beograd #3

Музеј историје Југославије – Museum of Yugoslav History, Boticeva 6, opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 10a.m.-6p.m.
The museum is called “Tito Museum” by the locals and was founded in 1996 as a successor to the Memorial Centre “Josip Broz Tito” and the Museum of the Revolution of Yugoslav Nations and Ethnic Minorities. It`s collection illustrates Yugoslav History throughout 20th century with an accent on the life of Jozip Broz Tito. Among 200,000 items an awesome collection of traditional costumes can be found. The complex of three buildings is located in a 3.20 hectare park – just to add one more reason for it`s worth a visit.

pictures.myself.

beograd #2

Стадион Партизана – Stadion Partizana. The stadion was buildt 1949 named Stadion JNA. In socialist Yugoslavia under Tito it was the place for the anual celebration of “Day of Youth” on May 25 between the 50`s and 1987. Offering place for 55,000 people before the UEFA security regulations in 1998 came to effect, Partizan Stadion now has a capacity for 32,887.

Војномедицинска академија – Military Medical Academy (MMA), often simply called VMA, is located in the Banjica neighbourhood of Belgrad. It was designed by the award-winning architects Colonel Josip Osojnik and Slobodan Nikolić in 1973. The construction was finished in 1981 and the hospital officially moved into a new building and began operations on January 1, 1982.

Краља Петра Београд – Kralja Petra ulica. Seven different styles of architecture can be found in along this street. In the neighbourhood an area full of cafés, bars and shops has developped.

pictures.myself.

beograd #1

collage made out of various pictures from a ‘Beograd’ calendar for 2010 by myself

My first experience in the wild east took place in the icy and freezing Belgrade in Serbia. Most of the things you see above, I haven`t seen: I love exploring the city by walking around, but round about -10°C were definitely too much for me. I found myself in the middle of a snowy storm, frozen hands and toes, being disoriented for the street`s signs in Cyrillic Script didn`t become accessible to me. The tempearture was so hard, that I most often lost my motivation to get out my camera and take pictures. Just one hour walking around made me want to get into the next café where you could hear the locals being amazed at the snow storms going on. Only chance to feel comfortable: a hot and viscous chocolate, good Serbian red wine and cigarettes. (Everybody`s smoking everywhere!)

exchange rate: 1€ is approx. 0,95 RDS (Serbian Dinar)

Belgrad holds some surprises, like debatable cab-fees. So it`worth getting a little prepared for your trip –  you`ll find everything a little bit different than at (your western) home. A few words in any eastern language can open hearts and in most cases you earn a bright smile although you`re speaking Polish. It could also be helpful to get some knowledge in Cyrillic alphabet, 95 percent of the street signs are written in Cyrillic Script. I recommend to get an accomodation in so called ‘Old Belgrade‘ that`s full of bars and cafés and plan your stay between spring and autumn – it`s definitely worth a trip.

I was accomodated too far from the inner city for my taste (see the black point, left side). Could be alright in summer – ten minutes by foot to the Danube island, that turns into a green liveley place for hanging round and swimming in sunshine.

[I´m waiting for my analog pictures getting developped and will show some more impressions during this week.]

like my grandma`s attic. [favourite places #6]

That`s what it feels like: Venice reminds me of my grandma`s attic. I could spend hours walking round, watching houses, spying in backyards or marvel at the lagune in fantastic light. Venice is made for plunging into another world, as far as you go there out of season and do not get barged by hordes of tourists all the time. (Even the canals do not smell like hell in November.) But spending too much time in such a fairy-tale world gets me sick and fed up after a while. It´s like eating too many sweets…on a visual level. I start missing contrasts in a city that lacks any sign of contemporary innovation. As I couldn`t find any kind of shop selling electronic stuff, it made me ask where they got all the flat screens for video installations at Biennale from??? Maybe imported from Singapore?
But don`t get me wrong, I´ve always loved my grandmother`s attic and would totally go there again..

pictures.myself.

favourite places #5

I´m aware of the very romantic and even cheesy aspect of amusement parks, but they catch me each time again.. Let it be Tivoli in Copenhagen or the Prater in Vienna (on pictures above), may it be morning or night..In Vienna it gets too busy for me at weekends, but as I live in the neighbourhood, I quite often got the chance to walk around and spy out some more scurilities..

pictures.myself.