street scene

There are street vendors all over the place here. I like it - I bought a lovely purple $2 scarf from one of them yesterday. Most of the items are to be expected: the aforementioned scarfs, cigarettes, batteries, keychains, socks, underwear, sweaters - but some of the items on offer puzzle me. Right near my office, there is a man who sells shoe laces in every color and pattern imaginable. There are quite a few of these stands throughout the city. My Teach Yourself Serbian book even saw fit to have a closeup of those shoelaces on its cover. Yet I have only seen about 5 people since my arrival in Belgrade wearing crazily colored shoe laces - and I have looked. I don't understand how he is still there.

There is also a man who sells bunnies. Who walks down the street and decides to buy a rabbit? He apparently does have some business. When I walked past early yesterday he had five bunnies. Later in the day, he had 2. There are small bunnies - I don't think their big enough to eat.

And my favorite of the street vendors is "the man with the bathroom scale." There are quite a few of them about, charging 10-20 dinars (75 dinars = $1) for you to step on the scale and weigh yourself. Who wants to be weighed on the street, fully dressed, with onlookers? Again, I do not understand.