Couch bouncing.

Following the time in Belgrade, I visited the city center, a beautiful town with one heck of a history. People are very much talk in depth many things about historic Belgrade in which interests me a lot however I do fail to take in every fact that these people know so much of.

I visited lake Ada just outside Belgrade with my couch surfer, Jelena and had a lovely time as the sun set, over a Serbian beer. Onward taking me to a lovely restaurant where I ate fish soup at a considerable £3. It was a lovely dinner on the lake.

Following the days of visiting different parts of central and the suburbs of Belgrade, there is just one place that I still wish to see. There are still buildings that have not been demolished from the wars in which I find it quite a surprise that it hasn't been demolished, for obvious reasons (that people don't wish to see a decade later...)

I do a photo shoot of a local young lady in whom lived in Los Angeles. We decided to have the photo-shoot situated by the river bank and in the late sun light of a September evening. It was good fun, quite short however it was nice doing a shoot in a completely different environment which inevitably created some photos of Vanja's style and retro theme, (That evolved in the making of the shoot). This was just an experimental shoot however when the sun went down, we decided to go to a bar called the Stairs, funnily enough just by some 'stairs'. We have some food and marveled across the river as darkness fell. We shared the photos and chatted about them. After a while, Vanja left whilst I was in gear for finding a couch to sleep for the evening and a new friend to make. Only the time was ticking quick, which made me think of plan B. No messages from the internet couch surfing so I went on a walk, with my life in my backpack...

Yesterday evening, which was Thursday, I find myself without a couch/ mattress to sleep on before realizing that the evening was getting late. However I was lucky. With lots of canvases, paints and etching boards around me, I really pondered the thought of where I was as I lay to sleep. It felt lovely and tranquil! The blanket had a light stench of dogs but it was a great sleep. Today I wake up with a walk along the river with the host and his dog, a gentle but large one. Ivan and his dog show me round the fortress situated adjacent by the main big park and the zoo in central Belgrade.

It was a lovely time with Ivan. He showed me a part in which I hadn't been around before. However the next day came and I had to get to Skopje as I had spent 6 days in Belgrade. It was an amazing first week of my tour in which I found myself doing more things than I expected.

Thank you to all the friends I made and the people I met in Belgrade. It was a wonderful time.

Jo