While crossing the street in Belgrade I noticed that when the light is green for a pedistrian and you cross, a car may still run you over. Pedistrians do not have the right of way. I've seen cars push there way through a crosswalk that was clearly against a Red light for them.
Nikola Tesla was awaiting him. David was on the way to board the bus and stopped to purchase a ticket for the Tram. The attendant said something and he replied a Bus ticket, you know for the Tram please. She said...I know perfectly well what you want, I only want to know "How Many". David realized he forgot his hearing aides and climbed back 5 flights to Mr Walkers to retrieved them. Then as he boarded the bus, he noticed a photo op but NO camera. David was in no mood to do another 5 flights of stairs and boarded the crowded Tram.
Standing in a Tram can also be a strain on the body as the Tram lurches forward then stop then forward then stop...and we haven't even left the station yet. Then the overwhelming body odor and not knowing whether it is yours or ???.
It seems the last day or two have been spent trying to navigate the streets to no avail. Three maps in hand, three different languages and none in English. The Cyrillic alphabet consists of 30 characters that barely resemble our Latin alphabet with each character representing a different sound. David knows Da for yes Ne for no and Hvara for Thank You. He did manage to get off at the correct stop then proceeded to get lost while exploring the neighborhood in search of the Nikola Tesla Museum.
Nikola was the most outstanding inventor EVER. He was from Serbia and worked for Edison but the two completely disagreed on everything. He quit Edison and partnered up with George Westinghouse to win the contract to illuminate the White City and the whole Chicago Colombian Exposition in 1893. A year later they built the Niagara Power Co...the first of it's kind and a life long dream of Tesla's since he was a young boy. JP Morgan backed his effort to build a world telegraph station on Long Island with another in Colorado Springs but Tesla wanted 7 of them throughout the world . He wanted them to be free for humanity and when JP Morgan couldn't figure out a way to make money, he folded the project and Marconi got the credit when his station on Cape Cod succeeded after Tesla. When Marconi received the Nobel Prize , he told the Committee that he was not a scientist and had no idea why it worked only that it did. Edison stole the other Nobel Prize that also belonged to Tesla. Tesla lived almost 90 years and died in 1943. New York Mayor Guardia gave a speech in his honor and the funeral was packed at St John's in NYC where he was buried but later exhumed and his cremated remains put inside a brass ball I got to end my tour seeing. Unfortunately David had no camera to verify the occasion. David is not sure of all his facts as poor hearing sometimes distorts the message. The fact that he found the museum was a triumph in itself. He walked home, got his camera and returned to the Vuka.
The Vuka was the highly recommended Serbian restaurant that closed early the evening before. It was packed when he arrived around 3pm for lunch. The Veal Goulash and noodles with a Serbian salad accompanied by delicious Serbia bread was worth it. A great Turkish coffee and Fresh Bowl of Raspberries with Ice Cream finished off the afternoon and he returned for an early bed.
Slavisa, a CouchSurfer in Belgrade left a message that he would like to meet to show David some of the City when David returns in August. David purchased his bus ticket to Zagreb for tomorrow.
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