Belgrade

We had an early departure from our hotel today.  Our check-in at the airport in Malta went so smoothly that we ended up at the gate with almost 2 hours to spare before our departure.  Tom got lots of reading done and I spent the morning stitching on a Christmas stocking.  The first leg of our trip brought us to Munich where merchandise, including water, pop, etc. was shockingly over-priced.  Fortunately we had been served breakfast on the plane, so we each got one over-priced beverage and settled in for our almost-three-hour wait.  Again, Tom read, I stitched.  The airport in Munich also seemed to operate very smoothly - no long lines, no extra passages through security.  We did hear announcements that those traveling to the US needed to allow at least an hour at the gate for extra security measures.  We were happy to be on a plane to Belgrade.

The two planes we were on today were really nice.  Malta Air is partnered with Lufthansa, and both offer food, wine, beer, etc. on their flights.  Seats were roomy, and the planes were both quite new - so, all in all, not such a bad day considering it was spent in airports and on airplanes.

Our escort and guide for our tour of the Balkans met us at the airport and accompanied us on our drive to our hotel.  The "Hotel Majestic" isn't quite as majestic as its name would have you believe, but it's clean and comfortable and on the main pedestrian street, so we're in a good location for exploring the city.  We will be joining our guide and the rest of our group for dinner tonight.

I spent much of the day working on a Christmas stocking!