Today's entry consists of a variety of photos...there are minimal connections between the scenes but perhaps my cutlines will be of interest.This is what I call a typical Balkan breakfast. Bread, sliced cucumber, tomato wedges, a slab of white cheese--tastes a little like feta, green olives, almonds and hazelnuts, sausages or ham, juice and coffee. My coffee hadn't been delivered yet. That's the room key from Hotel President. After three previous trips where I stayed in room 102 for some reason they moved me upstairs to room 203 this time.
I live in Peoria, Illinois, world headquarters of Caterpillar, the heavy equipment company. CAT is also well known in parts of Europe for their clothing line with the CAT logo. It's a nice sight to see CAT equipment and it has been a good conversation starter for me on several occasions. A brochure on the desk of a newspaper marketing manager led to a discussion about ad sales. The husband of a university colleague in Ukraine asked about CAT equipment for mining.

This front end loader was working on street construction. You'll notice the head of a fellow who is about to walk from behind the loader. He's not a worker but a pedestrian. As work is done, people continue to take their usual paths. There are few, if any, attempts to block their way. The doctrine of common sense--go if you want but stay out of the way and know it's you're fault if you're hurt--applies.
Copyright infringement, anyone? YAHOO Fastfood sells only sandwiches and nothing having to do with Internet searches. Is this a copyright violation? Of course....but hardly worth the time to pursue. It's becoming more common to see borrowed English words in store names. A store in Serbia that sold blue jeans used the same shade of red and font as Levi Strauss but they avoided the Levi's name and called the store Elvis.

I took this photo on Tuesday, March 14, the day before my flight to the U.S. This guy is a BBC reporter waiting to do a live shot with a morning update on the Serbian government's latest pronouncement regarding burial of Slobodan Milosevic. Besides BBC, a CNN truck was parked up the street, and another unit appeared to be the true "roaming reporter" unit....I saw reporters from four different news agencies/countries do their shots from there. It was snowing lightly and 30-32 degrees on this day. The CNN truck, because of the time difference, was closed up but you could see people inside sleeping or trying to get some rest.


This is an apartment shot from Tirana although the location could be Podgorica or Belgrade--well, Belgrade in another coulple of months. Anyway, look at the plants along the window ledge....lots of effort to add some green to the home and patio....but contrast that with the bars on all of the windows. Life in a green prison? Years ago, in Zambia, I lived in an apartment with an iron bar unit at the front door and bars on all of the windows--even though I was on the second floor. On the advice of a security person, I locked the pad lock on the front door but I never got over the uneasy feeling of wondering how I'd get out if there was a fire.

I've wanted to take this photo for two years.....also in Tirana, just up the street from Vizion Plus and just a couple of doors from my favorite gelato place.... This transmission tower extends into the street nearly four feet and the street isn't that wide. But traffic manages to miss the tower and the approaching vehicles. Interestingly, there is only one wire on the actual tower--and it does not appear to be a major current-carrying line. Most of the wires you see are on a regular utility phone that is on the sidewalk. Also take note of the fruit for sale along the sidewalk....a very common sight.

I wish this photo were larger. I took this photo because it characterizes the chaos of life and the transitions in many Eastern European cities. This is a residential area. You'll see clothing hanging out to dry, the building has some stucco and white painted area but also bare brick showing. An assortment of "junk" is piled out front. Three trash dumpsters sit out front. What you also don't see is a modern apartment building that is just across the street.
I've talked about the cheeses for sale...here is a photo. Taken in Tirana, the prices are in Leke.....100 Leke equals $1. The prices are per kilogram or 2.2 pounds. People eat a lot of cheese. If the prices seem reasonable you should remember that a pretty good salary is anything above $400 per month. How many kgs of cheese can you afford to buy at the equivalent price of $3 per pound on that salary? The bottles on the top of the case are of various types of yogurt--usually plain yogurt, no fruit or sugar. People buy the yogurt and drink it....I've taken to consuming it also. I think the bacteria cultures help my stomach adjust to local foods.

I took some great photos today in Podgorica. I will try to post them tomorrow.