GOING HOME

One family's diary, journeys and thoughts

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The taste of Paris

Vicky eating snails - she said you can't come to Paris and not try them. Apparently, they taste rubbery and only the sauce has any taste at all. Roxy tried it and agreed, and I took their word for it.


P.S. Thanks but no thanks! I tried squid before, I am sure escargot is not much different.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Hmmm (Musings of Roxy)...

Hi, Roxy here again. Seeing as to how we are traveling from place to place, i thought i might write down a few thoughts about our journeys. First of all, I noticed that some sort of misfortune, whether big or small, seems to befall us during our first moments in any given country. First is realizing that we have to adapt to a new language and culture (and view of Americans). Second is Vicky periodically yelling, "My skin is going crazy!!" when each new environment inflics some sort of multi-colored ailment on her epidermis. But most of all, each country gives us its own taste before we even set foot on paved ground.



In Germany, we began with leaving Vicky behind in the Munich airport, as mentioned before. Then we got stuck in the first class part of our train by mistake. Furthermore, we got caught in rain in Heidelberg.

In Holland, we had a minor incident when the door of our train refused to open for several minutes while impatient passengers began to get restless. Therefore, a cry of joy when it finally opened was inevitable.

In Prague, we took a taxi in the middle of the night from the train station to our hotel, and found out the next morning that it was rediculously expensive. I don't know if all taxis are like that there, but the price makes all of us shudder still.

And finally, France. We left the train station and began to look for the correct metro line that would take us to our hotel. We made about five full turns around the station, luggage and all, unitl we knew the station by heart, but had less success with the metro. In the end, we walked to our hotel using a map that didn't quite correspond to the station.

Even though we have all these minor scratches and scrapes, they add to the impressions we get from each country. And we realize that even though these countries are so close together, they are extrememly different in atmosphere and community, so misadventures are necessary and exciting. So when it comes to country-hopping in Europe, leaving a country culturally "unscathed" would perhaps be the worst scrape of all.

Oh, Paris!


By the way, we are now in Paris. To Vicky’s utter disappointment, we are staying at a 2-star hotel in a funny neighborhood by the train station. I say, who cares! The Eiffel tower is still there, isn't it?

More on Paris is to come!

The home of Haagen Daaz

The Hague, or Den Haag, as the Dutch call it, is the administrative capital of the Netherlands, while Amsterdam holds the title of the cultural capital. The Parliament, one of the royal palaces and other important sites are in Den Haag. Also, the International Court of Justice is here. The building was apparently sponsored and donated to the cause by the America millionaire Armand Hammer; nonetheless, it is very Dutch in style. With all this in mind, Hague is a calm and pretty city with canals, parks, fountains, statues and important-loooking dudes in suits walking around. Here are the pictures.

View of the Parliament building and the adjacent pond.




Entering the Parliament courtyard. It is allowed, but highly supervised. The building itself is medieval and very interesting.


Detail of the courtyard fountain...


...the Gothic church...


...the tower steeple...


...and the royal paraphernalia. It was at this point I suddenly realized I was in a kingdom - for the first time in my life!


Admiring the general splendour...


And here, Roxy and Vicky are in front of the International Court of Justice.


This is the house that Armand built. Quite impressive. By the way, did you know that the US did not join the Court?




This monument in front of the Court is called World Peace Flame - it has a flame in the middle and rocks from almost every country in the world around the circle. Very touching and meaningful. And pretty, too!

Street in Hague.


Eten-drinken :)


The beautiful woman in front of the store looks real - but she is not!


After walking through Hague, we hopped on a tram to the beach and took a stroll along the shore of the North Sea. This here is a fancy-shmancy hotel right on the shore, where presidents and royalty usually stay. The pancake house under it (red sign on the left) is where we recuperated and warmed up a little before heading home. The pancakes weren't bad at all!




Wednesday, September 24, 2008

and now...

And now we are in Prague! But there will be more thoughts and pictures on Netherlands before we move on :) Come back soon!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Still in Europe

Our next destination was Holland, whence we went by train from Heidelberg. We spent a weekend there at my aunt’s friendly and warm house. We were warned about the weather in Holland, but it obligingly changed on the occasion of our arrival – it was unusually warm and sunny and, at times, even hot. We somehow managed to see Haague, Leiden and Amsterdam, and would have stayed longer and seen morel if our next destination wasn’t already planned.

Here are some typical landscapes I snapped from the train window. According to a book I got in Amsterdam, the Dutch are very proud of the orderliness and "man-madedness" of their landscape. I must say, it looks very nice!

Race horses - lots of them, of the nicest stature are grazing everywhere, many covered with cloth so as no to catch a chill, I guess...


Fat and happy black-and-white cows...



And yes, a windmill!



Leiden, where my relatives live, is a quaint little town with calm green canals and big grassy parks, tidy family homes and family bicycles of all shapes and sizes. Literally every other bicyclist we saw (and there were hundreds everywhere) carried a baby either in the front, or in the back. There were bikes with baskets, bikes with attached carts, bikes pulling kid wagons, families on bikes, couples riding their bikes together, linking arms… it’s a bicyclist’s paradise!

There are a lot of bicycles in Amsterdam, too – but that city is far from quiet, or calm. It’s hustle and bustle, traffic, hordes of tourists and crowds of local youth, people of all colors, orientations and walks of life, weaving through traffic, avoiding bicycles and rubbing shoulders in boardwalk cafes and crowded shops. There are scores of narrow houses with pretty gables lining the canals, each with a furniture hook up om a gable - because, you see, the staircases in those houses are so narrow, that when people move in or out, the furniture goes through the window.

The soil in this part of Netherlands is sandy and prone to shifting, so many houses end up leaning one way or the other, looking like the fallig tower of Pisa... some of them would probably have fallen by now, if they weren't propped by the neighboring ones.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

hallo, hoe gaat het?

That's "hello, how are you" in Dutch. We took a train from Germany on Friday, and here we are now, in the land of very taall people and no-curtain windows. To be more precise, we are in Leiden, where my aunt lives with her family. And yesterday we were in Amsterdam. Stay tuned for pictures!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

a thought

...when traveling in Europe, packing toilet paper is not necessary...

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The signs

I promised a separate post on signs - and here it is. They seemed funny to us either because we couldn't understand the language, or just because they are so different from what we are used to. See for yourself...







If you enlarge this last one, you'll see that the little stickers on the trashcan read "I do what I want" (in English). Hmmm...






Monday, September 15, 2008

More Heidelberg impressions

It's very clean. And organized.

No shops are opened on Sunday, except those at the train station. Those are more expensive.

There are a lot of signs and sights that look exactly like the States - only German. Then, there are some really funny signs. A separate post about those is coming later.

There seems to be a uniform style to the city architecture, that is adhered to even now. Thus, the city looks uniformly cute - no ugly monster buildings sticking out here and there, spoiling the view.

Alltogether, it's quite impressive. And quite cold.

We did some shopping today, after we were shown to the discount clothing store. The shops in the touristy center are, naturally, quite expensive.

Here is Roxy trying to decipher the map and Vicky about to give a speech about us looking too much like tourists.



More later (Vicky is looking over my shoulder, ready to grab the computer).

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Our first walk in Europe

Heidelberg is a very pretty city. Wanna see?


















Saturday, September 13, 2008

some pics

Roxy and I at Qarahunj (Stonehenge - Armenian version), which is believed to be a Bronze age observatory.
Tatev village early in the morning.


Rules posted at the monastery. Strictly enforced!


Vicky and the view from one of the monastery buildings. Right in front of her - a sheer drop of almost a mile.

Tatevik at Tatev :)

Tatevik with Tatev...
(This is how they film forced perspective in the movies, right? Between her and the monastery there is a gorge, but can you tell?)

Tatev monastery without Vicky. I would have photoshopped that annoying crane out, but I don't have Photoshop right now...

Tatev was not only a monastery, but also a school, library and science center in medieval Armenia. And, obviously, a citadel as well. Quite impressive, and one of the most beautiful monasteries I've seen in Armenia.


Where on Earth are we?

Hello everyone,

A lot happened since we last blogged. For one thing, I finally quit my job. It was, if I may say so, a mixed experience - I worked with some very nice people, but the general atmosphere in the office made it very difficult to stay calm.

We did some traveling around Armenia – most important of all, Tatevik was finally taken to Tatev monastery, after which, in a way, she was named. It was a hard, six hour long tooth-chattering, stomach-wrenching kind of road, but it was, of course ,worth it. I will be posting some photos soon. Roxy and I did some challenging hiking in the mountains. It was fun!

Then, we sold our apartment… again. The new one, the one I was renovating last year. And now we are – guess where – in Europe! I am writing on a train in Germany, and can’t say when I’ll have a chance to post this.

Our first day of Europe travel turned out quite eventful. To start with, I had a lot of last minute things to do after I quit my job and got the money for the house. So, the packing was left, literally, to the last possible second. We packed in a hurry and left a whole lot for our relatives to sort out after we leave. We did catch our flight, which was at one point quite turbulent – I mean, really turbulent – and arrived in Munich early in the morning. Then, instead of renting a car as I was planning to do, we had to take a train, because my new driver license was not ready by the time I was leaving. In Armenia, you see, it’s a process to get your driver license. And it’s expensive!

Anyway, us taking a train started with us leaving Vicky behind. We didn’t understand the announcement in German, and by the time Roxy and I realized what’s happening, the train was moving away from the airport, leaving Vicky on the platform without money, phone or any idea what to do. You can imagine what a moment of panic we all had! Then, after we reunited, missed our train, and took the next one, we accidentally got into a first -class car and had to pay extra to stay there, because hauling all our suitcases across two cars to the already crowded second class while the train was in motion did not appear doable. So here I am, sitting in a comfortable chair with Germany’s picture-perfect countryside passing by, writing to you about our adventures.

Stay tuned for pictures!


Hi, Vicky here… yaya we are here in Germany and it’s too perfect too clean and too… iono too TOO. But it’s very pretty. We’ll probably go broke at this rate though.lol. a DOUBLE cheeseburger from Burger King (the size of my pinky by the way) cost 7 bucks.yaya, SEVEN and I swallowed it whole. It as miniature, pretty sad… that’s all for now folks.


Now its my (Roxy’s) turn. When we first arrived in Armenia, all I could say was, “I can’t believe we’re here!” So, upon our departure from Armenia, and after we landed in the Munich airport, my mom politely inquired if I had any “I can’t believe…” statements to make about the trip. However, by that time, we were all so jet-lagged and red-eyed, that all I could give her was a half-hearted laugh.
But we are here. And it’s a very strange feeling. We’ve been in Armenia for over two years! And the contrast adds to our wide-eyed amazement.
You leave a dusty, messy, trash-bloated Armenia and arrive in spotless, picture-perfect, separate-trashcans-for-paper-and-plastic-at-train-stations Germany. As described above, our first day was quite a way to introduce us to Europe, but I’m sure we’ll have some fun things to share as soon as we get some sleep and sort out our 11 pieces of luggage that we have been dragging along with us across the length and breadth of Germany…


Oh ya.. Vicky here. She’s right. Luggage, DUDE.. they tell me take ONE suitcase. I do. And also one carry-on. So HOW in the world did we end up with eleven pieces for three people I cant understand... and now I have calluses on my hands. Ow.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

What's new

It looks like our lengthy visit to Armenia is drawing to its close, and while there are no certain dates set for our departure yet, we are hoping to be reuntied with our friends across the ocean sometime before the end of year. Once I get my computer back from the repair shop, I will be composing some long posts with pictures about our most recent adventures and happenings. Not that anybody stops by the blog anymore... oh well, I like writing anyway, so I'll write it for myself.

Helloooo.....

What's happening on the the other side of the Northern Hemisphere?
We haven't been able to blog much recently because we had no time and no computer (it got the flu).
So I thought I'd freshen up the blog and say a big HELLO and a HOW ARE YOU?

Tell us how you guys are doing. We want to hear from our friends across the globe!
*prevailing silence*