Notes from Serbia

Where to eat?  Spoilt for choice

Novi Sad to be exact - it's Serbia's second city about an hour and a half by car from Belgrade and on the River Danube.  I was captivated by this elegant town, with its ribbons of pastel terraces, Battenburg cake-style.

Yours truly has been in piano heaven for the last week - at the World Piano Conference which turned out to be a mind, body and spirit experience - and I did quite a lot of that (although mostly in the form of wine).  I have met truly wonderful souls - extraordinarily talented artists, their friends and families who welcomed me into their world.

Where else to be on a hot day?

I did wonder what I was going to find.  Six weeks ago, Serbia was not even on the radar as a place to visit.  However, my love affair with piano, combined with my friend Justin's enthusiasm for Serbia and piano made me want to go and I am so glad I did.










For a week, I've wallowed in piano, watched outstanding teachers at work, laughed till I've cried and I'm certain that I have made some special friends.  And then there was the partying!  I didn't want to leave and I am still not properly home.










It would have been so easy to have chosen not to go and I would have died in ignorance - whose loss would that have been?

The Danube

It was a delight today, to chat to a young Hungarian man, selling ice cream in the car park, at Brimham Rocks.  Budapest is not that far from Belgrade and I felt a spark of connection.