Spring is coming..!

Last weekend i was lucky to attend a little Spring Ball in APTEKARSKY OGOROD in Moscow. Don't ask me what i was doing there again! Now, happily back Home! I was told the exhibition would be closed the next day, so i decided not to miss the chance. The weather was cold and windy but, in spite of long standing in a queue (i even caught cold! ...now much better, thanx!;) i could steal a glance of what was going on behind the scenes of Spring!

... though, already past their best, most of the tulips were still glorious!

... i could see many new to me sorts! How do you like these amazing cabbage roses-like tulips with "frosted" edges?!

 

 

↑...  and these cream-vanilla tulips, very elegant! Hyacinthuses were splendid too! I loved their not so commonly met deep blue, crispy white and skimmed milk tones. And the double-flowered baby-blue hyacinth in the lower right-hand corner... a little miracle!

 

↑... unfortunatelly, i didn't have enough time to make notes of sorts names. So, thinking of our future garden, i shall have to find most of these by their images only... Well, that's going to be a real hunt!;)

↑... fascinated by their egg-shaped heads!

↑... like flames of fire!

Beograd walks - part I

...continuing our walk along the streets of Belgrade! This time, different buildings and street corners that captured our attention. Mostly, Belgrade shows its beauty in white (and that is why it is called BELGRADE = WHITE CITY), grey and sometimes brown tones, so this colourful house is one of the not so many really bright spots of the capital...

Along with my own remarks on this or that, let me share also some beautiful quotes that I have found about Belgrade. Just feeling absolutely the same way as the authours of the quotations, and couldn't have said it better👍

"Once located at the border between the Turkish and Austro-Hungarian empires, it combines Central European with more Oriental influences, and adds a style and spirit of its own. I can only put it one way: Belgrade is cool." - Bootsnall: Serbia Travel Guide

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“There are places in Belgrade where picket fences still exist, with weeds of a strong and bitter smell growing right next to them… a turtledove is cooing upon the wild pear branch and the lost field mouse is running in terror or hunger… All these things still exist, in a street with no name and a house with no number… Stuck like thistle to the pants of the metropolis, travelling across a time and space they do not belong to.”
Dušan Radović, poet and writer

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"BELGRADE HAS KIND OF A DUBLINESQUE, DEAR-DIRTY CHARM" - Rian Johnson, film producer

↑... it's not a rare case when you may spot graffitti on Belgrade buildings, even such cool artworks!

“The sky above Belgrade is expansive and high, shifting yet always beautiful; clear with its chill splendour during the winter; turning into a single downcast cloud during summer storms, driven by the crazy winds and bearing rain mixed with the dust of the Pannonian plain; seeming to flower along with the ground during spring; and growing heavy with roils of autumnal stars during fall. Always beautiful and bountiful, it is a reward to this odd township for all that is missing and a comfort for everything that should not be.”
Ivo Andrić, writer and Nobel Prize winner

↕... this area is close to the Main Railroad Station of the city. My heart is simply mealting when i see such time-honoured buildings... ever gorgeous!

↑...  apart from the architectural charm of this house, i was attracted by the curious whale graffitti!

↑... The Belgrade Main Railway Station, built between 1882 and 1885 after the designs of the architect Dragutin Milutinović. It has the status of the сultural monument of great importance. [source: wikipedia]

“This grand city seems to have always been like this: torn and split, as if it never exists but is perpetually being created, built upon and recovered. On one side it waxes and grows, on the other it wanes and deteriorates. Ever in motion and rustle, never calm and never knowing tranquility or quiet. The city upon two rivers, on the grand clearing, bound by the winds.”
Ivo Andrić, writer and Nobel Prize winner

↓... What do you think this instalation is? Right, empty cans should be thrown into the peaks of these very hungry griffins! I think, this is the greatest way of making anyone who don't usually like to put garbage where it properly should go, keep the town clean!ツ

“… I went to Belgrade with no expectations of décor, images, gaiety, anything interesting, and now I am a complete victim of its seductive charm that I must say goodbye to it with the greatest pain. This is a new sensation: falling in love with a city.”
Herbert Vivian, journalist [via dayinbelgrade.com]

P.S. ... but, we do not say goodbye to the beautiful Belgrade, the city with a big heart and rich history! More beautiful views are yet to come!:) 

 ... yet one more thing to enjoy before leaving, - a beautifully shot panorama of Belgrade! [by youtube user djordje jojkic]

 

Old World Cozy Nooks

...now sharing some curious interiors sending us back to the glory of yeasteryear! Luxurious and cozy lounge areas for the most comfortable relaxation when reading and day-dreaming!

↑... beautiful sitting area in faded greens enlivened with the SPRING BLUE and LEMON YELLOW of the cascading curtains!

↑... such a sunny space, elegant yet playful! Chinese vases on the table and Asian style background art  for some exotic touch...

↑... i'm loving this quite rare colour mix of ORANGE & PINK here! The whole room is just a marvel, isn't it!?

↑... and, lastly, this musical salon, which is rather too dark to my taste, still i like all the object the room is filled with and how everything is arranged here!