Belgium and Serbia

BELGIUM

A car pickup at 3:45 am on August 13 took us to the Mexico City airport for a 6:20 am flight to Houston, Chicago, then Belgium (to arrive on August 14 about 10:00).  Well....an hour delay in Mexico City disrupted the rest of the flights.  So from Houston we got them to send us to London and then Brussels so Don could get to the Nike clinic that he was supposed to speak at.  And the bags continued on their way to Chicago we think.  We arrived in Brussels and did the paper work to try to locate our three bags.  We were picked up by Walter and taken to the clinic in Antwerp.  Don arrived late and took the last speaking spot available.  Oh well.  We enjoyed dinner with Walter and Rita, had a short sleep and headed to the Brussels airport for a August 15 9:50 am flight to Belgrade, Serbia for the next basketball gig.  Bags??  We are hoping they are found and sent on the Serbia.  



SERBIA
We were met at the Belgrade airport by Alexander who was in charge of us for a while until the “Professor” could meet us to take us from Belgrade to Kragujevac where the coaching clinic will be held.  Alexander is in the tourist trade so he decided to show us a bit of Belgrade. 
He took us to a huge orthodox church that was under construction.  It is supposedly the largest in this region.  The outside is finished and work has begun on the inside. 

Then we went to the old fortress which was wonderful.

High above the Sava and Danube rivers, on the rocky ridge, is the Belgrade Fortress and Kalemegdan, the former historical and urban center of Beograd (Belgrade). This complex consists of: the Fortress, divided into Upper Town and Lower Town, and the Kalemegdan Park—the most popular promenade for citizens of Beograd (Belgrade).

Because of its exceptional strategic position, at the end of the first century A.D. the Romans built a fortress here.  The Belgrade Fortress has been destroyed and renewed many times. Building upon the original walls of the Romans, the Serbians, then the Turks, and finally the Austrians would make their own fortifications.

The Basketball coaches clinic was held at Kragujevac, Serbia.  Don spoke twice at the clinic.  There was also a youth camp going on at the same time.  We were housed in Hotel Sumarice on the camp/clinic campus.

 Thursday we were treated to a traditional family pig roast with Bruno's family and then decided to head to Belgrade for the next two nights.  Bruno's daughter took us into Belgrade and it took about two hours due to traffic.   

Bags.....So we haven't seen our bags since Saturday in Mexico City.  We changed the delivery to the Belgrade Marriott in with plans to leave camp after Don gets finishes and in hopes that the bags will make it soon.  Wednesday they called us to tell us we must come to the airport to pick them up and go through customs with them. After the pig roast we headed to Belgrade for two nights before our flight to London.

Time in Belgrade
Friday we had time to tour in Belgrade.  We decided on a bus tour to get a general tour of the city.  It was fun to see the Fortress from the tour as we walked it went we first arrived.  

 
Alex treated us to a evening river cruise on the Danube.  Rainy weather interfered a bit with our enjoying the view.