Wandered around Belgrade city centre and also Kalamengdan which is one of Belgrade's cultural centres with old ruined fortresses, Romand and Celtic ruins and some nifty slightly newer tanks and anti-aircraft guns.
The view is fantastic up there though as it looks right down the Danube and Sava Rivers and much of Belgrade itself.
Combining that with some good ice cream and a relaxing drink in a good rock pub it was a good afternoon.
Once back home Jasmina and I watched 10,000BC (which for fantasy film was pretty good - it is in no way historical at all and I think one of my friends was complaining about that...which I don't get now as it is so obviously not historically accurate). Sort of reminded me of a slightly pre-historic Apocalypto with some fantasy/sci-fi elements thorwn in. Also really reminded me of some of the ideas that Dave and myself were talking about a few years about for a game...
Then, after dinner, Jasmina, her brother Igor and myself settled down for a game of Risk. Now I think we'd have survived longer had Jasmina and myself not fought a tit-for-tat over Europe whilst her borther consolidated his powerbase in North and South America. It was one of the quickest 'total domination' games of Risk I've ever played. Igor won a very comprehensive victory.
Jasmiona and I then watched a bit of tv (Serbian TV has subtitles for english-language programs as opposed to dubbing so I can actually watch and understand them). I think we watched a show based upon William Shatner's TekWar novels (I think that's what they're called - I missed the credits so have no idea what the show was called). It had some interesting ideas - even if they were badly written and badly acted. We also watched an episode of A Town Called Eureka - a show I'd seen advertised in the UK but had never seen. I quite liked it and will probably have to track down a few more episodes when I'm back home.
This morning has been very lazy so far but we're about to take a walk down to the docks and catch a boat across the Sava to a green area with an artifical lake (I believe there is boating). This evening we're off to see some of Jasmina's friends at a bar or club or something...
The view is fantastic up there though as it looks right down the Danube and Sava Rivers and much of Belgrade itself.
Combining that with some good ice cream and a relaxing drink in a good rock pub it was a good afternoon.
Once back home Jasmina and I watched 10,000BC (which for fantasy film was pretty good - it is in no way historical at all and I think one of my friends was complaining about that...which I don't get now as it is so obviously not historically accurate). Sort of reminded me of a slightly pre-historic Apocalypto with some fantasy/sci-fi elements thorwn in. Also really reminded me of some of the ideas that Dave and myself were talking about a few years about for a game...
Then, after dinner, Jasmina, her brother Igor and myself settled down for a game of Risk. Now I think we'd have survived longer had Jasmina and myself not fought a tit-for-tat over Europe whilst her borther consolidated his powerbase in North and South America. It was one of the quickest 'total domination' games of Risk I've ever played. Igor won a very comprehensive victory.
Jasmiona and I then watched a bit of tv (Serbian TV has subtitles for english-language programs as opposed to dubbing so I can actually watch and understand them). I think we watched a show based upon William Shatner's TekWar novels (I think that's what they're called - I missed the credits so have no idea what the show was called). It had some interesting ideas - even if they were badly written and badly acted. We also watched an episode of A Town Called Eureka - a show I'd seen advertised in the UK but had never seen. I quite liked it and will probably have to track down a few more episodes when I'm back home.
This morning has been very lazy so far but we're about to take a walk down to the docks and catch a boat across the Sava to a green area with an artifical lake (I believe there is boating). This evening we're off to see some of Jasmina's friends at a bar or club or something...
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angusabranson- Angus Abranson
- Chronicle City
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Most of the programs on TV are in English with Serbian subtitles and I guess this has helped people learn a lot fo English outside of what they are already taught at school.
I've only been in one bar so far though. This evening we're heading out clubbing so I'll get more of an idea then.
To be honest I don;t think Americans would have a harde time here either (certainly no more so than in many European countries right now). There will be small factions everywhere who are anti-US or anti-Western but in general most of the hype and scare-mongering is media-driven outside of those countires in question. There's certainly a drive outside of Serbia to make them seem like 'bad boys' who are in bed with Russia. But looking around and seeing the amount of Western businesses operating here, the TV shows, adverts/street boards in English and level of warmth people seem to have plus knowing what many in the government are trying to do in regards to joining the EU and relaxing travel restrictions for Serbs abroad I can't see a lot of reasons to think they're anti-West. (Although saying that there are certain topics of conversation I'm not touching upon whilst I'm here including the K word).
I was re-reading the novels recently (about the time I got the DVDs) and they're not world-shakingly good but I do enjoy the near-future world that they establish.