Frosty

Last weekend we had about 9 inches of snow, leaving the city all pretty...until it starts to melt. This is a view across the Sava toward New Belgrade. Pretty, frosty trees!

Too late for mistletoe?

Mistletoe is really hard to get, since it grows so high up in the trees. Place your orders with these birds for next Christmas now!

SUNDAY BRIDGES--Trajan's Bridge will reappear

I couldn't believe this article when it appeared in the newspaper three days go. Serbian archeologists and engineers are working on a hologram to be projected over the Danube river about 260 miles southeast of Belgrade on the Romanian border to reproduce parts of a Roman bridge that once stood on the spot.

The original structure was built in 105 AD by Emperor Trajan as a supply route for the Roman legions fighting in Dacia province (part of present-day Romania), and measured 1,135 metres (3,724 feet) . Although demolished some 150 years later, it held the record for more than 10 centuries as the longest arch bridge to have ever been built.

The hologram will show a replica of the original bridge for a length of 150 to 200 metres (yards). Pumps will be used to spray a fine mist of water droplets, allowing a laser beam to project the image of the bridge. The article says this project will be finished before 2012, but like most things here, that may not be so. Anyway, I'll be one of the first to go see it!

The photo above, taken a few years ago, shows the area near which the bridge will 'appear'. On the right of the photo you see a Romanian monastery, and on the other side of the Danube, Serbia.

See more bridges, most likely those already in place, at Louis La Vache's Sunday Bridges.

REFLECTIONS WEEKEND--art nouveau

Why don't they make facades like this anymore? Now it seems like buildings are all steel, chrome, and glass, which are also beautiful in their own way, but still to me this art nouveau facade downtown is much more attractive.

See more reflections at James' Reflections Weekend.

SKYWATCH FRIDAY-sunrise near Uzice

Yes, it is SUNRISE not sunset, and I have my good friend Nena, whom you may remember for her hospitality, to thank for this photo. I went over to her place the other day and she showed me many photos taken at and around her sister's place in Uzice (OOO-zheet-seh), about 3+ hours south of Belgrade. When I saw this one, I just HAD to have it! Thanks, Nena, and keep snapping.

See other skies at SKYWATCH FRIDAY.

Out of paint? Out of money?

Not sure what happened here. Part of this wall of Belgrade's Philological Faculty has been painted and part of the sealed window smoothed over. Run out of paint/money? Nice colors, though! (The graffiti reads "Svi na izbor," which could be translated as "Get out and vote!")

ABC WEDNESDAY "A" is for "arch, antiqued"

Kalemegdan Park is full of archways, and here is one close to The Victor statue. I 'antiqued' it for you, too.

Check out other A's on ABC WEDNESDAY.

Somehow, a bit short.....

I'm still not sure if this girl was wearing tights (i.e. footless stockings) or just tight pants. In either case, the blouse (and it was a blouse, not a skirt) she's wearing somehow didn't quite go...

A bit too short?

Those who cross and she who waits

Do you always wait for the little green man sign to cross the street? If there's no car (or policeman) in sight, I cross, unlike this girl who is patiently waiting.....

Red, red berries

A little something to brighten up your Sunday....dreary here, at least as I post this.

Reflections weekend....in a puddle

That's the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences (SANU) that you see reflected in this puddle of melted snow.... It's been balmy the past few days, but who knows when the white stuff will fall again? It's still winter....

Check out more reflections on James' Reflections Weekend.