A Voice in the Night

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Middle of the night. I got awaken from my sleep by a woman's voice repeatedly calling (in hebrew): 'where are you' , 'where are you'.
It was creepy. I had no idea where exactly the voice came from: the street? the garden?the adjacent parking lot? it sounded like a voice coming from an alien world. 

After a few minutes, it occured to me that, perhaps, the voice belonged to a woman with dementia or alzheimer who had escaped, unnoticed from the nearby assisted-living facility (which has also a memory care wing), and was looking for her personal carer. I decided to call the police in our area  and ask them to urgently deal with the matter.

The police were quick. I looked out of the window and was relieved to see the blue flashing light of their car .   After about 5 minutes the nagging voice stopped, and I went back to bed.

The next day I made enquiries. She was found sitting on the garden stone edge, behind a car. It appeared I was only partially right. The woman had indeed dementia, but she wasn't a resident of the assisted living facility.  The police kept her for a while at the station until  family phoned to report her missing. The incident was brought to the attention of the Social Services.

Well, I was glad that it all ended  with no physical harm done to the poor woman. 

*- web picture - logo of dementia campaign

Stari Grad

So many  beautiful and interesting things to see in Stari Grad , the old town of Belgrade!  'Old town' - actually refers here to the area of the city center; it's not 'old town' in the traditional sense  as we know it from other places.

The above area  includes among other things, government buildings,  pedestrian and shopping street Knez Mihailova (one kilometer long!), the cobbled bohemian street Skadarlija (once the gathering point of poets), the National Museum (under never ending renovation works) with the the equestrian statue of prince Mihailo Obrenovic'  in front of it (famous meeting place for locals and tourists), galeries, fountains, parks, cultural institutions, hotels, you name it.

National Assembly of Serbia 

Assembly of the city of Belgrade (Old royal Palace)

  the Pioneers' park,  path leading to the Old Palace

in the background - National Assembly of Serbia 
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Knez Mihailova street

cobbled street, Skadarlija
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Knez Mihailova street is filled with people from sunrise to sunset. It is home to two(2) tourist information offices where one can get a good map of the city, the serbian Academy of Science, the Goethe
Institute, Zepter museum of contemporary art, and of course, shops and restaurants.

Delijska drinking fountain on Knez Mihailova

selling art on Knez Mihailova

me, a bit tired, contemplating the human flow

publicity  event on the Knez Mihailova street
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The impressive building of the National Museum (with the reddish color, near the National Theater) and the  horse rider, are fenced, and there's no access to them because of renovation works.

National Museum of Serbia

statue of prince Mihailo Obrenovic'  on the horse

The statue of the equestrian prince- famous meeting point in the Republik square- has stairs at its basis. On top of them,  a bronze base  supporting the statue, covered with bas-reliefs depicting scenes from serbian history.

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The cobbled street Skadarlija, home to some famous restaurants and cafes, as well as a few art galleries, is known also as the bohemian quarter.

waiting for customers;  rich little stand of souvenirs

restaurant

statue of some notable bohemian fellow

Hostel Skadarlija Sunrise

pigeons like it here

statue resembling a tree trunk

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'Stari Grad' - two short words that have a nice ring, and  'cover' a lovely area of Belgrade.