hands together tightly with a white cloth. When the cloth was removed both Vladana and Joe flexed their hands to shake out the pain. The ceremony was sealed by a small kiss and everyone walked outside. Joe and Vladana were showered by rose petals while people threw coins out to the wedding party. The only ones going for the coins were the gypsies. The gypsy kids were wearing rags and dirt was visible on their limbs and faces. One of the little boys started to yell and hit another boy. A small boy lifted his shirt to reveal a perfectly visible skeleton. The boy was about eight or nine and looked really unstable. His eyes were glazed and wild as if he was on drugs. The little girls looked even worse. They were covered in dirt and holding tiny emotionless infants in their arms. The babies they were carrying looked like dolls. They kept repeating Money, Money with one arm extended out. The girls were ruthless to get money. They asked everyone several times pushing their hands in front of the people in the wedding party. When someone would give them 100 din *equivalent to a dollar, all the gypsies would swarm around the person like bees to honey. There were about 100 people in the wedding party and these 10 to 12 girls hounded us and even knocked on the windows of our cars while we were driving away. I noticed from the car window that the adult Gypsies were watching their children beg while they were sitting back behind the church. One little boy jumped in front of our car and did a little spastic dance flipping us off and ran to the side of the car to beg for money. It is really sad to think that these children will grow up to teach their children how to beg like this.

More to come about the reception. I have to get my laundry from the laundromat.

Roma

Just arrived in Rome. Met up with my family at their hotel. The taxi driver tried to rip me off, but I asked how much it should be at Termini train station so I knew it was 15 Euros cheaper than his asking price. I got him to go down to the normal fare of 10 Euros. Lonely Planet said that taxi drivers rip off tourist here.

I just found out that the family is going to take a tour of Naples and Pompei. So I guess I am going too. Last night was pretty hectic wondering around the Spanish steps looking for a hostel that my friend from STA told me about. It doesn't exist, I looked around for it until 2am. My cousins snuck me into their hotel room. It was such a bad decision to sneak me in to sleep, but there wasn't any other options and they insisted that everything would be alright. I walked out without any problems at 5 am in the morning to catch our bus to Naples.

AliItalia

On Air Italia now, almost made it to Rome. I've been studying up on common phrases in Italian and trying to familiarize myself with the subway system. It really doesn't look too complicated to figure out. The bus ride from Lozenets to Burgas to Sofia took forever. The driver kept making food stops. I was getting anxious to get there, especially since I didn't know how far away the bus station was from Sofia International. At least I wasn't bored I found many different types ways to entertain myself for the long 7 hour ride. Mostly, I just took pictures of all the gypsy villages we passed along the way. If you never seen one before then the easiest way to describe them is it looks like a dump. If you look closely you will see houses made from old wood planks, tires to secure the roof from blowing away, and yes trash to make their beds. I saw one man making his bed from an old car seat and part of a bed frame.

I got to the bus station with plenty of time to spare. I picked up a couple Bulgarian phrases, but nothing that would help me get a taxi. Violeta wrote down how to say, " I need a taxi to the airport." The taxi driver was around my age and actually spoke English and fairly well. I think he was the most friendly Bulgarian I encountered during my stay (besides Violeta's family), and he smiled often. I got to drive through the heart of Sofia . There are so many beautiful churches and a large soccer stadium. Not only was my taxi driver friendly, he also was very informative about the different buildings in Sofia. He pointed out many buildings and their significance.

I am doing pretty good not spending too much money. I only spent 425 dollars so far including my ticket to Rome. I haven't set out an around that I am going to spend while abroad. I am getting really tempted to extend my trip even longer either to go to Munich for Oktoberfest or to China to visit my friend Emily. China would require a visa and I don't have an address to send it to. First things first. I will see how I am feeling after the wedding in Serbia and plan from then on.