Novi.

Just when I thought I was going to be a blogger/photographer (read unemployed) for the rest of my life, an opportunity presented itself to change (elevate??? hm...) my status to that of an interpreter/translator once again. So, in search of a gainful employment, I hopped on the bus no. 17 and crossed the river, Novi Beograd  bound.   

You have to love Novi and its juxtaposed absurdities.

Here, in the background of the infamous former Federal Executive Council building 

you see the shiny new shopping mall Usche. 

This photo doesn't do justice to the SIV building nor does it truly convey its entire grotesqueness...

As I headed to the main entrance, I was mesmerized by the vastness of the adjacent grounds and parks. It is believed that the communist authorities (Tito and his apparatchiks) wanted to make sure they were safe from surveillance by foreign intelligence elements so they kept the surrounding land free of human settlements or commercial buildings. The grounds have remained unoccupied since albeit for a couple of fountains and monuments to those befallen in the WW2 without whose sacrifice none of this would have been possible, of course.

The plateau in front of the building is so big that it took me 15 minutes just to cross it. When I was just about to climb the steps in front of the entrance, a police officer blew his whistle at me from across the plateau (yes, he did, I kid you not, and for a second I believed I had traveled back in time to ...say...1984) to inquire who I was and what I was doing there. 

 I told him I was supposed to attend a job interview at "SIV 3" .  To my great chagrin, he told me that I was at a COMPLETELY wrong location. It took the proverbial penny a whole minute to drop (who is the stupid one in this joke, ha?) and me to realize I had come to the SIV building operating under the misconception that the 3 in SIV 3 meant it was just one (the third?) of many entrances to the SIV building. Of course NOT! That would be just too easy.  Those were two completely different buildings and more importantly, two bus stops away from each other. And bus stops in Novi are farther apart than the bus stops anywhere else in Belgrade. Or at least that was my impression as I rushed to get to SIV 3 in time for my interview. 

After the interview, once I was again in full posession of all my senses I took a look around and started snapping away. 

              Here are some new and old buildings I passed by on the way back from the SIV 3, 

                        whose beauty and charm I leave to your knowing eye to judge...

Belgrade Arena, you can even see an ad for the Pink Martini concert on May 31. 

The HUGE Metallica banner for May 8 concert covers the front of the Arena!

I do not know if the red scaffolding-like steel construction on this building's facade has a practical purpose ...

other than to look ugly...  It's bizarness matched only by that of a similar construction on the building next to it. 

And then this. What the...?
For a second I tohught I was in Tokyo or Chicago (Belgrade's sister city, btw).

This is the bicycle lane in front of the green-glass building.

Have you seen anything like this before or it's just my small-town girl mentality again?

Ans then these chips of the old block...

...or just the old blocks...

Believe it or not, what you are about to see is the Public Shelters' Company's building.

I know the city gets bombed every now and then but I had no idea public shelters were doing so well. 

And then a church, all of a sudden...

Juxtaposed against this shopping mall monstrosity, the church actually acts as a shopping turn-off.

Still, I love the Usche mall's blunt form.

Ahhh, the SIV 3, of course. I keep my promises so here it is, just when you thought I had forgotten all about it. 

 I did get the job so this is the building I will be looking at for many a lunch break to come.