Red glow

Sky Office towers bathing in the reddish glow just a few minutes ago:

Foggy disposition

A week ago, the fog has reached its peak one day - going from the suburbs back to Zagreb was almost like playing a game find that car and stop light. This was one stop light with a slightly better visibility:

Zagreb's Ice fever!

In the past couple of years hockey got a new boost in popularity in Zagreb. The usual stadium is always packed, cheering is amazing, probably the best in the whole EBEL league. Our team - Medveščak, or as we call them "medvjedi" (en. bears) is now second in the league and has been giving us heart-attack finishes this year. Each January, the whole show and cheering moves to a 15000-20000 seat arena, for louder, bigger, better show and cheering - called Ice fever. Yesterday, we had another heart-attack-finish, where Medvjedi won in overtime, while austrian KAC was in lead for most of the match. The whole show starts off with a typical US themed player introduction with flames, music etc (other sports in Croatia haven't adopted the scheme yet). In the first photo you can see the Nesquik rabbit waving at us, and the second shows the player intro:

Got mail?

Seriously, have you got my snail-mail by any chance? Out of maybe 20-30 letters/bills I get in my mail per year, about 4-5 never find their way to my mailbox... I never quite understood why, until today. Who knows where my mail flies off if this is normal:

Elīna Garanča concert

Elīna Garanča is one of the most famous opera singers of today. Absolutely amazing performance of different pieces, and hopefully I will get a chance to see her perform in Bizet's Carmen one day. It's been a long time I've heard such a voice control, range and strength... just WOW!

Ho-yoon Chung, the tenor accompanied Elina:

Concert hall Vatroslav Lisinski

Inside view of the concert hall Vatroslav Lisinski, just before the concert:

Barely hanging on

The big thaw has started and falling snow off the buildings has created walking in the residential areas into a Russian roulette. Hopefully house owners of this house are aware of the snow:

Heavy load

The trees in front of my office have quite a difficulty holding their branches with the heavy load of snow on them:

Hungry

Little chickadees got lucky this year - I brought a few bags of sunflower seeds and as soon as the snow covered the ground I put them out in front of the office window. They're getting used to me sitting just a meter away on the other side of the window and are more and more occupied by unwanted intruders (other chickadees stealing their food, magpies trying to kill and eat them,...) and less occupied by my presence. Too bad they're too fast for my cell camera to focus:

Beer, anyone?

Just another evening at the local pub:

Got snow?

A lil' bit of snow covered Zagreb last night, 15-20in, which caused MAJOR traffic collapse, as our 200+ winter plows were surprised... again... after several days of prior warnings by our meteorologists. They even closed Zagreb's ski center since there was too much snow :-). Go figure...

Anyhow, as usual, terrible winter conditions provide great photo-ops. Here's one (the woman walking in front is tall - I'm guessing around 5ft 8''):

More snow

Serenity

There's nothing more serene than nightfall and watching the snow slowly cover everything. The city background noises are minimal and you can practically hear snowflakes touch the ground.

Needless to say, my romantic POV will not be so romantic tomorrow morning as I dread going to work in this weather....

Xmas market

Most Austrian and German towns have their "christkindlmarkt", and Zagreb picked up that tradition relatively recently, but definitely has it in the roots since the Austro-Hungarian empire. The public opinion is quite divided, some like it, some hate it. I love the tiny wooden houses selling different stuff, mixed well with smells of "fritule", sandwiches, sausages, mulled wine....

Leftovers

Xmas decoration leftovers in Zagreb's central square (Trg Bana Josipa Jelačića):

Sunset

Icing on the cake

almost... :)

Mist

A few weeks old photo:

Detail

Frost

Frosty morning

Cold humid mornings near the Sava river end up looking like this - frost everywhere, fogginess worsens the feeling of cold, and makes great out-of-focus photo-ops! :)

Running man

I think he's running away from something, not jogging...

Statue

Random statues can be seen along the river Sava. I'm notquite sure what the author thought or meant by this one, but it fascinates me in its simplicity:

A mouse in the kitchen!

Nah, not a real mouse... Someone decided to spruce up our workplace kitchen with a well placed paper mouse. Cute! I guess I can easily admit to my boss that I see a white mouse every time I come to work :-D

Happy 2013!

My first day in 2013 was supposed to include a 5k race. My knee didn't agree with those plans, so I ended up participating in it using my camera (which is also a great way to enter the new year :)). Here are my two friends who are just shy of entering the finish line: