A Moment of Clarity

A Lightening storm so powerful it knocked the power out.

I don’t care that they stole my idea …  I care that they don’t have any of their own-

Nikola Tesla

Day 2 has arrived and it is 6AM, the humidity is already kicking in and i cant sleep.

My morning routine consists of the following, a walk of about 2-3KM through the city and the i get my morning double shot espresso and i type my blog to keep my friends and family in the loop.

My total waking each day is around 37000 steps and my body hurts daily, however i look back at how i used to live in dunedin and the regime of driving everywhere is crazy, we burn fossil fuel eat crappy food and live a life of gluttony and we are slowly killing ourself’s daily which makes no sense

Here in Serbia i have seen 3 overweight people, I believe this is probably down to a few factors.

– because of the heat the human body’s metabolism is in overdrive processing food and water to keep its self in its most efficient form

– Food and water is very cheap compared to New Zealand, its cheaper to eat at a healthy restaurant and get a bottle of water, people when i tell them that in New Zealand that Coke is cheaper than water they look at me like I’m speaking Chinese to them

– Because the city’s have a degree of sustainable public transport there is no need to drive everywhere and because the weather is so hot even when it rains, you are bothered by the weather

It has clocked just past 8 AM and Melanie the Swiss Bunkmate wi be getting up soon , we have agreed to go and visit the Baronka Kapija, this is a Roman battlement located on the hill above the Danube River. The citadel was built in 279BC, it is the oldest part of the Belgrade city.

The citadel hold 2 chapels which are covered in beautiful Mosaics and prayer chambers.

The citadel was build numerous times over the years as it has seen its fair share of battle especially in the battle of Kosovo where it was almost complete destroyed.

Melanie’s father in Switzerland is a Catholic priest so she insisted that i light “a candle for someone”, i explained to her that it wasn’t traditionally my religion however for the occasion of being a dedicated “yes man on this trip i would. I lit the candle and placed it gently in the sand, my wish/ prayer was for safety and health to the family in my life…. i personally think that this was a safe choice as I didn’t think praying for a Serbian supermodel wife was wishing the powers at be!.

We continued to explore the ruins and came across an exhibition on Serbian Torcher chamber…… and thy Serbians are as brutal as any other medieval culture, there weren’t quite as barbaric as the Greeks but they had some awful devices, the Judas Cradle was one that makes you cringe, It consists of a Pointed triangle and the victim is placed on top and kept steady by a Neck brace so he cant fall off, the victim can sit there for days and gravity does all the work, as the skin tissues break down the pointed triangle rips apart the victim slowly, the death could last 1 day or 7 depending on how strong the victim was was, the victim would eventually bead it or be disembowelled but the contraption

It’s about 30 degrees after we finished in the chapel and we decided to make our way up to a cafe for a second Espresso and talked further about the travels that lay in front of us, Melanie found it hard to comprehend that i was just taking it as it comes, she is on a 2 week break before she starts full time study in Prosthetic engineering.

Prosthetic engineering is basically the biomechanics behind making new Limbs for people who have lost mobility in war, disease, accident or just pure bad luck, her favourite part of that line of work is performance sport as that is where you can get creative with carbon , Kevlar, Titanium and other alloys and materials. Her studies will take about 8 years to complete which she said by the time she is 30 then provided she passes she will be fully qualified.

We slowly made our way back up to the centre of town as it was closing on lunch time and we felt that a traditional Serbian meal would be appropriate, we came across a restaurant in the centre called “opera” and they served Serbian cuisine.

We started off with a selection of local Bread and spreads, it is very common in Switzerland that they butter there bread and then add

-Olive oil

-Salt

-Pepper

This concept seemed odd but i took the opportunity to try it and suddenly realised that it was actually pretty good….. I’m not sure how the arteries cope but you have to try new things!

The bread also came with a selection of local pesto and olive spreads all were delicious.

My starter was homemade Serbian Beef Prosciutto drizzled in olive oil and then a selection of dried fruit including Figs, Cranberry’s and apricots, there was also diced tomato spinach and local goats cheese…… and the flavour was an explosion!

My main was a local dish called Pork Chops with Prune Sauce (Chuletas de Cerdo con Salsa de Ciruelas). It’s a savoury styled dish served on a bed of mashed potato and grilled local vegetable.

The pork is normally wrapped in pork prosciutto and then you drizzle the prune sauce over it.

It was an interesting flavour but the prune complimented the pork beautifully and the plate was licked clean shortly afterwards.

This meal cost about 2700 Din which is about 34NZD, probably my most expensive meal on the trip so far but seemed valid as you only visit some countries once.

The local clock struck 2.30 PM and that was clear indication that it was time for me to leave Melanie , she was going to go to the local History Museum that i have visited yesterday and I couldn’t bring myself to look at the artwork a second Time.

I’m currently reading a boo by Greg Iles called Black cross, i went back to the accomodation ad took refuge in the cool Air conditioning, as the hours passed i knocked out 4 chapters and its got to a point in the book where i cant put it down, its book about the Second World War and Winston Churchill’s development of Sarin gas to combat the Nazi Regime, although this gas wasn’t hugely used in the was due to the fact that the gas was so Toxic the allied troops couldn’t protect them selves against it when in use in the battle field, it is still an amazing topic and chain of events.

As 6PM cropped around i decided to make my way to a local pub and settle in for a few beers, i got talking to a Serbian lady at the bar, she spoke perfect english, I explained my travels to her and she told about how she was a book write for children’s books, she had 7 books published here in Belgrade, we chatted for about 2 hours the one thing that made me feel slightly uncomfortable was the fact that she said my honesty and openness about my life and experiences wasn’t traditionally shared by Serbian men and that she thought we should get married as work in Serbia is hard to find and a life in NZ would be very appropriate, I declined politely and decided to finish my beer and EVAC the area rather quickly.

The sun had set and it was time for me to start making my way back to the accomodation and get some shut eye, on my way back i sat in the local garden and looked up at the stars. I’m not too sure what tomorrow will bring but i have the Lonely Planet tour guide on my iPad so no doubt i will find something fun to do

“By Chance of Random collision of Particles and mathematical equations has lead me to this point here in my life, if one of those equations was off by .1 of a googolplex i wouldn’t be alive right now. Life should be treasured to its last breath”

– Andrew Caithness 28th July 2017