Life in Belgrade

I'm continuing to settle in, here in Belgrade. The city is beautiful right now - it's really warm (in the 70s) and the flowers are, well, flowering and making my allergies act up. But it's great to finally leave the house without a peacoat, scarf and umbrella!

I met my ISP advisor today. She works for the Secretariat for Roma National Strategy, which is part of the Serbian Ministry for Human and Minority Rights. I took a taxi out to her office, which is in New Belgrade, across the Sava river from Old Belgrade (where I live). Her office is located in the Palace of the Federation (Palata Federacije). I did a bit of background research on the building/site when I got home. The Palace was the seat of the former federal governments of Yugoslavia and of Serbia & Montenegro (mini-Yugo). Today, it just houses some Serbian ministries and other government offices.

This is copied from the Guide to Modern Architecture in Belgrade - "The base of the Palace is symetrical with a central corpus and two side wings. In front of the cental wing there is a lower part with glass cupola in which there is a stateroom for 2,000 guests. The palace has 6 parlors (six republics of the former Yugoslavia), as well as about one thousand offices. The facade facing is of white marble from the island of Brac (Croatia), while openings are edged with white metal." 

It sort of reminds me of the Pentagon, only with no uniforms. It's such a huge, distinctive building. I had to take my passport, go through security, get a visitor's badge, etc. just like visiting any government building in D.C. Today, people, I walked the halls once graced by Tito.

Afterwards, I experimented with the Belgrade bus system and took the 15 bus back to Zeleni Venac (Green Market), which was really convienent. I came home and ate lunch, then Rachel and I explored our neighborhood a bit more. We discovered that there is a huge farmer's market along the street perpendicular to ours. We were really suprised, and pleased that we won't need to make the trek to Green Market every time we want produce.

We also have a number of mini-markets and bakeries near us, which is great. We need to go shopping almost daily, because we only have a mini-fridge and some foods spoil quickly. Here, it is normal for people to buy things like bread, milk, eggs and produce every day. Bread is definitely a daily purchase - it turns to concrete overnight! There is a bakery called Хлеб и Кифле, or "Bread and Rolls" around the corner, and the line stretches out the door every morning! 

More later...
Love from Beograd,

Liz