Double rainbow

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.

Triplet tree--ABC Wednesday

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.

Dog-tired.

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.

Risk your life!

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.

My corner store

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!

Reflecting on the past month

When I walk beside rivers, I slow down, reflect on life, appreciate my surroundings... Along part of the Sava River in New Belgrade is a statue honoring Mohandas (Mahatma) Ghandi, India's major political and spiritual leader, especially his dedication to his philosophy of truth and resistance to evil through active, non-violent resistance, in short peaceful protests. The first photo shows Ghandi's bust along with an exercise group stretching in the background. The second is an earlier photo not far from Ghandi, showing a bicyclist who is, I believe, really meditating or else just lost in thought.

The sky's the limit.

Most buildings in downtown Belgrade average five-six floors, and in some older sections of town a bit less. Here we see an older building that has been "adapted" with three more floors on top; another entire building almost. I hope the planners did their homework...squish. (Happy birthday today to my husband, who should be reading this, and whose office is just around the corner up the street you see running perpendicular to the main one!)
P.S. The fellow on the right is setting up his portable sock stand...

Who's your favorite team?

I'm not a soccer fan at all, just never was interested, but if I were, I'd definitely pay this fellow a visit. He's got just about every team t-shirt and scarf (plus some basketball shirts/shorts) you can imagine. The scarves cost 400 dinars, which is about $8.00. Click on the photo and see if you can find your favorite.

"S" is for Stolen Shopping cart

The other day downtown I saw four of these moveable "stands" used for selling various merchandise. While it's handy to have a stand you can move around, snitching a cart for this purpose from a grocery store isn't the answer, since we all indirectly end up paying for it through raised prices. Shame, shame. Another 'S'! Oh, and by the way, the four-legged man in the background is just a passer-by. :< )

Toot your flute!

Last Saturday night ended the Eurovision song competition that Belgrade hosted this year. During the preceding week, there were more activities and souvenir sellers than usual on Belgrade's pedestrian street, Knez Mihailova. Here are some flutists playing their instruments, and hoping to sell some too. Two of them are wearing the typical Serbian hat called a Šajkača (SHY-kah-cha). Elderly ethnic Serbs in Serbia, Republika Srpska and Montenegro especially in the villages, wear the hat on everyday basis, since it has become a political pro-Serb sign. You can read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sajkaca The gentleman in the front is also wearing typical Serbian shoes called opanci (OH-pahnt-see). I'll be posting a more detailed photo of those later on.

A dose of vitamin D with sunscreen, I hope.

It was quite warm the other day, and as I was walking along the quay of the Sava River, I saw this gentleman enjoying the sun's rays. I think he is actually wearing a Speedo-type bathing suit, but often you'll see men sitting around in the sun their underwear. (I've also seen some ladies in their bras.) People here aren't always so shy about removing articles of what I might deem necessary outer clothing.