Armenia - Yerevan city highlights

At the end of the first day of touring in Yerevan, my friend Silva, who was also in Yerevan for vacation, met up with me and we spent a few hours walking around and discovering (for me) and re-discovering (for her) the city.  Armenia has been independent from USSR only since 1991 and is still a developing country.  I was told my many that even if you visit Yerevan every year, you will see many many changes.

Yerevan is a lovely city, alive with people out and about each day and each night, reminding one of the real meaning of having a social life.  The Republic square is chirping with young people, and families ranging from grandparents to little children.  The main attraction at night seems to be the water fountain show in the middle of the square.  Every night has a different theme.  One night the show had just songs about Yerevan.  Another night, it was French songs.  Another night it was classical music.  People gather and watch and cool down from the August heat from the day.

The parks and squares have statues of many Armenian intellectuals, writers, composers, architects, from Komitas to William Saroyan.  There are so many places to visit within Yerevan.  On another day with Digin Karine and Dr. Vahe we spent an hour at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts within the Cascade complex.  The Cascade has many fountains and different types of sculptures by different artists.  One of the most interesting ones to me is Lion 2, (2008), by Korean artist Ji Yong-Ho.

Mother Armenia Statue can be seen from many parts of Yerevan.  It originally was a statue of Stalin, but after he fell out of favor, it was modified and replaced by Mother Armenia and resides in Victory Park.  There is a museum located at the base of the monument.







 
People-watching is one of my favorite pastimes in Yerevan.  I must say, the people dress pretty differently than what I'm used to.  For women, big hair, short, tight and low-cut dresses seem to be the style.  For men, the styles are all over the map...  This guy may have been channeling a young Al Pacino...

Armenia - Geghard Monastery & Matenadaran Museum

 

Geghard Monastery was our 2nd stop after Garni Temple.  It's a representation of Armenian Medieval architecture, remaining building dating back to the 13th century, carved into the side of the mountain.

It no longer functions as a monastery, but has a functioning church.  Geghard is the Armenian name for "spear" representing one of the spears associated with the crucifixion of Jesus.  Here again I had to take photos with my phone, so the images do not justify the beauty of the location.

After Geghard Monastery, we went to Matenadaran Ancient Manuscript Museum.  This is when we all realized that we had two tour guides.  Suzi, the official tour guide, and Baron Khosrov, the unofficial tour guide.  He's originally from Armenia but now lives in L.A.  He's 75 years old, and he has lots and lots of stories about each site we've visited and is not shy about telling these stories to fill in the blanks.  He has incredible memory.  He's the main most interesting character in the tour, with his knowledge and interest, and energy level.

The manuscript museum was so interesting for me.  There were so many manuscripts and bibles from the 5th century, handwritten in Armenian.  The history on the development of our language and how the manuscripts were created, from the smallest (about 2 inches) to the largest ones (an arms length or so) was incredible to see.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to take any photos inside.  The below photo is taken outside the museum with Mesrop Mashdotz, the creator of the Armenian alphabet.

 

Armenia - Garni Roman Temple

I arrived in Yerevan on the evening of August 7th...  I met up with the Armenia Fund Director Sarkis at the airport and all the Armenia Fund tour members took the bus to Congress Hotel near the center of Yerevan.

In the morning, August 8th, I met some of the tour group members after breakfast:  Karine, Emma, Manya & Vigen, Tamar & Nerses, Araks & Vahe, Janet & Mike (Mantzig), Baron Dr. Vahe, Baron Khosrov...  Then there were people who worked for Armenia Fund:  Sarkis, Ludwig, Sarko (video producer), Tigran (cameraman), and Digran (driver).

Of course in my excitement I forgot to put the battery in my camera so the first day I had to use my phone to take photos.  Our first stop on the tour was Garni Roman Temple, which is the only remaining temple in all of Armenia.  It was built in the 1st century AD, dedicated to a sun god, with 12 columns representing the hours in the day.  When Armenians became Christians in 301AD (first country to accept Christianity), all the temples were ordered to be destroyed by King Trdat III, but Garni temple remained and was restored after the 17th century earthquake destruction (restored in 1975).

There is also a bath-house in the Garni complex, which shows different quarters designed for different temperature levels, with stone mosaics.

During our tour of Garni, there was a group of tourists from Israel.  One of the tourists, an older man named Gabriel, started talking to me.  Granted, majority of the people visiting Armenia from other countries are older people...  They were touring Armenia and Georgia.  He kept following me around the temple complex, wanting to know more about me.  But he was sweet and took a photo with me and we parted ways...

Carmel with Kosmo and Maddy

This summer I'm determined to take the dogs to the beach more often.  So yesterday was our first trip in quite some time.  We left pretty early, around 8:30AM and we were there by 9:40AM.  And the weather was just so perfect!  So warm and the beach was just perfect!  As always, I let Maddy off leash but kept Kosmo on the long leash.  He was having such a blast, going in and out of the water, aggravating Maddy each time.  Maddy doesn't like to go in the water, so each time Kosmo would go in she would bark like crazy, as if calling him back.  We walked up and down the beach and then we sat down for a bit to sun-bathe.  Kosmo and Maddy were loving the warm sand.

A little kid kept coming by to pet the dogs while we were sun-bathing.  He was cute, but after some time I decided to walk along the beach again and let Kosmo off leash so he can frolic a bit.

Here comes the bad part of the day...

Within 5 minutes, he somehow twisted his ankle and couldn't walk.  Sigh...  I had to carry him up the beach for 20 minutes to the car.  He gets so heavy after a few minutes and he couldn't walk on the sand, though he could limp thru on cement when I needed a break from carrying him.  We finally made it to the car.  Poor little Kosmo.

And as I was trying to get out of my spot, I bumped the car behind me...  Thankfully there was no dent or anything.  So in my frustrated state, I just got back on the road and called Mathis right away.  To me, she's always the right person to call when I have minor (or major for that matter) emotional crisis because she helps put things in perspective when I'm emotionally unbalanced and can't think clear.

When I got home, I gave Kosmo an anti-inflammatory and made him rest and monitor his ankle.  He seemed to get better and this morning he's walking fine.

Perspective...  It's so hard to achieve when you get frustrated, which I do often.  Instead of carrying Kosmo all the way up the beach, I could have sat on the sand and let his ankle rest and recover the sprain and gotten on the road an hour later.  I had other plans for the rest of the day,  to work out, to clean the storage room, however I had to recover and calm down from my frustrations so that's what I did by relaxing and watching TV.  I hope I can do better when I'm faced with minor crisis next time.

Relay For Life, Oakland

About a month ago, I saw on FB that my friend Joy signed up for the Relay For Life event in Oakland to help raise money for American Cancer Society.  Right away I asked her if I could join her team and started my fund-raising efforts.  Almost immediately I sent an e-mail to some friends and family, and people started  donating from all walks of my life...  Dog park, work, ex-work, girl-friends, guy-friends...  Even up to the last day, I had people donate to me and my team.  Originally I started with $100 as my goal, but I immediately changed it to $500 when I realized I was going to reach that goal quickly.  I was able to collect people's change at work and also sell some beaded jewelry to raise funds.  Also I am gifting some bracelet/earring sets to some folks who donated at least $25.  In the end, I raised $514.99 online, and $350 from coworkers and friends which I will have my company match for American Cancer Society.

At the event, I was ready...  I was ready to walk...  I knew I was going to walk a lot in support of the cancer patients, survivors and those who've lost their battles.  I set an inital goal of 20 miles for myself and hoped that I would make it.  I also was going to walk for all the people who donated to my cause, which was a humbling experience and to let them know I was taking this seriously.  Until 10PM, I walked 16 miles (3 miles at a time and pacing myself at times to prevent blisters).  I took a nap break from 10-midnight and then completed 20 miles by 1:15AM.  I went to sleep on the field with all the ladies (on my air mattress...  I'm a city girl!) until 5AM and walked until 7AM and made it to 25 miles total.  My last couple of miles were slower walks as I was starting to hurt.  But I'm happy with my total number.

During the event, I met some wonderful ladies (and some gentlemen), had fun conversations, laughter and tears.  The event raised about $47,000 for ACS and our team, for having done this for the first time, stuck to the relay rules, had someone on the field walking at all times.  It was a complete success!

Venezia, Italy

I left Florence after a couple of nights there, and took the early morning train to Venezia... I was finally coming towards the end of my vacation and I was starting to feel really tired. As soon as I arrived in Venice, I got in line to buy my ticket to Basel. The line was so long, I figured better get it now.

Anyhow, you get out of the train station, and there you are! In a city, completely covered in water. It's pretty incredible. Again it was very easy to find the hostel, almost right across the street from the train station. Again it was very hot and humid, but there was some breeze which made walking around more bearable. Also, I really loved the old, water and moisture damaged look of the buildings... It's a place that's completely out of this world.

Everywhere you turn there's a small bridge, and in both sides there's a beatiful view to see... Streets are not too full when you get off the really touristy places (and it's pretty easy to tell when you're going in a direction that leads nowhere because there's only a few old ladies walking around with grocery bags) but I enjoyed my walks along the long stretches of sidewalks... It would have been perfect to jog in if it wasn't so hot and humid.

It took me some time to find Piazza San Marco, but I eventually did. The trick is to keep going straight if you don't see a sign that tells you which street to take. It's a beautiful Piazza, but I didn't go inside the museums at all... Again, from having been burnt out from all the sight seeing... Outside there was live music and cafes and you cannot escape the pidgeons... If you have some bread in your hands, they land on you and eat from the bread. They're quite fearless. When a table gets empty, they all fly over to it and start eating from whatever crumbs are left until a waiter slowly walks over and shoos them away. But for me, each time I see a big crowd of birds, I think of the movie "The Birds" by Hitchcock.

In Venice, there are many cute shops... But they all pretty much sell the same things. Either masks, or jewelry made of glass, or gelato... But there was one shop that had these more unique masks than the traditional "phantom of the opera" masks that you see all over... I thought it was very Trek'y...

And then there was this store... not sure if these jackets were for men or for women... the mannekens had men's faces, with strange women's bodies... so I'm not sure if the clothes were for men or for women... Took the picture really quickly so you can't see, but he/she was also wearing high-heels...

By now it's been 3 weeks since I was in Venice, so I can't remember all else that I was thinking/feeling, except being hot and tired...

However, in Venice, I had really good pizza and really good gelato, and I found them cheaper than the other cities, as well. The living accomodations were definitely more expensive, but the food I thought was cheaper.

Firenze, Italy

The next day after my Capri get-away, Eric and I said goodbye to each other and I left Sorrento on the train to Florence. I took the fast train, but it took about 3 hours to get there. I found my hostel very easy (a very nice place called Albergo Paola with free breakfast and internet) and got settled.

As I'd been going going going, I felt guilty about staying in and taking a nap, but I was feeling really tired. I ventured out, though... I found Florence to be quite small and cozy in comparison to Rome, and it was really easy to find Piazza Duomo... It's really really grand so with my dinky camera especially it was difficult to get the whole thing. But I must say, after small open places like Pompei, Sorrento and even Capri, I found Florence to be too crowded for my taste. I was surrounded by large groups of tourists everywhere I went. So I walked around as much as could to appreicate the buildings and the statues, but decided to not go inside the Duomo.

The artistic appeal of the city is quite evident all over, though. There are many American students walking around with their big cases for their drawings, going to and from their classes... There are young artists copying famous paintings with chalk on the streets... Such as this one, Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" which was not yet finished... But very impressive.

This is Ponte Vecchio, a very popular tourist spot, where there seems to be nothing but jewelry stores that sell gold, gold and more gold... Right above the arch, there are local musicians playing guitars, or singing songs... I spent a very nice evening there, just sitting around and enjoying the music while watching the sunset and people on bicycles going by.

The beautiful sunset from Ponte Vecchio.

The next day, I ventured out early and went to the Academia to see "the David" which is how the owner of the hostel put it to me. I must say, it was very impressive to see the real thing. I don't think I ever understood its appeal until I saw it in person myself. You cannot take pictures inside the Academia, so this picture is just one of the copies in front of the Uffizi gallery.

After the Uffizi, I went to the Boboli gardens one afternoon, where you can see a nice view of the city of Florence. It was a nice garden, but I will always remember it as the place where I was being stupid and broke my camera (and had to buy a new one afterwards).

There's also a porcelain museum in there, which I must say I really enjoyed looking at. First, it was much cooler inside than outdoors, but also all the delicacies of the little sculptures and how old some of them are, and how well they've been preserved over the years...

And here's one of the most impressive things about Florence... Ladies, need I say more?

I would like to come back to Florence again, because I feel like I did not enjoy it as much as I should have. For me, it was too crowded and way too hot, I felt tired and homesick by this time... I would like to come back to Florence in the autumn because I bet it's the most beautiful then. It's not Florence, it's me...