The intruder

These dusty bottles in this crate reminded me of those 'which one doesn't belong' games I used to play as a kid.

Reflections Weekend--rakia bottles

This little bottles filled with Serbian plum brandy are called cokancici (CHO-kan-chee-chee)and will be favors at my son's wedding on July 25th...perhaps many will be downed before being taken home. I filled about 160 of them and touched nary a drop, since I don't care for brandy! Pass the wine!

See more reflections at Newtown Daily Photo's Reflections Weekend.

Message in a bottle?

I don't know if there was a message in this bottle, but doubt it, since it appears empty. This green wine bottle floats on the quay on the Sava River in New Belgrade. Recent rains and melting snow have made the water levels rise and cover part of the sidewalk.

This post is for Newtown Daily Photo's Reflection Weekend. Hop over and have a look!

Sun on Seltzer

If these look a teeny familiar for you longer-term readers of mine, you saw them all in blue right here. Passing by this shop the other day, I saw these seltzer bottles in different colors, with the sun reflecting through.

This post is for James'REFLECTION WEEKEND series, and especially because his birthday is today! Happy Birthday from another Aquarian in Belgrade!

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ABC Wednesday "P" is for "Perfume"

I'll bet you haven't seen a place like this for a while, if ever. This little shop on King Peter's Street in the Belgrade neighborhood of Dorčol (DOR-choll) makes creams, oils, face powders, hair spray, hair creams, eyeshadow, lipsticks, and perfumes. This shop has been around at least since I came to Belgrade 32 years ago, and was closed when I went by this time. I've always been curious about it...though I'm not a big user of any of the above except perhaps perfume and lipstick, I just might go back out and find out more about the store. Stay tuned.

Don't you just love all the little bottles, especially the Eiffel Tower one?

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In Austria and on the Titanic

Bermet (BEAR-met) is an elegant dessert wine, produced according to recipes held secret by a handful of families in the town of Sremski Karlovci (see the sign on the van) in Vojvodina, Serbia, about 50 kilometers north of Belgrade. The red or white wine is sweet, usually between 16 and 18% alcohol, with a pleasant mixture of spices and herbs. Every family has its own recipe, so you won’t find two Bermet that are the same.

Bermet but can also be served as an aperitif. In the old days, Bermet was very popular among the aristocracy of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and the Viennese court purchased it in large quantities. Several varieties of Bermet were found on the Titanic's wine list on its maiden and ill-fated journey.

This lady has saved her customers the trouble by coming to Belgrade in her van and setting up a street stand.

Seltzer bottles!

It's theme day and the theme is "water"! These are seltzer bottles, empty at the moment, but which can be filled with carbonated water, also known as sparkling water, plain water into which carbon dioxide gas has been dissolved. Nowadays hardly anyone uses these classic bottles, but there are still a few stores around town where you can take yours (if you still have one...) to be filled to add to white wine to make wine spritzers. Otherwise, most people opt to use already the Serbian bottled naturally sparkling water, Knjaz Miloš (Kuh-NYAZ MEE-lush), named for a Serbian prince, which comes from mountains near Arandjelovac (Ah-ron-JEL-o-vats). Quite a mouthful of words to pronounce today!