I stayed home during the morning and had an unusually productive day. In the evening I met some folks at the Radisson Blu here where there was a tasting of sparking wines going on. After that we headed over to Frans for dinner which was quite good. More than anything the setting is impressive, the whole thing feels like you’re in a garden or green house. They’re also good enough to provide complimentary toothbrushes in the bathroom and the girls even had free champagne in theirs. After that we all headed over to Vox Blues Club. After we closed them down we headed to Red Bar and then to this area called Citinjska which is basically where a bunch of clubs open up into a parking lot. There’s a random alley/tunnel between two where a DJ jets up on the weekends so we danced there until I noticed the sun was coming up. At which point I bailed.
Category: Daily
Day 43 | July 8
I got a late start to the day and had a ton of work to do besides that so I didn’t get moving until late. I had an awesome dinner at Mala fabrika ukusa which pulled in to the number two… maybe number one position for my favorite restaurant in Belgrad with Ambar. After that I headed over to Vox Blues Club. I was a little skeptical of this place at first but it blew me away. The band was great, they had a great set loaded with Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jack Daniels is only $2. On top of which everyone was super friendly… whether or not they even spoke English. Of course, that’s been my experience with all Serbians so far truth be told.
Day 42 | July 7
With a bunch of work to catch up on still today was another low key day. Had lunch at Red Bread which was quite good and then over to Smart Office to work all day. Had dinner at Na Cosku and then to sleep early.
Day 41 | July 6
Another low key day. Had coffee Koffein and worked there for a while before heading over to Smart Office. Grabbed dinner at Zavicaj on the way home and then kept working there. In the evening went for what was supposed to be a quiet drink at Bistro du Vin and then escalated to basically a tour of all the Belgrade clubs trying to find one with something going on and we ultimately ended up at Tag and then Freestyler on the river.
Day 40 | July 5
Today was formal orientation, welcome to Belgrade and an introduction to our new workspace, Smart Office. It’s a nice space on the main pedestrian mall of Belgrade but it’d be hard for anything to compete with K10. I spent most of the day at the work space before having dinner at Mala Gostionica. I had perhaps the most fattening meal of my life; pork topped with bacon. Then headed over to our community connect talk at Red Bar before calling it a rare early night.
Day 39 | July 4
Today I just caught up on work and rested for most of the day. In the evening we had our welcome to Belgrade/Independence Day party at Hot Mess. Prior to that I had dinner at Manufaktura which has an awesome patio with a canopy of suspended red umbrellas. Hot Mess is one of these famous floating Belgrade clubs and it was awesome. In addition to being a raft on the river it has a pool in the middle of the place. We got some surprises in the form of a fire dancing performance and fireworks. The view of the city was gorgeous as well. The only downside was that they only took cash and there aren’t any ATMs in the park! …go figure.
Day 38 | July 3
The first day in Belgrade was spent roughly the same as the first day in Prague. I slept in after getting in so late and then basically struck out to wander around the city and get my bearings. During the course of that I almost walked into the Presidents cabinet office thinking it was a random tourist site until some guards finally intervened. After a full day of walking I heard that some others were doing an official walking tour so I joined that. Our tour guide was great and shared some of her homemade Rekija with us. That tour lasted for almost three hours so by the end I was beat and headed back for an early night.
Day 37 | July 2
Hey, about 10% of a year down already. That flew by. Today was the first travel day which meant I was up at 4am to shower, assemble the last of my things and be downstairs by 5am. It was buses to Belgrade via Budapest. What should be a six to eight hour drive by car took a total of 19 hours door to door. That’s all I have to say about that.
Day 36 | July 1
Today was the last day in Prague and I had a lot to do before traveling the next day. I spent the morning packing everything up and then I embarked on a task I’d put off for a long time; figuring out the Czech post office. As it turned out the post office itself wasn’t that difficult to figure out apart from being the one place in all of Prague where no one spoke any English. The real challenge, I discovered, is that I was woefully ill equipped to send packages. I had no boxes, no tape, no paper and nothing to actually pack items in. So I literally spent the entire day walking around Prague (nice because I got one last look at everything) scrounging for news paper and tape etc. Oh, and then I finally learned that the post office does, in fact, sell boxes and was able to buy some there. By the time that was over I was exhausted and wanted to sleep but I still had work to do so I went to Bad Jeff’s BBQ for a second night in a row being as it was literally right on the corner. This could have been an early night but work kept me occupied until around midnight.
Day 35 | June 30
The focus today was still on getting back to 100% and catching up on work so it was a pretty uneventful day. Started out with breakfast at Kavarna Zanzibar and then headed to K10 to work for most of the day. In the evening I went to Bad Jeff’s BBQ which is an American BBQ joint one black from my apartment. I’d been putting off going but I’m glad I did. American BBQ, American whiskey, American music and a ton of Americans. Highly recommended to any Prague ex-pats feeling homesick. I had the ribs (obviously) and they were very well done, on par with just about anything I’ve had in Denver but certainly not other places in the U.S. The sides were nothing to write home about, though, and by Prague standards it was an expensive meal. I made it home and actually went to sleep early for a change.