I walked around town a little bit these days. My feet know the way, even if all the names of streets were changed from WWII National Heroes to saints and medieval princes. It has changed a lot - there are nice new stores, cafes, restaurants and apartment buildings everywhere, the parks are well kept and beautiful, and the people are beautiful and well-dressed. The old, gray, socialist city of my youth is gone and replaced with a modern European city:
This is the Serbian Parliament (formerly Yugoslav Parliament):
In the Pioneer Park, across the street from the Parliament, is the famous WWI-era military guard post, which was built out of stones best suited for fixing stuffed cabbage:
The entrance to one of the stations of the underground railway, which was built since I left - today was the first time in my life that I took a ride on the Belgrade Metro:
Passing by a bookstore - books by and about Pupin, Milankovic, Mokranjac and Tesla:
Serbia is working on joining the EU, its natural business partner. For the locals, the USA is a far-away, strange, and largely inconsequential country. Getting bombed by Americans was akin to the Independence Day - who the hell are these guys and where did they come from? Aliens? Cowboys? What do they want?
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