fall excursions

Lari spent Wednesday afternoon with us while my in-laws ran some errands.  It was such a beautiful day that we decided to make a visit to Parcul Dendrologic.  (For more pictures from the last time we visited, click here.)

I'm not sure how this happened, but this branch
somehow grew to be a part of both trees.

There was a lovely maple tree there
which had dropped some of it's leaves.

This tower apparently used to be someone's home.
It's empty, but you can walk through it.

I'd hate to have to be the one
to climb to the roof...

from the second story window

We had wanted to invite Rebeca to go along with us, since she and Lari have been after us for a few weeks to take them on an excursion.  But she was unable to go with us.  So, since Saturday was another beautiful day and she was free, we went back.  (It's only a couple villages down the road.)

We had a lovely time with them and couldn't have asked for a nicer day.  Hopefully our nice weather will continue for a little while longer!

a holiday in Serbia!

Some missionary friends of ours in Serbia invited us to visit them in Belgrade for the 4th of July.  We had a lovely time with their family and got to see a lot of cool sites!

This view was just a stone's throw from their house and up a hill.  Beautiful, isn't it??

From there we climbed this to this tower and toured it.

It had some awesome views, too!

Belgrade

the Danube!

Our hotel was just a few blocks from our friends' house, and was also right across the street from the Danube.  So the next morning we took a stroll along the river.  It was a gorgeous day!

On our way back to their house, we walked through the local piata.

Next our friends took us to downtown Belgrade, where we did a little shopping and walking around.  It is a very pretty city!

Eventually we wound up at this fort.  Parts of it were built in the 1400s!

"Inner Stambol Gate Built Around 1750"

Some military equipment was also on display.

These tunnels were excavated so that you could see what they looked like back when the Romans were in power!

This tower was built in the 1400s!

We had a lovely time in Belgrade, visiting with our friends and enjoying the sites.  And we were very excited to find an ice cream stand downtown that sold absolutely delicious 100% natural, sugar-free ice cream along with gluten-free cones!  We were just about in heaven, and had some both on our way to the fort and on our way back to go to lunch.  Yum!!!!  What a treat!  It's a good thing we don't live in Belgrade or we might visit that stand a little too often.  :)