SKYWATCH FRIDAY--sky over the newly-renovated park

I've shown you Tasmajdan Park downtown several times before, but it has recently (and thankfully) been renovated, making the entire park much more enjoyable. New walkways, fountains, a small dog park, chess tables, playgrounds...wonderful. There are two new statues. The one in the foreground is of Milorad Pavic, a rather unorthodox writer, style-wise, who passed away at the age of 80 in 2009. I've never read his books, but what Wiki says about his works is intriguing:

• Dictionary of the Khazars takes the form of three cross-referenced encyclopedias of the Khazars, a semi nomadic Turkish people. The book was published in a "male" and "female" version, which differ in only a brief, critical passage.
• Landscape Painted with Tea mixes the forms of novel and a crossword puzzle.
• Inner Side of the Wind – can be read back to front, each section telling one character's version of the story.
• Last Love in Constantinople has chapters numbered after tarot cards. The reader is invited to use a tarot deck to determine the order in which the chapters can be read.
• Unique Item has one hundred different endings and the reader can choose one.

The other statue is of Heidar Aliev, the third president of a Azerbaijan, who also passed away at the age of 80 in 2003. Azerbaijan financed part of the renovation of Tasmajdan Park.

See other skies at SKYWATCH FRIDAY.

From a fairy tale...?

Yesterday's post put me in a fairy tale mood. Which fairy tale character(s) inspired this house, upstream a bit from Belgrade on the Sava River? Note how it's been built high, in case of flooding.

ABC WEDNESDAY--"D" is for (Goldilocks') DILEMMA

A dilemma indeed. Not sure Goldilocks would have sat in any of these chairs, used by street sweepers at a nearby market to sit on while they take a break. On the other hand, I can see a sort of smile on the back of the chair on the right...maybe she'd have sat there.

See other D's on ABC WEDNESDAY.

Shedding some light

These lamp posts in Kalemegdan (view of New Belgrade across the river) look like acorns to me...or earrings...or...? What do you think?

Teetering....

I watched this lady take teeny-tiny teetering steps in these high-heeled platform shoes. She did not seem at ease at all. I know I wouldn't be; one misstep and it's off to the orthopedic clinic.

Lady readers, do you wear or did you use to wear such shoes? And remember the pointed-toe shoes....? Much damage done from those, too.

SUNDAY BRIDGES--same bridge, new color...

I gave you such a dismal shot of this bridge when I posted it not long ago, I thought I'd take it from another angle and jazz it up a bit. Up, up, up it goes! And you get a view of a couple more bridges, too...

See more bridges, jazzy or not, at Louis La Vache's SUNDAY BRIDGES.

REFLECTIONS WEEKEND--Eat here in confidence

I haven't tried this place yet, but the name sure intrigues me.... No health issues for sure; the pizzeria used to be a pharmacy!

See other reflections at James'Weekend Reflections

SKYWATCH FRIDAY--Sweet sky

Isn't this a great shot? No, not bragging, for this photo was not taken by yours truly. It's the work of my friend Nena's niece, Ema, who has just bought a Nikon D3100.

Judging by some of her other work I've seen, I think Ema has a good eye and lots of imagination.

You might remember this photo taken by Nena that I published a while back.

See other delicious skies at SKYWATCH.

Guess who's (not) coming to dinner....

I can't say I blame the passer-by for not wanting to come to dinner...the family looks quite bored and disinterested.

If you walk along Belgrade's pedestrian street, Knez Mihailova, and a few surrounding ones, you'll see reproductions of paintings from the city's National Museum, which, unfortunately has been closed for repairs for quite some time and is scheduled to reopen in 2012. If you'd like to read more about this (the translation isn't so good, but still...), click here. The article dates from 2009....

ABC WEDNESDAY "C" is for "cartoon"

A long line of big political cartoons! This post goes out to Daryl of Out and About in New York City and her husband, Toonman. I hope both she and he will enjoy this post. Marko Somborac has a daily comic strip in a popular newspaper here. I am not into politics at all, but even I 'get' what he writes. I took my good old time browsing and laughing at all these cartoons... What fun.

Note: These changing panel exhibits in Kalemegdan are extremely well-visited.... I took this photo in the very early a.m., walking Bibi! I revisited the same evening, but couldn't have gotten this shot because of the crowd.

See other C's at Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC WEDNESDAY.

Safe from the birdie...

Was sitting at a cafe with some friends the other day and looked up and saw this sparrow's feet. Good thing the canvas was between him and us...just in case he, uh, did something....