smoke'em if you got'em
I may have been a little crabby when I wrote this, but I've been holding onto it for a few days with out publishing it. I think even under terrible circumstances which these are not, it's bad manners to slag-off on a place that calls you a guest. But, now that I'm gone these where my thoughts on Belgrade.
If you've ever seen the movie The Matrix when at the end Smith tells Morpheus while hes got him chained down in the interrogation room that he can't stand the very smell of the humans and their world; that he feels infected by it, sickened by it. That's how I feel about Belgrade.
When leaving this ashtray of a hostel, the first thing that hits you is the pervasive smell of burning tires or burning rubber. I don't know what it is but the smell is everywhere in this grey city. Everything seems to be smoking. The air is thick. Thicker than even the reputed horrible pollution of Mexico City, which by comparison is like a charging down a frozen Alaskan peak with a mouth full of Peppermint Patties. The population seems to exist solely on cigarettes, even this hostel which is the first I've ever seen that allows smoking inside is permiated by ciragette smoke. I've been here 24 hours and I cant wait to leave. It's 9:30 PM and my bus leaves at 6:00 tomorrow. Not soon enough.
I'm constantly lost here because even the street signs are in the Cyrillic Alphabet. My street name is spelled with a C, something that looks like a "ghost from Pac-man", an upside-down "6", a "Z", and a backwards "3". The food is meat with meat. Do you want meat with that? or just meat with meat on the side? I asked if there were any vegetables with my meal and the waiter pointed to the parsley.
One thing that was cool is the Nicola Tesla museum that is here in Belgrade. He's a contemporary of Edison's who invented the AC motor, radio, holds nine of ten patents on the Hydroelectric power plant at Niagra Falls. Was able to do calculus in his head and a genius by all rights. He's even on the 20 Dinar bill. They say he invented the Twentieth Century. At the museum there are a collection of his gadgets that still are in working order. The last display in the demo was this induction coil that when activated, illuminated a disconnected flourescent bulb that I held in my hand 5 feet away. There was an amazing amount of miniature lightning that shot 10cm from one electrode to the other as the ions in the air were excited enough to light the bulb in my hand. Magic for sure. Tesla had a similar device that he constructed in Colorado springs around 1900 that could illuminate a bulb without wires up to 40 KM away!
As far as politics goes...its a mess wrapped in a riddle, wrapped in a flaky pasty crust. It depends who you ask. There's a Serb history student who works here who will tell a different story then some other kid just moving though here. Religion, Land, Ammunition, I've been talking history all day with different people and I'm more lost now than when i tried to read the street signs from across the street though car exhaust into the sun.
Can't wait to hit the Croatian coast which is said to be a little piece of heaven. The sooner the better. For now It's all just a bunch of funny lookin' license plates, and boxy cars. The panacea for these kinda blues is just to put'em in the rear-view. I'll get to that tomorrow.
"In America you watch Television. In Soviet Union... Television watches you!" Russian commedian Yakov Smirnov ladies and genetlman.. Yakov Smirnov. Thank you and don't for get to tip your waitress.
dave
ps. I've been in the Balkans for a few days now and still no sign of anyone with pointy ears and a logical disposition.
If you've ever seen the movie The Matrix when at the end Smith tells Morpheus while hes got him chained down in the interrogation room that he can't stand the very smell of the humans and their world; that he feels infected by it, sickened by it. That's how I feel about Belgrade.
When leaving this ashtray of a hostel, the first thing that hits you is the pervasive smell of burning tires or burning rubber. I don't know what it is but the smell is everywhere in this grey city. Everything seems to be smoking. The air is thick. Thicker than even the reputed horrible pollution of Mexico City, which by comparison is like a charging down a frozen Alaskan peak with a mouth full of Peppermint Patties. The population seems to exist solely on cigarettes, even this hostel which is the first I've ever seen that allows smoking inside is permiated by ciragette smoke. I've been here 24 hours and I cant wait to leave. It's 9:30 PM and my bus leaves at 6:00 tomorrow. Not soon enough.
I'm constantly lost here because even the street signs are in the Cyrillic Alphabet. My street name is spelled with a C, something that looks like a "ghost from Pac-man", an upside-down "6", a "Z", and a backwards "3". The food is meat with meat. Do you want meat with that? or just meat with meat on the side? I asked if there were any vegetables with my meal and the waiter pointed to the parsley.
One thing that was cool is the Nicola Tesla museum that is here in Belgrade. He's a contemporary of Edison's who invented the AC motor, radio, holds nine of ten patents on the Hydroelectric power plant at Niagra Falls. Was able to do calculus in his head and a genius by all rights. He's even on the 20 Dinar bill. They say he invented the Twentieth Century. At the museum there are a collection of his gadgets that still are in working order. The last display in the demo was this induction coil that when activated, illuminated a disconnected flourescent bulb that I held in my hand 5 feet away. There was an amazing amount of miniature lightning that shot 10cm from one electrode to the other as the ions in the air were excited enough to light the bulb in my hand. Magic for sure. Tesla had a similar device that he constructed in Colorado springs around 1900 that could illuminate a bulb without wires up to 40 KM away!
As far as politics goes...its a mess wrapped in a riddle, wrapped in a flaky pasty crust. It depends who you ask. There's a Serb history student who works here who will tell a different story then some other kid just moving though here. Religion, Land, Ammunition, I've been talking history all day with different people and I'm more lost now than when i tried to read the street signs from across the street though car exhaust into the sun.
Can't wait to hit the Croatian coast which is said to be a little piece of heaven. The sooner the better. For now It's all just a bunch of funny lookin' license plates, and boxy cars. The panacea for these kinda blues is just to put'em in the rear-view. I'll get to that tomorrow.
"In America you watch Television. In Soviet Union... Television watches you!" Russian commedian Yakov Smirnov ladies and genetlman.. Yakov Smirnov. Thank you and don't for get to tip your waitress.
dave
ps. I've been in the Balkans for a few days now and still no sign of anyone with pointy ears and a logical disposition.
posted by Vitamin D at
12:42 PM
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