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A few years ago the city replaced its metal trash cans (the ones on posts) with plastic ones. You can probably guess that the front of these is missing from the first photo, and some careless person has tossed most likely a cigarette butt into the second one, resulting in a melted mess. Interesting though, how people have stuck their trash in the frame of the first receptacle!
Snapped this photo the other night of a seemingly very bored cook who's having a puff on the deck of one of Belgrade's river boat-restaurants. It was early evening around 7:30, before the onslaught of patrons wanting to dine al fresco.
Another scene along the Sava in New Belgrade. You don't see too many lady fishermen, but here is one who I imagine is with her husband enjoying some quality time and perhaps will enjoy some of their catch later on. In the background you can see some of the little houseboats people use as a summer/fair weather get-away, and the little yellow boat is on its way back from a river island to shuttle some more passengers across.
Normally on a pleasant summer evening there are people around downstairs in the garden, on the plaza, or even in the apartment windows (not that I am a peeping Tom...) But this wasn't the case in this photo; nary a soul to be seen. Something good on tv? 
Caught these fellows the other day with my 300mm lens---they were waaaaay up there, assembling the new Xerox logo, since Xerox has changed its logo to a red sphere with a white X with three grey stripes to reflect less on the photo copying duties Xerox has carried out and to refocus on document management and solutions. For years, Xerox has carried on a campaign to ban "xerox" or "xeroxed" as a verb and adjective, but although they may not like this use of their name, language changes, and Xerox isn't just a noun anymore.
I was debating whether to even post this photo, since Belgrade has so many beautiful floating restaurants, or splavovi, and this one in particular, even without the Waste isn't one of the more appealing. Unfortunately though, many splavovi are surrounded with waste, discarded by careless people. Too bad; I hate to see this. But I do wonder why this couple choose to sit right above the mess? I guess, thanks to the flowers, they can't see it.
Snapped this photo out of the bus the other day, since the composition of lines, grays, and reds struck me as pleasing. The towers in the background are on Belgrade's heating plant. The roof is of a temporary building used to house some workers doing construction nearby.
Serbs are bread-worshipers. If the French say "A day without wine is a day without sunshine," the Serbian equivalent would be "A day without bread is a day I've not been fed." (Like that? My creation!) In any case, it is a major no-no to throw bread out in the trash. Old bread is placed in a bag and put somewhere where those who need it can easily find it, usually on a dumpster such as this. My guess is that depending on the bread's condition, it's either then used for human consumption or fed to animals.
This scene reminds me of a famous painting byHenri Julien Félix Rousseau (1884-1910), a French Post-Impressionist Naive or Primitive painter. He is also known as Le Douanier (the customs officer) after his place of employment. Rousseau painted many scenes of jungles and other exotic places, claiming to have been inspired by the rainforests of Mexico where he said he'd done his military service...but he hadn't. He'd simply spent hours in Paris's Jardin des Plantes, or botanical gardens, which also have a small zoo. Ridiculed during his life, he came to be recognized as a self-taught genius whose works are of high artistic quality. This painting, entitled La Bohemienne Endormie or The Sleeping Gypsy, is one of my favorites. Years after being painted in 1897, the gypsy woke up in the MOMA in New York in 1939, thanks to the donation of Mrs. Simon Guggenheim, and then went back to sleep. (If you're wide awake, you can see me somewhere in this photo taking the picture....)
In the US, these brooms are hardly ever seen anymore, at least being used by street cleaners. They're still popular here in Belgrade, and you can buy your own on just about any open market for about $4.00 or less. 
This disdainful maiden looks down from a corner between two buildings on Resavska street, not far from the Yugoslav Drama Theater. I don't know why she was put there, and her expression is a mystery to me.
Whether you shout it from the rooftops or from a bridge, tell him/her you're in love! "I love you, Nemanja" is what Tina has written on the walkway under Branko's Bridge (featured in my first post last March.) Maybe that's Nemanja (NAY-mahn-yah) down there fishing.
While walking along the Sava a couple weeks ago, I saw these young guys painting a wall white. How nice, I thought, and went over closer to congratulate them on their civic pride. However, when I drew closer, the one really was merely creating a new "canvas," while the other was testing his spray paint cans to decorate the new surface with their own graffiti. Last Wednesday while checking out my citymates' Belgrade blogs, I saw that Vlada at http://fotkapofotka.blogspot.com/ had posted a photo of them too, taken a bit later that same day (May 28th), so check out the "vandals' or virtuosos'" work.
Here is part of a wall on the stairs of Belgrade's new sports arena, and shadows cast below. You can see that the pattern is made up of four Cyrillic alphabet C's, which actually represent the letter S. They stand for Serbia's slogan and popular motto "Само слога Србина спасава/Samo sloga Srbina spasava" or "Only Unity Saves the Serbs," which also is used as a cry against foreign domination and national disunity. This pattern is also displayed on the Serbian cross and on the Serbian national coat of arms. The origin of this symbol is of the Byzantine coat of arms where four stylized Greek letters "Β" stood for the imperial motto "Basileus Basileon Basileuon Basileusin" or "King of kings, ruling over kings," in Greek.
Couldn't resist these bright colors at a shoelace stand, where the seller will also give you a shoeshine if need be.
This was a quick shot out the window (we were driving slowly....) on a trip out of town the other day. The billboard is advertising a "Champion Offer" by Ford, whereas the car below is advertising a mechanical, bodywork, and painting shop. The choice is yours!
These are linden tree blossoms, and their heady, sweet fragrance is intoxicating. There are many different species of linden trees, but the flower is the part that is most frequently used in medical preparations. Linden has been used in European folk medicine for centuries for a wide range of health conditions, and is used by some cultures to treat anxiety, although no clinical trials have confirmed its effectiveness. Some trials indicate that linden tea can help people with mild gallbladder problems, upset stomach or dyspepsia, and gastrocardiac syndrome. When taken as a hot tea, linden flowers induce a mild fever, possibly helping to increase the immune system's ability to fight infections. The fever also causes sweating to cool the body off. Tea time!
Caught these chefs taking a bit of fresh air on top of Belgrade's Hotel Slavija. Looks like they're looking at a sign advertising a cooking school, maybe the one they attend?
I was going to keep this for ABC Wednesday next week (W for 'winner'), but was too impatient. My husband took this photo on Tuesday inside Belgrade's City Hall where a reception was held for 21 year-old Ana Ivanovic, who won her first Grand Slam at the French Open this year at Roland Garros in Paris, making her the Number One women's tennis player in the world. When you consider that Serbia also currently has major players as Jelena Jankovic, Novak Djokovic, and Janko Tipsarevic, that's not bad for such a small country. In any case, bravo to Ana, who is not only a winner, but a gracious beauty.
Couldn't resist posting these two photos today, both taken about two months ago. Colorful, to say the least! The young girl has her hair attached with what at first looked like long stringbeans, while the lady, who appears to belong to one of Belgrade's many minority groups, fascinated me with her varigated patterns.
Often when walking Bibi we get barked at by dogs on the other side of fences, behind gates, and even from terraces. This little guy was very quiet, and had Bibi not stopped to sniff his nose, I wouldn't have noticed him....or her.
In an earlier post here http://yankee-in-belgrade.blogspot.com/2008/04/truncated-trees.html , I had shown how the city annually chops off its sycamore trees along some major boulevards, since their branches often interfere with trolley lines. This photo was taken about two weeks ago, and you can see the new little branches are coming right back! They grow very fast, and this same tree is sporting new tufts in addition to these.
This kiosk stands on Belgrade's walking street, Knez Mihailova, and as you see, is a source of information for concerts and other cultural activities. Its midriff expands over weeks and months (sound familiar for some of us?) and every now and then it undergoes tummy reduction "surgery" to restore its waistline. You'd be surprised how many layers are removed!
Most people in Belgrade live in apartments that they usually own. However, although they fix up their own terraces, the common property areas around the apartment buildings are not regularly kept up. Those who really have a green thumb that's itching for more garden space take it upon themselves to take care of the grassy plots around their building, as someone has done here. His or her skills are limited to gardening, and it looks like a carpenter might be needed to repair this bench. In the meantime, don't sit on the flowers!
Wouldn't you love a cone this big? I had a slightly smaller one last night, and it was delicious. Couldn't resist taking the photo of this big cone over the store's window display of their yummy ice cream. Little blurry; hand-held by me in one hand, with my cone in the other.
A bit stormy part of the day yesterday, and when it cleared for a moment, we here in my part of town were greeted by a double rainbow. The dome you see is Belgrade's new sports arena, where the Eurovision Song Contest was recently held.
This is actually, I think, three trees that have fused together. Their trunks (like all these t's?) have merged together and make for a quite impressive tree-in-one. On the left of these trees about 50 meters away and several meters below is the Sava River. The embankment where the passer-by is walking is a sort of dyke to prevent flooding of residences behind it. However, a couple of years ago after major rains, the Sava (and Danube too, of course) overflowed, and here the water reached half-way up the embankment.
According to Wikipedia, the phrase Dog Days or "the dog days of summer," refers to the hottest, most sultry days of summer. They are a phenomenon of the northern hemisphere that usually falls between July and early September, but the actual dates vary greatly from region to region, depending on latitude and climate. Dog Days can also define a time period or event that is very hot or stagnant. Well, it's been hot and stagnant here pretty regularly, and this dog has picked an odd spot to rest, right in the sun. But I've noticed street dogs do that to warm their bones, poor things.
Last Saturday, Chuck in Seattle at http://almostoneaday.blogspot.com/ posted a photo of a truckload of anchors secured with cables, but there were no sides on the truck to prevent either their possible fall (okay, unlikely, but possible!) or someone's purposely gouging himself on an anchor's hook to make an insurance claim. I know in the US we're always watchful for this kind of thing, and we've all read signs that warn you of "dangers" that could be avoided by common sense. Here you're expected to use common sense, and too bad for you if you don't, since at least so far people aren't litigation-happy. But this sign in Kalemegdan Park surprised me. You can read what it says, but I guess that means, "Go ahead and walk here if you want, but watch out." I'm dedicating this post to Chuck, and to Strangetastes in Saint Louis at http://saintlouismodailyphoto.blogspot.com/ , since he's a lawyer! And thank you to my friend Melissa for letting me borrow her photo from her site; not sure if you can enlarge this one.
Meet Voja (VOY-yah), who owns the little newspaper stand where I go every morning to buy my newspapers. Here I also sometimes buy bus tickets, Milka chocolate, and other treats, and Voja always seems to be around. You can probably surmise that smoking is big here from the packs of cigarettes jammed behind his window. (Serbia was third in Europe after Greece and Turkey for the number of smokers.) I had never seen Voja standing until I asked him for this photo, since he's usually seated inside the little window you can glimpse on the left. Voja was very pleased when I presented him with a copy of this photo!
