Saturday, 9 October
Good afternoon, everybody.
It has been a busy almost-two days since the last posting. Let’s see if I can remember everything that has been going on.
Successfully moved from the 5-star non-internet hotel Friday morning to the 3-star yes-we-know-we-are-in-the-internet-age hotel where I started. Life is much better.
My new room has a balcony that overlooks a garden restaurant next door (where they have had 3 weddings in the past 24 hours) and, just beyond that, the French embassy. There is a lovely view from the room. I am writing this from a café in the park across the street…when I get back to the room, many pics will be uploaded.
Ended the training at the 1:00 lunch break yesterday, giving the willing trainees a bonus. I have no sympathy for those who skipped the morning session and showed up at 2:00 for the afternoon training. Hope they got caught in severe traffic on the way home. :>)
After unpacking and a quick nap I headed out about 4:00 to see what Friday evenings were like around here. Strolled a few blocks north to the city center (actually an oval), which is the focus of tomorrow’s celebration of the 2792nd anniversary of the city. Nobody can yet tell me why they are celebrating this year instead of waiting until 2018, when it will be an even 2800 years. Any numerologists reading this?
I went from there to walk along the main shopping street, filled with brand names anyone in the world knows. Prices were universally high, by Columbus standards. Although there were many people on the streets, most stores did not seem to have any customers. There is no recession here, so maybe I just caught the area at the wrong time.
The end of the shopping street conveniently abuts the opera house. It was heavily surrounded by police, and I am not sure why. Police here are fairly plentiful but, unlike Baku, few carry firearms. They are a comforting, rather than menacing, presence, and there is precious little street crime at any hour of the day.
Anyway, I got several good pics of the opera house (built in 1932), and stopped at the box office to see what was playing over the next week. Last night was sold out and, not knowing what my evening schedule might be during my final week, I dropped 10,000 dram (about $27) on tonight’s concert for a German pop artist of Armenian heritage. I may be out of my league in the crowd.
Unforecasted rain then dropped in, and I spent an hour drinking Armenian coffee (about 85 cents a cup) at a covered opera-side café) while crowd watching. An hour of this was enough, and I hit a grocery store for provisions before returning to the room for the night about 8:30.
Now, to today’s fun…and it WAS fun.
I have walked just over 8 miles today, so far.
Slept in until 9:00, checked email and world events over a light breakfast before showering, and was on my way before 11:00. The sun has been shining all day, and the temp right now is about 68 F.
Just to orient correctly, I headed back to the city oval and parked my butt at a streetside café to enjoy two Armenian coffees and a sausage sandwich totaling less than $3.00. I then ambled along another major thoroughfare that seemed to be the main tourist trap in town..airline offices, tour buses, and too many souvenir stores to mention. I stopped in one of the souvenir stores, but swear that they changed the price tags in the time it took me to cross the street. I’ll find some little momento over the next week.
That random road too me to the city outskirts…conveniently, the main city is in a valley, with a concentric road encircling it. Heading NW along that road, I came upon Cascade park, which flows from city level on the NW up to the monument near my non-internet hotel. The hotel, from which I took the pics with the overarching view of the city, was build to commemorate to 50th year of Soviet cooperation with (domination of) Armenia. I’m sure the city leaders would love to remove it, but it would be incredibly expensive.
Leaving that park, I proceeded counterclockwise along that concentric road. This led me along “minor embassy” row….Syria, Thailand, etc. All embassies have attractive buildings, courtesy of their respective taxpayers. When you multiply that over 200+ countries in the world, you can see what an expensive game diplomacy is.
Along that walk, I also got some good shots of the city university (lovely campus even by American standards).
Next to the University, I just happened to stumble into a refuge called Lover’s Park. Absolutely beautiful (you should have been with me, Nancy!). Of course, there is a café (100% organic and natural) in the park and, of course, I had to stop in for more coffee (are you sensing a trend here?). I wound up buying a fine pasta & red pepper salad, coke, and coffee for just over $4.00. I also tipped heavily. The park concessions are run by volunteers. All tips are donated to a fund to assist juvenile cancer patients. In addition, profits from food sales are donated to the park for maintenance. I was told that my 2000 dram purchase paid to maintain 2 square meters of the park for the next year. Works for me.
From the park, my strolls wound around to the Church St. Paul-Peter, built in the 5th and 6th centuries. The inside was gorgeous, and hopefully my pic of the altar will turn out OK. I decided not to nose around too much because there were about 30 people inside for some sort of death commemoration (funeral or anniversary, I do not know which).
Finally finishing the half-circle tour of the city, I visited the Museum of the History of Yerevan. After visiting each of the 3 floors, I happened to encounter the Director in the lobby, and he insisted on showing me the lobby displays of crafts that citizens have made to commemorate tomorrow. They were truly astounding, particularly the woodworking and tapestry. He was deservedly proud of his people.
And that is all so far today. In a few minutes, I shall return to my room to upload this blog post and associated pics. Tonight is the concert and, on the way back, there is a famous jazz club that I shall investigate. It may be a late night, but I have only one weekend to discover what I can about this city.
Tomorrow, my hosts will show me the country outside of Yerevan.
And now, for some commentary.
I have only Baku to which to compare Yerevan. While that is a limited comparison, it may be enhanced by the fact that the two countries have been at war for 14 years. I had a good time in Baku and made many friends, albeit mainly expats. People there were friendly, once you got to know them individually. But, there was a prevailing sadness and reservation which I attributed to the recent Soviet domination. Also, nobody would ever position Baku as a tourist destination.
Now I am seeing the other side of another former Soviet state. The people here are happy and optimistic, and I cannot imagine a higher level of friendliness and hospitality. My hosts speak of diplomatically solving the Nogorno-Karabach occupation dispute with Azerbaijan diplomatically, instead of constantly referring to potential war. There is a calm approach to life, and everything is oriented towards outdoor activities and interaction. The State lays a light hand on the people and, again unlike Baku, one does not need top bribe his way into a job or for necessary documents. The streets are clean, and people put their litter into waste baskets instead of dropping it at their feet. It is just a bunch of little things that combine to set the character of a locale, and Yerevan had discovered them. I would look forward to returning here (WITH Nancy) at any time.
Enough with waxing philosophically…back to the room to connect online. Thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment