Jeff was so hyped up after his encounter at the border that he spent the next 3 hours smoking and chit chatting with some other smokers in between the train cars (the only place you can smoke, which by no means helps the other passengers if the door is left open). There he made several friends, most notably a Serbian who was returning home from studying in Montenegro to work in a casino. Well, this individual offered to show us around and he only asked that we give him a chance to shower and change. We asked if there was someplace with free wi-fi and coffee and he led us several blocks away from the train station to a coffee shop that was probably the Starbucks of the region. On the way, some other associates of Jeff were directed to a eating place that our friend insisted was awesome. This is important to mention since we'll come back to it later. Recall also, this was Sunday.
So for the next 2 or 2.5 hours, we sat at this coffee shop enjoying the largest mocha I have ever seen. Yes, they had mocha on the menu and it came out in a giant soup bowl thing with two handles. Wow. Internets at last again and I was able to see all the birthday wishes on my facebook which lightened my spirits since I was pretty tired and down. We hung out for some time past the meeting time for our friend (yes, you can tell I never caught his name) but eventually we decided something either happened to delay him or he wasn't coming because he was already late and he thought we wouldn't have stayed. Either way, 40 minutes after the meet time, we headed off on the pedestrian way to explore ourselves. We walked towards the castle or fortress thing which turned out to have a great many statues in and around it. There was also a military museum and there were enough various artillery batteries on display outside to wage a war. We were pretty hungry by this time and recalled where our friend had sent the others. Since nothing else was open, this would be it anyway and let me tell you something! This was a monstrosity of meat and flavor and you'll have to wait for the picture. I couldn't finish and if I had, it would have been bad.
We stumbled our way in the opposite direction now from the initial coffee shop and went deeper into downtown looking for a bar or something for a beer. Our end goal was the huge orthodox temple at the end of the road. But first, the bar for a break. Inside Le Petit Bar we met a very nice waiter who is hoping to work on a Danube river cruise ship. We talked with him for most of our beer, during which he gave the Lucky Strike brand ashtray to Jeff (just for kicks), and after our beer he asked if we knew what rakija was. Well of course we said yes and he gave us free shots of the owener's homemade rakija. He even had one with us. It was very cool to still be meeting people like that. We said our goodbyes and kept walking to the temple. In our Lonely Planet this temple is labeled as the largest orthodox temple in the world but there was no mention of when it was completed. I pointed this out because I was curious how long it took to build. When we walked in and saw a great host of construction, we realized it wasn't renovation work, it was still under construction. National Socialists and then Communists coupled with a lack of funding had delayed and is still delaying construction. Still, it was a sight to see and I invite you to look at some pics once they're up.
We took a different street back down the hill by the advice of our friend at the bar. He said there was a ruined building still standing from the NATO bombings that took place. There were two buildings, one on each side of the street. I'd never seen a real bombed building. It was pretty heavy being there and looking at the damage. With several hours to go until our train for Budapest departed, we went and bought our tickets, saw what funds we had left and decided to go have coffee again at the coffee shop we started the day at. We stayed and read for many hours and then just after it got dark went back to the train station. There we discovered a train where our train should be but it was dark and scary looking with no identifiable marks to show it was going to Budapest. We waited in a heated waiting room.
This room was for lack of a better word uncomfortable. It was large and square with one ceiling light, one heater in the corner and seats only along the walls. Smoking seemed to be allowed inside and there were homeless arguing near the heater. Some other youths opposite us were listening to their conversation and laughing at their responses to each other. 3 police officers came in about 5 minutes after we did looking both tough and menacing, two things I dislike cops to do. They chatted with the homeless folk and escorted them out and then went and chatted with the youth group and they got up and left too. I was terrified they would talk to us so I kept my nose in my book. They passed us by.
Finally, tired of being in that room and with the train still parked at platform 1, I went out to examine the other cars. There, I saw lights on and signs on the windows that indicated this train would be going to Budapest. The back two cars had no power I believe, though they were connected, and I believe this was what several people were investigating as they continuously made rounds about the train with flashlights. We decided to get on and just sit in the dark, if there was a problem and the train started moving before it was supposed to leave, we would know we were on the wrong train and we'd jump off. Other people joined the train in the dark and we eventually received power but no heating. The time of departure came and we were off. Thus was our day in Belgrade.
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