Urban landscape

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.

No wasting bread, please!

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.

The Sleeping Gypsy

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....)

Twig brooms

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.

Disdainful warrior maiden

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.

Shout it from the rooftops!

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.

ABC Wednesday: Vandals or virtuosos?

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.

The four C's or S's...

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.

Rainbow colors and more

Couldn't resist these bright colors at a shoelace stand, where the seller will also give you a shoeshine if need be.

Old car, new car.

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!

Linden tea, anyone?

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!