Wedding Day 2

Wedding Day 2
Monday, August 03, 2009
4:11 AM

So after recovering from the first day we all got on a bus and headed out to Aleks family town, Cacak, to do it all over again but in the country. Although Cacak is one of the larger towns in Serbia its population is only around 100k. We drove to the family home where his grandmother lives for 6 months of the year (the other six months she lives in San Pedro) and his Mom and Dad live roughly a month a year.

In country fashion they had a pig and a lamb roasting on spits and a huge pot of cabbage cooking next to those. Both the pig and the lamb were cool but I had seen similar setups at Filipino functions in the past. The pot of cabbage on the other hand was really interesting. It was set up on a sheet of steel and heated by wood that was lit directly beside the pot. Heat was kept at an even distribution by turning the pot every few minutes.

As everyone started filing in and the sun went down the band was set up and the music started playing. By this time the Pivo and Raijka had already been flowing and the food was coming out in multiple courses. We started with a platter of sliced meats along with bread, then moved to the cabbage that was served in bowls, then finished up by first taking the meat directly off the lamb and the pig. As you could imagine both were excellent and really tender. After that we danced late in to the night. The biggest surprises were hand grenades that were thrown out in to the field which is a common tradition, and the arrival of two local police on duty police officers that joined the festivities around midnight. Contrasting the city and country styles was great and also a lot of fun.

The Wedding!

The Wedding!
Sunday, August 02, 2009
3:52 AM

So we lingered around a bit and went downtown as we didn't have to leave for the wedding until 2 in the afternoon. We got ready then walked across the street and grabbed a cab to hit the wedding. Although it should have been obvious from the start this was going to be the cab ride from hell none of us were too concerned that our driver took 10 minutes getting directions from other cab drivers.

Eventually after going in what seemed to be multiple circles we crossed a pair of train tracks on the outskirts of a park and ran into a dead end. The cab driver asked for directions again, then drove out of the park, then asked for directions again. We were told that it was a 5 minute ride from the apartment, but we were now a solid 30 minutes in. The icing on the cake was waiting at an 11 minute red light to make a left turn, it ended up taking almost a full hour but we got there plenty early as Serbian time runs an hour or two late any way.

The forcing of Raijka began early, and watching people arrive was great. I think the headcount was somewhere in the high 200's low 300's and the venue was big. Jele and Aleks came in to great fanfare and then the civil ceremony began. The actual word choices were fairly interesting and fun as they asked if both people had truly thought it through, and which name Jelena would like to take for the official records. After the ceremony everyone that was at the wedding congratulated and took a picture with Jelena and Aleks individually which took as long as one would expect.

The dancing started almost immediately which was great. Everyone gets in a long line facing each other and does the kola (not sure on the spelling) but it’s a really simple dance that for someone with shitty feet like myself, is a lot harder than it seems! The most interesting thing to me was the pacing of the wedding because it was drinking, ceremony, then nonstop eating, drinking, and dancing, til about 2 in the morning. American weddings usually break the 3 apart completely, but having them all together really made for a fun time. Everyone had a ton of fun and I heard from tons of Serbs and even hotel staff that it was the best wedding they had ever attended.

The Day Before the Wedding

The Day Before the Wedding
Saturday, August 01, 2009
3:51 AM

A few people needed to pick up last minute things so we went to the mall which had been only been open for 5 months. All the same stores are in the same areas, and by the same stores I mean that there are 12 shoe stores side by side, 8 electronics stores side by side, etc. The prices were about 10% cheaper on average for clothes, but electronics were absurdly expensive. A 360/PS3 video game ran almost $100 and an iPod touch was almost $500. I still don't understand why video game publishers make games so expensive in Europe, even with the taxes they should realize that people can't play at those prices.

My hair was getting pretty long too so I took the opportunity to get a haircut before the wedding. You might not know but I've had my hair cut by the same person since I was a Junior in high school, so having a random haircut was daunting as the couple other ones haven't gone well. The salon was pretty fancy and interesting because nobody inside talked, at all. Any place I have ever had my hair cut had people rambling up a storm so it was crazy to hear the dead silence.

Later on everyone got together for some more food and a cruise on the Danube. The boat driver ran into 3 or 4 boats just getting off the docks so that was entertaining. The cruise spent most of the time lingering around the fortress but it was fun and everyone took it easy and was in recovery mode. Marko's mom made us promise we wouldn't go out even though it was Saturday night. In our best interests we stayed in and got a great nights sleep before the big day.

The Dinner

The Dinner
Friday, July 31, 2009
3:43 AM

We woke up on the late side of the clock for once and spent the day catching up on odds and ends. We hit up an internet café that had the first decent speeds we had in Europe, then got some pizza which was among the finest I've ever had and only 6 bucks for the equivalent of a large.

We then headed back to the apartment and washed up for the rehearsal dinner which was at a restaurant just around the corner. It was relayed that it was of the utmost importance to arrive at the 7:30PM start time but we didn't sit down to eat until at least 10. The 2.5 hours in between as people came in were spent being forced to drink Raijka and Pivo, which wasn't all that bad. Once everyone was settled and dinner was served a band came in and played traditional brass music which was a ton of fun. Eventually everyone was dancing and having a blast.

At about 1:00AM when the dinner was finishing up we all jumped in cabs and went back down to the docks to hit up a different club. I still need to echo how impressive these places are and how fun it is to be in the all open air environment. We had bottles again and everyone had a blast.

Beograd

Beograd
Thursday, July 30, 2009
2:48 AM

Once everyone woke up Marko took us all on a little walking tour of Belgrade. We went through the downtown and the girls demanded to go shopping for shoes among other things. The downtown area was quite nice and bustling. From downtown we walked to the old fortress which overlooks the Danube. Both Red Star and Partizan, the two big professional sports clubs in the city, have youth courts on the grounds fort too which is pretty cool. We had a little photo shoot on the wall that overlooks the river then headed over to a café and enjoyed the latter part of the afternoon.

We went back to the apartment, washed up, then headed to Hotel Balkan where most of Aleks' friends had just arrived from the States. We all shot the shit for a bit and headed back to the fortress to get a feel for how it was at night. From there we headed out to a club. All the big clubs are actually barges in a fairly out of the way place on the Danube. This serves 2 purposes as far as I can tell. For one they are able to be as loud as they possibly want to be, and secondly they don’t really have any issues as far as square footage is concerned since they are on the water. We all had a table and had a great time going through a few bottles.

Sarajevo to Beograd

Sarajevo to Beograd
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
12:13 PM

With only a morning/early afternoon to spend in Sarajevo we decided to take the advice of the hostel owner and hike up on a hill that overlooked the city. The views from high up were gorgeous but we soon realized that we were running a tad bit late for our 3PM bus to Belgrade.

We debated between a cab and the city bus to get to the Bus station but again followed the advice of the Hostel owner, yet we forgot to ask for the actual time it took for the bus to get to the station. So after missing the 2PM bus, we got on the 2:25 bus, which dropped us off 10 minutes from the station at 2:51. In a feat of agility the Rondoggie ran, with his backpack, to the station in time to hold up the bus.

The bus diver spoke no English, but Ines, a Balkan 10, helped him out and had the bus held up on account of being the daughter of a friend of the driver. We ended up hanging out with her and bullshitting for the next 6 hours on what ended up being the most entertaining bus ride that any of us had ever had. Everyone on the bus was jovial, talkative, and very friendly. We were all given tons of different foods to try and had a great time.

Once we got into Belgrade Marko was waiting for us at the bus station and we were all stoked to be reunited. We went to his aunt's apartment and caught up with the family and met our new roommates for the coming week who all went to undergrad with Marko's sister, the bride, Jelena. After drinking some Raijka and getting dance lessons we went to a sandwich shop called Gold's, had possibly the largest 2 dollar sandwiches I've ever seen, then headed back to our apartment and crashed out.

Dubrovnik to Mostar to Sarajevo

Dubrovnik to Mostar to Sarajevo
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
12:11 PM

We got our bus without a hassle and after a few hours started trekking around Bosnia. Mostar is a beautiful city and well known for its bridges. The river that runs through it is very deep so people take advantage and spend a lot of time doing daring jumps.

While it wasn't from the bridge (which was about 80-100 feet) Mitch wanted to jump from a pretty high ledge that a bunch of local kids were having a blast with. I was personally far too skittish to do it, Yaron "really wanted to do it" but had issues with swimming across the river. Mitch ended up staying up there for a good 30-45 minutes until Naomi, who was sitting with Ronnie and I across the river was fed up with his waiting and swam across and jumped off.

By this point I had assembled a pretty large fan club to cheer Mitch on, so that paired with Naomi's feat of bravery got Mitch to jump off. Sadly, my camera was on his rock-skipping buddy who was talking trash to him from across the river when Mitch jumped in. After the jumps were done we got lunch at a café overlooking the river which further confirmed our thoughts that if you sit down anywhere, especially in Eastern Europe, you will be spending a minimum of 90 minutes there. The food was good but definitely not shock and awe, but it was really cheap.

From Mostar we jumped on a 2 hour train to Sarajevo. We weren't able to buy the tickets when we had first reached Mostar as the office was closed from 11am to 4pm (interesting work schedule if you ask me). The train was beautiful and weaved through the hilly, lush, green, Bosnian countryside. It seemed like at every other turn there was a lake or small village which was great. Once we got into Sarajevo we were picked up by Naomi's friend Faris who took us to a great hostel and then out to enjoy the town.

It was about midnight and Faris ranted that Tuesday was the "absolute worst night" but the streets were still packed and the girls were amazing. We are all convinced that the Balkans as a whole have superior breeding. At 'Pirate Bar' a Bachelorette party of girls that went to elementary school with Faris were there. All in all it was a vibrant town and an excellent evening.

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik
Monday, July 27, 2009
12:09 PM

Everyone slept well in Edi's apartment and for breakfast we feasted on pastries, bread, and cheese with yogurt and juice from KONSUME which quickly became my grocery store of choice. I was given the duty of being the tour guide for the old town. We quickly found out that although there were plenty of specific sights to see, they all charged more than we wanted to pay, and from the comments of others that went in, were unimpressive. What was impressive was the entire structure of the old town itself. Dubrovnik is basically a castle with 40-50 foot walls that run around the entire city which is on the immediate coastline. So after wandering around and taking in the beautiful city we headed to the beach for the rest of the afternoon.

The Adriatic is much saltier than the Pacific or even the Mediterranean, but the water is clear for 100 feet and as blue as anything I've ever seen. The clarity was attributed by many to the fact that where we were was a pebble beach rather than sand. I'm not sure how much that has to do with it as I've seen plenty of clear sandy beaches but it did make sense. The water was pretty damn cold though, probably no more than 55 degrees, but that was fine after I was laying out for awhile because it was really hot.

From the beach we picked up some pizzas at a bakery and headed into the city to walk the walls. The regular rate was about $10 but with our student ID's it was only $4 which was great. The views from around the walls were pretty much all breathtaking and it was great to imagine what it must have been like to defend the castle from attackers. Mitch figured that Dubrovnik must never have fallen to an outside force because you were protected by a mountain behind you and from the higher towers you could see miles out to sea.

For dinner we headed to Taj Mahal which didn't serve Indian food and was as Edi described "alright and overpriced but still by far the best food you can get anywhere around here". It was still fun sitting outside in the city. The bill ended up racking up to about $15 a person with drinks, so again, not terribly expensive but still you’d think Eastern Europe would be cheaper. We turned in pretty early as we needed to wake up early to catch an 8am bus to Mostar.

Split to Dubrovnik

Split to Dubrovnik
Sunday, July 26, 2009
8:32 PM

We got up and got our stuff sorted then started to meander towards the bus stations to head to Dubrovnik. We got what ended up being a fairly expensive lunch at a pizza place, but it was still good. In hindsight the atmosphere in Split was fairly electric and the whole town was humming the entire time. Even in the morning plenty of people were roaming the streets taking in the town.

Croatia is inconvenient in that many places refuse to take Euros, at the bus station we all had to change to Kunas to buy our tickets. The bus was packed, and at some points there were even double-digit people standing. But, the 4.5 hour ride hugged the coastline which made for a beautiful trip the entire way. Once we were in Dubrovnik we were immediately attacked by a ton of people who were asking if we wanted rooms.

Since there were 3 of us one lady suggested we make a friend so we had 4 people for an apartment. Naomi, a really cool Dutch girl was also looking for a place for the night and ended up joining up with us. Once we got to the old town we were greeted by Edi, and calling this guy a character would have been a massive understatement. He immediately drew up a map for us and welcomed into his home and seemed much like a cool uncle rather than a landlord. He also ended up being the top ranked in Dubrovnik for Hostel World. We settled in, got some food, and trolled around the city a bit. We ended up taking a beer at Bura Bar, whose entrance was a hole in the city wall so you actually sit outside the wall right on the edge of the coastline. Saying it was beautiful would be a gross understatement.

Split

Split
Saturday, July 25, 2009
1:41 PM

So after the long bus ride from Zagreb I wandered to the hostel that Ronnie and Mitch told me to meet them at in Split. Initially the girl at the front desk had no clue who they were but after showing her a picture of Mitch she remembered and had me talk to the other staffer who was taking a nap. I found that they had left their bags there, so after taking a short walk around the downtown I waited up for them.

About 30 minutes later they both came in, we got set up for the night in an apartment for roughly $20 per person for the evening. The place was about a 5 minute walk from the hostel. It was on the third floor and had a charming balcony. From there we went to the grocery store and picked up dinner. Mitch and I went down to the mud beach which was interesting because everyone was playing handball. When we got back we got Ronnie up and headed back to the hostel and played a bit of kings cup then went out and had a great time.

While I've complained quite a bit about the beaches the Euros definitely know how to do their beachside towns. All the restaurants and bars are out on the promenades, and people watching is encouraged so no matter what it is easy to be entertained.

En Route to Dubrovnik

En Route to Dubrovnik
Friday, July 24, 2009
7:34 PM

Mitch and Yaron got into Munich on the 21st and have been in Split, Croatia for a little while at this point. While I'm not terribly concerned about Split I really wanted to check out Dubrovnik. Although I could do this solo after I'm finished up in Beograd I thought it'd be a great time to catch up with my boys. My trains go Turin > Milan > Venice > Zagreb > Split, where I'm planning to meet up with them, then to Dubrovnik by bus as it isn't accessible by train.

Since I slept for the bulk of the Turin to Milan ride this is making me remember how fond I am of trains. The last time I rode the rails heavily was in Japan and trains are just a wonderful way to see a country. Italy doesn't suffer from the urban sprawl that Southern California is so well known for so once you're out of a city you're really outside of the city. There are endless fields growing what looks to mostly be rice and corn, which is surprising given that I haven't seen a ton of corn based products.

Although the trains are a little crowded they're still big boy friendly which is all I ever ask for. Going to Venice I sat across from a blue eyed nette who noticed the UCLA sticker on my laptop and was fond of the Mighty Bruins as many Italians seemed to be. It ended up that she was working in Milan hopelessly slaving away for Leo Burnett whom, as far as she was concerned, had taken quite a bit of her soul already. She also let me know that the train was running extra late and got the conductor to call ahead for a stall on the train to Zagreb.

The Train from Venice to Zagreb ran from 10pm to 4am and the sleeper car was initially fairly sketchy but once conversation was started everyone was pretty jovial. Topics were fairly run of the mill and encompassed favorite travel destinations, Champions League Football prospects and transfers, and perhaps the most common European topic that tends to be unpopular in America, politics. Getting the feeling on the ground of political attitudes is always very interesting to me, and while politics are very private in the States, Europeans are far more outspoken. Distaste for Berlusconi continued the trend that I saw throughout Turin and Milan. Interestingly I heard quite a bit of support for Putin with a Croatian national that had lived/worked in the states citing the benefit of, "the return of a strong Russia".

Disaster almost struck early in Zagreb. Since the ticket office didn't open until 6 and I was in town at 4 I took an hour or so walk around the downtown. It was gorgeous, as it seems every downtown in Europia is. When I got back to the train station I found that the train had been canceled and replaced with a single bus, which was also sold out at 650am, 11am and was not open for a reservation until 3pm. As I was planning on meeting Ronnie and Mitch in Split around noon this was an absolute wrench in my plans. I paced around the station a few times, went back to another ticket window and had my initial findings confirmed yet again. I figured the only way that I could possibly get on the bus was trying to go standby. At the bus I was yet again reminded in an automatic Balkan sort of way that everything was full until 3, but as I've learned a lot of smiling goes a long way. After trading some euro for konor with another rider, I was on the bus that was 'full' and was actually anything but full.

FC Torino

FC Torino
Thursday, July 23, 2009
7:10 PM

While Turin is known for Juventus, the most successful club in Serie A with 29 championships, FC Torino, the other club, also oozes tradition. Think of the Lakers and the Clippers if the Clippers had won a bunch of championships in the 70s or something. In 1949 FC Torino was the top team in Serie A and 10 of their 11 players were starters on the national team. After playing an exhibition match in Lisbon their plane crashed into a large hill that overlooks the city and has a large basilica on top of it. Oddly enough their top player had not been on the plane as he had received a red card and a subsequent 1 game suspension the game prior. Even stranger is that he died when he was hit by a car driven by the man who would eventually become the president of the club. To this day FC Torino is considered by some to be 'cursed' as a result of these unfortunate events.

After checking that out we headed to a park to play some basketball. It was a composite court with an outdoor/indoor soccer field next to it and when we got there a group of Italian kids were arguing with Peruvian men about who was to get usage of the court. There are few things more entertaining to watch than 12 year olds smoking cigarettes yelling at grown men. Luckily it seemed that reason won out and the Peruvians got the court and played a rousing game of soccer. Since 2 of the guys that were supposed to come had flaked, I taught Carlo and Daniel how to play 21, which can be a rough game to explain even to native English speakers. I went through it really slow and we played a few rounds and I think they enjoyed it. After that we played H-O-R-S-E which neither of them had ever played which was pretty surprising.

From there we headed back, got dinner, washed up, then got picked up by Carlo's friend and went downtown to Daniel's house. We had a couple drinks then hit up the bars and what not. Italian nightlife is vibrant but still kinda strange. The ratios across the board were pretty terrible but it seems that’s on account of Italian guys being really pushy. As things winded down we got a few slices of pizza for 2 euro which were actually in the American style which was pleasant.

Auguri!

Auguri!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
5:59 PM

Ah another year passed in what has been a very fine life. Being away on my birthday has become a pretty stable trend. 18 - Bangkok, 19 - Japan (actually I may have been home but if I was I had just gotten back), 20 - Camp, 21 - Camp, 22 - Camp, 23 - Italia. One of the really nice things for me about being away on my birthday has been that it gives me plenty of time to be introspective and emo, which has become my favorite way to spend my birthday as delayed parties that fit in family/friends schedules are preferable any way.

I ended up taking a jog down to where the Po and the Duan Rivers intersect. I walked the entire way through the classic downtown taking a route through Via Roma which is Turin's 'Rodeo Drive'. Although today Milan is known for fashion Turin was the birthplace of the Italian style. There were, as always in Italy, tons of girls strutting about and checking out the various shops. The strut is an understatement as girls seem to wear heels almost everywhere, even at the market in the middle of the afternoon. Via Roma runs through a couple different squares, one of which is where Juventeus supporters celebrate club victories. This square was packed with high school age kids, many of them kicking it with one of my favorite sights in Turin, the bull water fountain. The tap water was easily the best I've ever had which is attributed to the proximity of the Alps.

After I was through the main downtown I headed down to the banks of the Po and went as far as that took me. It looked like they were building a new dam and the construction attracted quite a few onlookers. Jogging next to the river was very peaceful as it moves at a fairly leisurely pace, not quite a meandering stream but it definitely isn't in a hurry. As that trail ended I went up to a bridge and crossed the river, on the other side there was a wonderful dirt path raised up from the banks with grass on both sides and benches alongside. There were quite a few cyclists as well as seniors taking in the beautiful views. Eventually I reached the intersection and sat down on what was a very fine grained sand and enjoyed the calmness of the situation.

Upon returning back to Carlo's there was a great dinner (as always) prepared. The family sang Happy Birthday to me in Italian and surprised me with a cake, it was a wonderful day.

San Siro

San Siro
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
5:18 PM

We jumped on a train Milan so Carlo and his Daniel could get their Student Visas for their upcoming year at the University of Illinois - Chicago. Fortunately I wasn't allowed in the consulate since I didn't have an appointment or any urgent matters. As a result I took the opportunity to walk around a bit and engage in the true test of any country, the quality of their McDonalds.

While most would argue that this is an absurd test because McDonalds is universally terrible, I'd invite them to try McDonalds in Japan. When Al and I went there the summer after second year Kim made us watch Super-Size Me, we both got cravings for McDonalds, and I was quickly convinced that Japanese McDonalds was markedly better than anything I had ever tasted in the States. The Italian version did not hold up to the rigorous Japanese standards, and it was terrible as one would expect.

Their trip to the consulate ended up being fairly painless, and after our government confirmed that they weren't Nazi's or terrorists they had their Visas. We headed down to the Duomo, which I had remembered from the family trip a few years back. It was impressive and buzzing with tourists like myself. We jumped on the subway and met up with one of Daniel's friends and had pasta in a food court for lunch. I was initially pretty skeptical to the idea, but it was delicious.

From there we headed down to the legendary San Siro, home of both Inter and AC Milan. They were changing the field and so we were quickly convinced that we could go on the field. After walking around for a bit like a clueless American we were on the field. It was really impressive and the viewing angles looked like they'd be wonderful. On the upper levels it was undoubtedly a bit cavernous but sweet nonetheless. Serie A, the Italian Soccer League, is known for having the worst grass in all of Europe. Interestingly, San Siro, one of the most famous stadiums in Europe, is known for having the worst grass in Italy. This happens even though AC Milan is home to David Beckham and is owned by the President and 3rd richest man in Italy, Silvio Berlusconi. Inter is also one of the most recognizable clubs in the world. When you consider how good the grass can be even at high school stadiums, San Siro's field was thoroughly entertaining.

From San Siro we jumped on a Bus and headed down to a Castle that Victoria Beckham tried to purchase upon David's arrival in Milan. I'm always surprised at the quality of the brickwork at these places. Yet, to stand up to hundreds of years of weathering and be only lightly scathed something obviously needs to be well built. Outside of the castle was a huge park that wasn't rough on the eyes. We stopped for a bit and watched some 3-on-3 basketball which confirmed my earlier mentions of Italians not playing basketball from a young age.

We then headed down to the nightlife area of Milan which was very fashionable like the rest of the city. Stopping by the famous clubs that the soccer players frequent was interesting because they were like everything else in Europe, small. Even the particularly notorious 'Hollywood' couldn't have been more than a few thousand square feet.

As we were trying to be back in Turin in time for dinner we headed back downtown and caught the train. Carlo had told me that all the trains would be late, that I wouldn't see Andrea Bargnani or LA Galaxy David Beckham jerseys, and just as I was pointing out that he had been wrong on multiple counts our train broke down. We spent 30 minutes stalled on a ride that was supposed to take 90 minutes, but Daniel got to sit up front with the conductor and we got back with plenty of time to spare.

Centro
Monday, July 20, 2009
5:09 PM
So Monday was a pretty low key day and I spent the morning catching up on random stuff. I decided to take a run/jog/walk downtown which ended up being a bit longer than I had anticipated. It was a good 10 miles or so but I'm now strongly convinced that leisurely jogs are among the finest ways to get to know a town. You really get a feel for the pace of the people and what they do on a daily basis. I left around 5 so everyone was off work/out of school.

The parks were packed with kids and their moms or assortments of seniors. I stopped and watched a pickup game of soccer which actually looked to play a lot like American kids would look aside from one kid who had ridiculous touch and was scoring goals like crazy. When I got back they were worried as Carlo's mom had told me about a park around the block (which I had checked out too) and thought I was completely lost, but all was well.