Days 10 & 11....

The past two days have been been good. Day 10 was more of a stay-at-home day. I was happy to be a "Becky Home-ecky" and was able to wash a couple loads of clothes. There are no dryers here, so I had clothes hanging on a rack and scattered throughout the apartment on the radiators. Kevin went to the American Embassy to pick up paperwork and schedule an appointment for Monday to get Nole's Visa.

This is the view from our apartment window...
In the afternoon, we ventured out and went to Chickenita--a fast food retaurant--and a nice Serbian worker there who spoke English helped us order and then directed us to a place to get "minutes" for our cell phone.

We returned to the apartment and took a long nap. Yesterday's Adoption Day was filled with lots of emotion and we felt spent! After our rest, we went across the street to our local little market to get some groceries. Got quite a bit for $2200 dinar or about $30 in US. The currency in Serbia is the dinar.

With a few groceries stocking our little kitchen, I was able to make some sauce for a spaghetti dinner. Nole loved the noodles! Also, boiled some brown eggs for breakfast.
Day 11 was a very fun sightseeing day! Jasmina, our facilitator, met us at our apartment, and after going to the Photo Mart across the street to have Nole's Visa pics taken, we walked the narrow city streets down to the The Cathedral of Saint Sava--an Orthodox church in Belgrade.It is currently under renovation, but was still very beautiful and awe-inspiring inside.

Next, we loaded into a taxi and were dropped off at Knez Mihailova Street--the main walking street in Belgrade.

It is a pedestrian zone and shopping center, protected by law as one of the oldest and most valuable landmarks of the city. It has a large number of impressive buildings and mansions built at the end of the 1870s.


The city lies at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers,
Next we walked the grounds around the Kalemegdan Fortress--also note the statue of Pobednik (Winner), one of the symbols of Belgrade....
On the grounds, we were also able to tour St. Petka's Church which has an interior made completely mosaics, and the Rose Church which had unusual chandeliers made out of bullet shells.


To end our day, we experienced one of Serbia's best restaurant's located in the fortress. Not exactly sure what the name is, but someone called it the Castle Restaurant. We had a wonderful dinner...and they had a high chair for Nole too, which made it even more pleasant for everyone!

And to top off the day for me, Jasmina and her nephew Bane took me out to the National Theatre to experience the opera the Barber of Seville. The Theatre was breathtakingly beautiful and we had awesome balcony seats...I did not take this picture, but wanted to show just a bit of its beauty.... The opera was done in Serbian, but through the superb singing and acting (along with reading the program synopsis in English) I was able to follow the story line. Even so, the opera was so well done, it wouldn't have mattered what language was used.

This is a day we will treasure so that we can impart a taste of Serbia, especially Belgrade, to Nole one day.