So, before I go over our eventual exploration of Beograd, let me backtrack slightly to contemplate. Yesterday (in Budapest) when we attempted to go to the US embassy to get more visa stamp pages, we found it blocked off for approximately 20 feet in all directions. The police officers guarding it said that we could not enter at that time for any reason that was not an emergency. Perhaps there was a threat to that embassy - we aren't sure. Today thought, as we were wandering along in search of a cafe, we noticed a man covered in camouflage (how effective this is when standing in front of a white building, I do not know), holding a huge gun. Confused, we started to cross the street to go around, and saw another similarly dressed (and armed) man nearby. We looked at the building, wondering what the trouble is, and see the American flag. We had stumbled upon the Beograd US embassy by accident. Relieved and immune from the previous fear, we approached one of the soldiers, asking if we could enter. He directed us to a police officer, who told us to go ahead and ring the doorbell. The answering embassy workers replied that visa-additions were over for the day, but that we could return the next day. As we would be in Plovdiv, we could do no such thing, but the curiosity remains as to why the US embassies have such heightened security at the moment.
Other than that our day was spent in a rather relaxed manner, alternating between walking (very slowly) around, sitting/snacking in cafes, and sitting in parks contemplating the meaning of pigeon life. We saw St. Mark's Church, a huge (in height), domed church with a somewhat eastern feel, probably due to the Turkish presence in the 18th century. There were only about 10 chairs and very simple decorations - mainly a large circle of candles from the ceiling and paintings of saints. I wonder how much specific saints play into Yugoslavian christianity/Catholicism.. There was a pine-like incense and along with the old simplicity, the church was at once comforting and awe-inspiring. We spent some time sitting in a nearby park, complete with observations of turf-guarding and mating rituals of pigeons; a dog with a strange attachment and aversion to a bouncy ball; a physics lesson - how fast is too fast for a pigeon to walk on ice before he starts skating; and a re-introduction to the buddy system, courtesy of a huge class of Serbian youngsters crossing in front of us and effectively blocking our path due to the chain they formed. We then sat in a neighboring cafe for a while before wandering off in search of the history museum.
Although we never found the history museum, we stumbled upon a huge church (Sveti Sava) and then headed back north to view the citadel.
The citadel was large and entwined with a park (where we watched a flirty pigeon seduce some food from Jay with his impressive feather-fluffing). There was, strangely enough, an ice-skating rink within the citadel (the walls of which were for the most part, original - complete with cannonballs embedded in the walls and pigeons nesting upon them).
After the citadel, we got a bit lost trying to find the station. it wasn't hard to get back, though, and on the way we found a candy store (irresistible to the otherwise nearly-invincible JJ), where I ordered a Turkish delight and Jay found a fried-bread type of pastry soaked in honey. We soon located the train station and, with 4 hours before out train was to depart, left again to find dinner.
After dinner, we returned to the station, retrieved our checked luggage, and I went to the restroom to change my shoes and re-apply tiger balm and ace bandages my aching knees (I'm so old). Well, the restrooms were certainly an interesting experience. Not only was the floor wet and the stall lacking toilet paper (rather common in a public WC, though I did have to pay to use it), but it also had no toilet. Instead, there was a hole in the ground and a pipe feeding (trickling) water through to it. In essence, the entire stall was an unusually large urinal. A wet one. Without shelves or anywhere to place my clothes/shoes/ace bandages other than juggling them in the bag that could just barely hang on the miniature hook on the door. Needless to say, changing out of my wet socks and shoes into drier alternatives, as well as slathering my knees with tiger balm (which one cannot do by simply pulling jean legs up), all without stepping, falling, or dropping anything onto the wet floor, was a difficult task. To make it a bit more complicated, there was no lock on the door, so every time i put anything into the bag or took anything out, it pulled the door open. Fun.
Our day in Beograd did not have the best of endings. The waiting room in the train station was gross - people were coughing a lot and one woman used a plastic bag of hers as a toilette in the corner -- there was a WC (of sorts) right nearby! Additionally, an "officer" on the train tried to charge us 4 euros to lie down on our seats - - con man! Luckily, we didn't pay anything, but still... sketchy experience. Now we're in Sofia, trying to make our way into Plovdiv, after being harassed by touts. Oh, and I really wish I could read the cyrillic alphabet...
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