GOING HOME

Happy New Year!!

2011-01-02T09:24:00.001-08:00

The Mummers Parade traces back to mid-17th century roots, blending elements from Swedish, Finnish, Irish, English, German and other European heritages, as well as African-American heritage. The parade is related to the Mummers Play tradition from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The first official parade was held January 1, 1901. The earliest surviving String Band, Trilby, first paraded in 1902 (with many breaks thereafter, and a reorganization in 1935^.

Here are the photos - all 82 of them.

Forrest Gump much?

Ukranian guys in Ukranian maiden costumes...

w

Mummers have to deal with a lot of press...

This band got us all dancing.

Gandalf? I thought you were gone, sailed off from Grey Havens.

Roxy reading a brochure about Islam she was handed.

Froggies...

Some costumes were more provocative than others. Like Wiki Leaks...
\

... and Lady Gaga.

Big banana...

Little banana... it's Monkey Business team.

Banana with his monkey.

Monkey with its banana.

Not all mummers are examples of highest moral image.

Too much beer?

Superman with his superbaby.

The walking cheesesteak. Philly is phamous phor it's cheesesteak, you know...

Papa penguin.

Oompa-Loompas...

Gotta love Smarties :))

Miser Brothers - Fire.

Hot Pretzels!!

Lobsters from The Deadliest Catch.

The wench and his wife. And his beer.

Very confident guys.

Hairy-chested Super(wo)man and the Golden Slippers.

Reduced to Rags brigade.

The Operation (game).

It's a zoo out there!

The lederhosen-clad marching team. Germans, perhaps.

A sleeping devil.

Very wild animals.

- You again?!

(This guy gave us some candy when we stepped out of the subway and wished us a happy new year. Then he saw me taling a photo.)

Graduaion photos

2010-06-19T07:31:00.000-07:00

The pretty dress and the still intact hairdo.

Walking down the field in her plastic gown.

Two graduates and two friends.

Sister Vicky.

And yes, the traditional tossing up the hats.

Pomp and Circumstance

2010-06-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

So today in the sweltering afternoon heat Roxy will don the polyester (wipe with damp cloth only) gown and a mortarboard cap (that no hairdo can withstand,) and go through the motions of graduating (no cell phones or personal belonging - ye will be searched to ensure, no heels least you trample the grass). No diplomas will be handed out onstage, covers only - they will have to stand in a separate line later to receive the diploma. How did we end up with an elaborate and meaningless procedure like this to graduate our kids?

"The academic dress found in most universities in the British Commonwealth and the United

States is derived from that of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which was a

development of academic and clerical dress common throughout the medieval universities of

Europe," says Wikipedia. "In early medieval times, all students at the universities were

in at least minor orders, and were required to wear... clerical dress, and restricted to

clothes of black or other dark colour."

Hmmmm...

Stay tuned for photos (maybe even videos).

Driving LA

2010-02-21T04:44:00.000-08:00

For the last few months I was driving to work across LA very early in the morning. Quite a boring drive, almost 1 hour long... so I entertained myself by taking photos on the way. Here are some.

405 North - traffic ahead...

traffic behind...

Liberty tax at tax time.

Downtown, 5pm.
How's "sweet tea" in Korean?

Oil fields near Baldwin Hills, 7 am.

Glendale...
Silverlake after rain.

Cars are always being towed along Wilshire. Every night. No one ever reads the signs.

In other news: Santa Claus was detained by the LAPD tonight...

...

2010-01-31T00:12:00.001-08:00

A fragment of conversation between two (Armenian) Glendale cops and two other (Armenian) guys: "Well, I only had two years of experience, and they required three, but there are ways, you know (wink), so they took me..."

I really wanna move out of this place!

Announcing a new blog!

2009-11-07T22:38:00.000-08:00

Since last February I have been spending most of my free time at LA Zoo. First Roxy and I went as visitors, then Roxy joined the Eco-Corps (Student volunteers) ranks, and now I am taking a docent class and will - hopefully - become a docent by next summer. Knowing me, you can imagine how many photos and little bits and pieces of information I have collected during that time. Somehow, they don't belong on this blog, though - this one was created expressly to document our experiences in Armenia and is now pretty dormant, waiting for new adventures to happen. So, logically, I needed a new blog - and that's just what I got! Introducing the Zoo gossip blog! Come and visit often, there will be a lot of fun stuff there. I also pulled some zoo and animal-related posts from this blog (just to pretend my new blog is actually quite old :))

By the way, do you know what the biggest lizard in the world is? If you don't, stop by Zoo Gossip blog, and find out!

Wandering in fog

2009-09-28T19:02:00.000-07:00

After weeks and weeks of heat, glaring sun and smoky air, all of a sudden we got two foggy mornings in a row. The coolness and humidity were so irresistible, I couldn't help but grab
my camera and go wandering right into the low-flying patches of vapor.

From the top of Glendale Forest Lawn all I could see was a sea of fog and the steeples of the chapels. No ugly gray buildings with flat roofs, no flashy ads and signboards... For a second I could almost imagine I was back in Europe again!

Somewhere there is downtown...

Looking north toward Glendale and Eagle Rock...

Today I climbed the hill above Freeway 2 to see how North Glendale looks in the fog. This here is a view of 2 Freeway south - except you can't see the freeway.

La Crescenta under a blanket...

Even downtown looked somewhat pale and desaturated - and it's not even too early!

I just wish we had weather like this more often!

I wish...

2009-08-05T16:26:00.001-07:00

I wish it snowed in Southern California, so there would be no wildfires.

I wish moviemakers would make more sense when they recorded commentaries. If nothing else, I wish they would have pity on translators who would eventually have to untangle sentences like: "And it was like, yeah, they will be able to just, you know....what if they kind of... I don't know".

I wish it wasn't so stinking hot here all summer long.

I wish Armenia was within driving distance from LA.

I wish I could kill cockroaches just by looking at them. Better yet, I wish I would never see one again for as long as I live.

I wish I had a job so I could have a house so I could keep a dog.

I wish nice cameras didn't cost more than my car.

I wish people would make an effort to understand each other before passing judgment.

Eh...

See cheetah run

2009-07-15T15:55:00.000-07:00

The cheetah run safari at San Diego Wild Animal park was fun-fun-fun. This was on June 19, so it took me a while to post these photos, but better late than never, right?

There he goes... just look at him. Isn't he magnificent?

The star of the show - cheetah Majani, one of the largest cheetahs in captivity. He made two runs that day, and the rest of the time was catching his breath.

Just for sake of comparison, they then brought out a serval, and explained to those who didn't know, that it's not a baby cheetah, but a fully grown wild cat. Cheetahs run - servals jump. They jump so well, they are nicknamed "the trampoline cat". And they are cute.

Cheetah is the fastest land animal - what about fastest, period? Voila, peregrine falcon. He dove after his bait so fast, we thought he is gonna make a hole in the ground.

Other animals at the Park weren't doing much... also, by late morning it got pretty hot. So, they were just snoozing.

Or checking us out.

Naturally, I got plenty more pictures... let's hope I can find time to edit them sometime soon.

San Diego impressions

2009-06-26T00:08:00.000-07:00

Last week, I drove down to San Diego to meet a friend, who flew there from Canada. Spent a fun week there, walking around and shooting pictures. Here are some of them.

The Victorian building of Hotel Del Coronado at Coronado Island (which is really a peninsula). Why is it that 100 years ago people took pains to build aesthetically pleasing buildings, and nowadays they don't care?

Cliffs at Point Loma. Not surprisingly, the place is called Sunset Cliffs Park.

A cormorant colony on a large rock by the cliffs. The white color of the rock is mainly due to their, ahem, by-products.

A view at the same rock with wide lens.

A textbook Pacific sunset with yachts anchored offshore.

Night at downtown, complete with a tram and futuristic-looking towers. I actually liked San Diego downtown, it doesn't look boring at all. There is a mix of styles and time periods that is very interesting to see.

Not too far from the previous location, but looking centuries apart, the Seaport Village is one of those typical tourist traps with restaurants and quaint little shops.

My friend and I spent one of the afternoons at Balboa Park, first driving around, then devouring sandwiches under a huge oak tree. This last occupation attracted scores of squirrels, tree and ground kind alike, which were bold enough to take food right out of our hand.

Here is one feasting on a piece of apple I gave him.

Old Town San Diego looks interesting enough, and walking through it you can get an idea how those early settlements looked. Unfortunately, it is less of a museum and more of a tourist trap nowadays, though some of the merchandise is quite unique.

This guy with his horse cart was taking a break from giving rides to kids and families. Except for the coffee cup in his hand, he looked quite authentically 19th century, right down to his calloused hands. So did the horse.

Speaking of old, the hotel we were staying at was a landmark in itself. Right in the middle of the Gaslamp Quarter, it looked like it was around for a while.

This is how the lobby looked. I liked the 19th century photos of the first owners and views of the hotel in olden times. There was also a horse there - a full-size model. Apparently, the building used to be a carriage-house before!

A view of the hotel from the outside. Another nice Victorian building.

San Diego airport is located right in the city, couple blocks away from downtown. I co9uldn't get over how low the planes flew over the buildings when they lined up for landing.

Once my friend got busy with her conference, I took off and drove South to where the map said was a wildlife preserve called Chula Vista. Spent the whole day there, wandered around, almost got locked up inside the premises... it was fun! They have some really amazing representatives of the disappearing local wildlife. Of course, I would be much happier if these animals were actually roaming free in large numbers, but with coastal wetlands being developed, their habitat is shrinking and one by one the species end up on the endangered list.

Here is the oystercatcher doing a hokey-pokey. You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out...

Cooper's hawk eyeing me suspiciously...

This mockingbird just didn't know what to do with his huge trophy. He was running around this little roof, trying to find a place to eat his meal in peace.

Cottontails abounded on the grounds of the preserve. There were so many of them! I just hoped there were also enough hawks and foxes to keep the population in check.

These are not a mom and a baby - bugs don't have that. Just two stages of the same species, one immature and the other fully grown.

Argiope spider. These abound in Mexico, but I didn't expect to find one so far north.

These last two pics are tweaked in Photoshop a bit - one is desaturated and the other has color added to it.

Seeing red

2009-06-04T00:10:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, there was a car show at Americana. A few antique cars from Petersen's Automotive Museum were lined up along the street, most of them either heroes of some Hollywood movie or once a property of a celebrity. Most colorful.

So, I tried stepping out of my "comfort zone" and photographing something I usually don't take pictures of. Cars. You tell me what came out of it. I just know I will never enjoy it as much as I enjoy shooting the smallest bug, bird, or lizard.

This one is a self-portrait, so there...

But wait, there is more!

2009-05-26T00:47:00.001-07:00

After Roxy and I left the Zoo (see the previous post) we didn't go straight home, as one would expect from two very tired people. Instead we decided to catch the nice evening light and do some wildlife exploring at the nearby creek. The place is teeming with life, especially birds - it's a birdwatcher's paradise.

There are at least 6 different kind of birds in this photo - can you name them all?

Well, how many did you get? The black skimmers seem to be the largest group, but there are also gulls, Brant geese and snowy egrets mixed with them, and there is a brown pelican and a few mallards swimming in the background.

Here are the skimmers up close. I still can't get over the strange appearance of these birds.

They may look awkward on the ground, especially those weird beaks, but in flight it all starts making sense and all features appear to be perfectly functional.

This anxious little bird is a killdeer. It spotted us coming from the bush where it was hiding, and jumped out of it, chirping, as if it was trying to get our attention.

The bird seemed unafraid of us; at least it was not running away - just standing there chirping, but as we came closer to the bush, it started doing some strange things on the ground. This was, in fact, quite a textbook behavior - the bird was feigning injury to draw us away from the bush, where it had its nest. "Look at me, I am an easy prey with a broken wing and all"...

We did find the nest with four pretty little eggs in it, after which we quietly went away, pretending we fell for the trick.

Here is a black-crowned night heron giving a speech.

This last photo is not wildlife (strictly speaking), but a Coke commercial, special for pastor Daniel.

Santa Barbara Zoo

2009-05-26T00:13:00.001-07:00

Santa Barbara Zoo was one of those places I always wanted to go and never got around to. Driving along the Cabrillo road, I often saw the giraffes from behind the hedge and wondered about the Zoo, but somehow we always seemed to have other agenda. This May they had a new California Condor exhibit opened, and that decided it: we had to go. So, last Saturday Roxy and I hit the road early in the morning and got to the Zoo just as it opened. Spent the whole day there, couldn't walk very well the next day, but boy, was it fun! Though SB Zoo is smaller than the LA one, it has got some animals we don't have here, and it is very nice, clean and fun. Here are just a few photos to give you an idea.

Amur Leopards were snoozing when we first passed by their cage.

We went back after a while, and they were up and pacing, so I was able to get a few mug shots through the glass.

A serene little pond right in the middle of the Zoo...

Tucan... the oversized plastic-looking beak seems like an overkill for the small pieces he was eating.

Titi monkeys - mama and the baby. It was fun watching them - a typical curious toddler and an anxious mom trying to keep him close.

Humbold penguins... There was a whole lot of them and they were having fun chasing each other through water, doing some spectacular jumps out of the water, grooming each other, waddling around, trumpeting... I think we spent 1/2 hour just watching them.

Scarlet macaws in the aviary.

Blue-and-gold macaw - the Zoo's welcoming comittee. His enclosure is near the entrance and he is all smiles, talking, bowing, even doing a little dance for the guests.

There are a lot more interesting and rare animals at SB Zoo - well worth the visit and the drive. Plus, it's not as hot as the LA Zoo - an added benefit.

The bugs that are not

2009-05-22T03:54:00.000-07:00

This is NOT a butterfly, it's a threadwing, and it's related to ant lions and lacewings. Most of you will probably never see one: it's endemic to Southern Caucasis region.

This is NOT a stretched-out ladybug, but a totally different beetle, called blister beetle.

NOT a bear. A very large (size of your palm) moth.

NOT you garden variety tiger swallowtail, but the endangered European counterpart.

NOT a ritual mask from a Japanese kabuki theater. Just a juvenile assassin bug.

Just pics

2009-05-22T03:46:00.000-07:00

Mockingbirds are very shy and rarely present a good target. With my 300mm X1.4 I was finally able to get one. Without a tripod, too! Yay!

Something I always wanted to do, but never had the right equipment for: the trailing lights of the freeways. Very common photo trick, but it felt good to finally get it myself.

Links

2009-05-12T00:10:00.000-07:00

A quick note for those who keep looking for the Europe posts and not finding them. If you don't feel like scrolling through months and months of old posts, just go to September 2008 and October 2008 pages and start reading from bottom up. That's where our European adventures are.

Old photographs

2009-05-04T20:03:00.000-07:00

Now that my kids are suddenly all grown up and don't need me to feed them, dress them, tuck them in and make every decision for them, I am finding myself with a lot of free time on my hands - something I am not used to. (It might also have something to do with the fact that I am not working full-time.) While I enjoy this newfound freedom to do things I like, I do miss the time my daughters were young and more dependent on me. Especially because most of my friends are going through that stage of life right now, with the battles, troubles, joys and surprises I had 15-20 years ago, and watching them makes me miss it even more.

So I took out some old photos to reminisce, and decided to share them with all of you.

1990

1992

1992

1994

1995

1996

1996

1997

It's spring!

2009-04-30T13:53:00.000-07:00

The good news is that it's spring! Although things bloom and grow all year long in this crazy place, there are still sure signs that it is spring.

Swallowtail butterflies, for one. A lot of them, everywhere.

And there is a new baby giraffe at the Zoo!

Argh!!! (an angry post)

2009-04-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

Have you ever gotten the feeling that every breath you take costs you money? I mean, it was bad enough before, but it has gotten so bad nowadays, I just can't stand it anymore!

Examples? Sure! I have been with Wells Fargo bank for many years, had all sorts of accounts with them before going to Armenia and was quite happy, so naturally after coming back I went straight there and opened an account again. Turns out, while I was away they started charging for phone banking. You call the bank toll-free, yes, but then a charge of $2.00 appears on your account once you call.

Then there is the auto insurance. I mean, you buy insurance, you pay monthly premium. Period? No, fine print. There is, with Mercury at least, an "installment fee" - they charge it every time you pay. So, for my first six months I am going to make 3 payments and they are going to charge me $10 for each. That comes up to more than 5% of the total premium! I asked them if I can avoid it, and they told me to pay in full - but only after the second bill was already mailed and the second "installment fee" charged. Argh!

Not to mention that my wonderful ex-landlady is trying to bill me for all her old sins...

As if the taxes weren't enough.

Nonsence

2009-04-21T23:03:00.000-07:00

My house phone doesn't ring too often. Most of my friends call my cell or e-mail me. So, when the phone does ring, 9 out of 10 times it is to present me with some nonsensical marketing offer. For telemarketers, it's blind shooting - they may hit the target, or they may miss. Being somewhat unconventional I rarely present a proper target, so all their calls do is irritate and amuse me in turn.

- This is the second reminder that your vehicle factory warranty may have expired...

(Until a few days ago, I didn't even have a vehicle.)

- This call is regarding your credit card account...

(What credit card account?)

- Hello and congratulations! You were selected to receive a free prescription card!

(Great! only I don't take any prescription medications.)

- We would like to present a great opportunity to reduce your unsecured debt...

(This one was a live person calling, so I told him I have no unsecured debt. He didn't believe me. - - No student loans? credit cards? medical bills?
I told him I got none of those. He then asked me if any of my family members may be in need of their services. Receiving a negative answer, he hung up, convinced that I lied to him. I didn't.)

Portraits

2009-04-02T01:21:00.000-07:00

Another photoshoot, this time at LA Zoo. Mainly portraits.

This is done with Canon S3IS compact. Once my new dSLR arrives, I will try to shoot similar photos again and compare the quality.

For now, let's see how well you know zoology. How many of these can you identify before looking at the tags?

Red crowned mangabey female deep in thought over some food.

Crowned crane looks exhaused by the incessant noise made by flamingo chicks nearby.

Indian rhino enjoying some tree bark.

Ring-tail lemur meditating at a sunny spot.

Um... unknown species, gotta look this one up!

Gerenuk: "I am all ears".

Young male tiger, making noise like young males are wont to do.

Cape vulture giving me a distrustful look.

A face only a mother can love - cape vulture chick.

A non-resident house finch at a bird feeder.

White-faced whistling duck standing watch over the nest.

Gorilla - pretty much laughing at us...

Chimpansees engaged in a girly chat.

About cameras...

2009-03-25T23:44:00.000-07:00

I decided to answer Angela's comment about buying a camera as a separate post, maybe I will get some feedback on it.

What dSLR should I buy? Considering I have a set of nice Minolta lenses (25-80 and 75-300) that I used to use with my Maxxum 5 about 4-5 years back, I was considering getting a Konica Minolta dSLR for starters... Then I went online and realized the camera is now obsolete, because Minolta sold the photography division to Sony. There are still used Minolta 7d bodies floating around on Ebay and Amazon, but I am not sure if I will be able to get service for them a year from now. On the other hand, the body and the lenses I have now are not worth enough to sell them and get a different brand with similar lenses. Or, to put it differently, the lenses are worth more if I keep them, than if I sell them.

Any thoughts?

The beachcombers

2009-03-23T01:35:00.000-07:00

A photoshoot at the beach

2009-03-23T00:54:00.000-07:00

What with the current economy and not having a full-time job yet, I decided to use the time to work on my photo technics. A couple of nice books helped me refresh most of what I already knew and learn a lot of new stuff, so I was eager to do some hands-on testing, especially because after several years of not having a tripod I finally got one.

So, on Saturday Roxy and I betook ourselves to a little-known spot near San Pedro called Abalone Cove, where along with beachcombing and breathing fresh air, I was able to test the limits of my camera and the shallow depths of my photoknowledge upon a variety of subjects.

The results are below, with the comments added, mainly about how the pictures were taken and why I think I need a new camera.

Or you may just look and enjoy the sights and ignore the technical flaws if you can.

What my Canon S3 IS does really well is macro, or close-ups. It has two settings - macro and supermacro, and the latter can focus on something as close as 0 mm from the lens! This means you can put the lens flush against a glass and photograph something on the glass (like frost).

However, photographing in direct sunlight causes a lot of shiny spots and harsh shadows, so I like to take pictures in diffused light. But, the low light causes the camera to chose a larger aperture, which in turn results in shallow depth of field. In case with the mating bugs below, the depth of field is so shallow that while the heads and antennae is sharp, the backs are not.

Of course, I could also chose a higher ISO, but that's where my camera really falls short. On anything higher that ISO100 the picture gets pixelated and the quality plunges.

This squirrel suddenly came out to investigate while I was taking pictures of the sunset, so rather than fumble with settings and risk it disappearing, I switched to automatic and shot a few quick frames. Since it was late afternoon and sunlight was dwindling, the camera assumed an ISO setting 200 - and if you click on the picture you will see that even though the squirrel is sharp, it's quite pixelated.

This is an attempt at minimalism. I like the texture of the wet sand.

More macro.

Most of the macro shots taken with this camera need little to no retouching, so I just crop them in Photoshop if necessary and resize for posting online.

This star was immersed in the water, so I had to increase the contrast in Photoshop.

The octopus was rescued by Roxy and me and plopped back in the water, where it proceeded to breathe and move it's tentacles to prove it's not dead.

Landscape shots. This one was taken at a partly cloudy moment, so the light is evenly distributed. Once again, on the automatic setting the camera "assumes" its handheld and sets the highest possible shutter speed, which results in a wide aperture, which in turn throws the fisherman out of focus. I will just pretend that was the desired effect.

Bright sun=blown highlights on the necks. These pics are taken on "sport" setting to capture the motion, so we got the fastest possible shutter speeds.

This one was sitting still, so I zoomed in and took the exposure reading from the white feathers. Got almost all of it correctly exposed, except the top of the head. Hmmm...

Macro barnacles and mollusks. Yum!

This is taken with the portrait setting, which effectively threw the background out of focus. This time it WAS the desired effect.

Well, did you catch anything?

The sunset pictures are taken with a tripod and a variety of manual settings. I just wish I could fit a polarizer on this camera instead of having to manipulate the picture in PhotoShop.

Love this one! I think it's my favorite pic from the entire shoot!

For sake of experimenting, I took this following picture through my sunglasses :)

Didn't change much, except the color...

This is another one taken from a tripod, but with a faster shutter speed to capture the motion. Though I force the ISO to stay on 100 setting, every now and then the camera decides to change it to "high" - and what we get is pixelation. Plus, though the focus is on the birds, they are not as crisp as they could have been. These are the times when I wish I had a dSLR!

Experimenting with slow shutter speeds. It works well for running water (rivers, waterfalls, etc), but doesn't do much for the tide, except for making it milky.

I love this picture of LA harbor and the humango cargo ship (their size still blows my mind), but look at that sky! It's so bad it got little random pink pixels running through it! I definitely want a camera with a bigger sensor!

That's it! Thanks for watching, and feel free to leave comments - they are always most welcome!

Back to Armenia... in thoughts

2009-03-08T04:01:00.000-07:00

It has been only about 6 months since we returned to the US, and I already miss Armenia terribly! Spending hours on the phone with friends and relatives helps but a little, and hearing the disturbing news on TV doesn't help at all, because they mostly talk about current politics and very rarely about things that have outlived generations of politicians.

So today, on the International Women's day I decided to gratify myself and present anyone who might stop by with a gift - some yet-unpublished here photos of Armenian churches and monasteries.

I left them with the frames I made for printing, which have the names of the monuments. You may click on the photo for a full-size version.

Hypocrisy

2009-03-04T00:21:00.000-08:00

There was an interesting advertisement posted on a lamppost in La Crescenta last week. It was a rental ad for a nice clean smoke-free and pet-free apartment. That’s right, not pest-free, but pet-free. And if you think it’s a typo, think again. Perhaps not every landlord puts the pets so blatantly on the same list with other nuisances, but deep down almost all landlords feel the same way. Just browse the Internet rental ads: “sorry, no pets”, “no pets allowed”, “no pets”, “cats only with deposit” adorn the bottom of virtually every ad. One in a hundred might say “small dog with deposit”, and in that case you can be sure you will be shedding additional 200-300 dollars a month for the exact same apartment!

So, on one hand, America is crazy about pets, they are adored and cherished and often spoiled worse that any kids, there are numerous TV shows and books and magazines and stores and what-nots dedicated to “your cuddly friends”, on the other – unless you own a home, your chances of being allowed to own a pet are close to null. On one hand, doctors agree and psychologists argue that people who own pets are healthier and live longer, less stressful lives. On the other – well, you got it.

I think it’s hypocrisy. I think I should be allowed to keep not just one dog of any size, but as many as I like – as long as I am prepared to bear the financial and legal consequences, if any. After all, if we followed the same logic in allowing people to drive, half of those sharing the roads with you should have been banned from driving. People are allowed to handle a one-ton murder weapon on four wheels as long as they are insured and can pay for whatever damages they incur. They can be a nuisance on the road, terror on the freeway, they smash your bumpers and dent your doors and occasionally drink and drive, but no one takes their license away unless they kill someone or get repeatedly caught when drunk.

Why then can’t I have a dog? What terrible things can one canine, however large, possibly do? Bark? Shed? Stink? I got news for you – if I had a dog, I would train it, so that it would not bark unnecessarily and would not bite people, not even the mailman. And if it ate the toxic carpet usually found in standard rental units – hey, keep a deposit and replace it!

I would love to know by what logic this is not happening?

Why no blog?

2009-02-17T01:16:00.000-08:00

I have got plenty to say, but the inspiration to sit down and write it just wouldn't come. And there were no interesting pictures to post either, for a while. Thus, no blog.

The buzzing fluff

2009-02-14T23:46:00.000-08:00

Hummingbirds are amazing creatures. Heard that one before, right? Well, so have I, but I just can't get over it. The smallest of all birds, some smaller than the eye (or the brain) of an ostrich, they are nothing but a bunch of fluff with a needle-like beak - but with what an attitude! What amazing agility! And how beautiful they are - all colorful, with gorgeous iridescent feathers that change colors as they fly. I have been fascinated by them ever since I came to California and discovered the abundance of those little buzzers here.

Did you know a hummingbird can flap its wings 200 times per second, can hover in one place and - the only one of all birds - can fly backwards?!

Here are some of the recent hummingbird pictures I took. Only a week ago they were happily feeding and chirping in the trees. Today they were already flying in pairs and buzzing angrily if any strangers came close to their territory. Must be spring - nest-building time.

On this picture of Allen's hummingbird, you can't really see the colorful neck. Then the bird moves an inch, the sun hits the feathers differently, and...

voila! the red necktie!

This little guy was trying to intimidate me by flying straight overhead or hovering in the air right in front of my face! After which, with a victorious air he would return to his perch on the cactus branch. I wonder if his missus was building a nest somewhere nearby...

Here are some older pictures; I took them years ago and they have been posted on a photo website.

This guy literally flew into my picture - I was actually trying to shoot a bee...

This silly couple of Anna's hummingbirds built their nest in a tree inside a parking lot. I watched them for a few days and took some photos, hoping to see the young ones soon, but sadly the nest got blown off by a strong wind one day...

This not-so-quality picture is Costa's hummingbird, a different species I found in San Diego.

That's all, and happy Valentine's Day to everyone who cares.

Arizona

2009-01-05T00:42:00.001-08:00

After Christmas Roxy and I rented a car and drove to Arizona to visit a long-time friend of mine in Phoenix. I haven't been in those parts before, and can't say I was very impressed with the landscape or the climate. It's as desert-y as they come, and mile after mile the landscape is unchanged with low shrubs and cacti with jagged mountain ranges in the background. And it's either freezing cold, or hot and sunny, with rarely anything in between.

The snow-capped mountains in the first picture are in California. The landscape in the foreground is what we saw for the next 200 miles.

On the first day our host took us hiking to a small nature reserve smack in the middle of Phoenix. From the top of the mountain we could see a 360 degree view of the city, two airports and a lot of fog... or smog, not sure which one it was.

The rest of the hike consisted of views of cacti and other prickly things, some of which looked quite nice.

Phoenix - and a cactus.

Roxy and my friend Paro - and a cactus.

These species of blackbird were everywhere in the city. Still don't know what they are called.

Armenian mafia in Phoenix Zoo. Roxy and my friend's kids.

The kids interacting with wildlife.

A few of the Zoo faces.

The next few pics were taken at Old Town Scottsdale, a small Western town adjacent to Phoenix. We took a nice little walk there and looked at some amazing stuff in the many art galleries and stores along the way.

Don't get too hungry - the candy is made of glass!

I wonder what kind of horse in olden times was the equivalent of a BMW?

A quick update

2008-12-24T03:59:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, long time no post. We are back in the US now, and I seriously considered closing this blog and perhaps starting a new one, but decided against it. After all, though the sojourn is over, the journey still continues. There is a lot to think about and summarize and compare and understand. And that's exactly what I plan to do on these pages.

5 days in Paris

2008-10-16T23:16:00.000-07:00

Now that we are done with the pictures, here come the stories - not about Paris, but about us in it.

We had adventures every day we walked in Paris. I guess that's just the way that city is - things are happening there all the time.

The very first night, after arriving and checking into the hotel, we decided to walk to the center. On the map, it looked sort of close. We didn't realize how far it really was, and had to walk more than two hours until we got to the river. Rue La Fayette is a very long street, as we now know. Then, suddenly, the Louvre, the bridges, the Eiffel tower, all those names and sights familiar from so many books and movies were there. The Eiffel tower is lighted blue this season, and it looks magnificent at night.

We walked to the tower and then we walked away from it along the river, and all of a sudden there was strange music and lights from one of the buildings by the river. We ascended a few stairs and found ourselves in a big courtyard with what seemed like a dry pool or pond in the middle. A lot of youth was assembled there, most of them looking very much like punks. Two guys inside the pool were dancing to the rhytm and twirling batons with fire on both ends. It was already dark, and the sight was unreal. We just stood there for a while watching, until we became aware of our surroundings and realized this is probably the hangout spot for the punk community, and we don't really belong there, so we back away slowly and went on our way.

The next day we started with a show called The Paris Story, which included a movie about Paris (a 3D multimedia event, as it was advertised in the brochure), an interactive model and displays with short films and information about the city. I must say it was very educational.

We spent the day wandering, until in the evening we found ourselves by Eiffel tower again. Here, the "cops and the peddlers" show was going on. It goes like this: a bunch of young guys, mosly black, approach tourists and offer very cheap souvenirs, mainly Eiffel tower key chains and light-up models. There are a lot of guys and each has a whole bunch of souvenirs in his hands. Then, all of a sudden, another guy comes running and yells: "The cops!" The peddlers immediately hide their goods and start walking away very fast. If one of them is spotted by the police, he starts running like crazy. The chase weaves through the crowd, the guys running like rabbits, cops running after them, then everything settles down, and five minutes later the guys are back selling the souvenirs again.

We later realised that this goes on every night. Even though the cops do apprehend a few guys every now and then, the business goes on. There must be a whole mafia behind the souvenir peddling, and a very organized one. We just wondered, where they get so many souvenirs - are they manufactured by the same people, stolen, bought? The peddlers are just a link in the chain, and I am sure they have to pass a running test before they are hired. I should say though, the French policemen run very fast, too. I can just imagine an Armenian policeman trying to chase a criminal like that! Cheeks bouncing, belly swaying... he would be dead with a heart attack 5 minutes later! Yeah...

On the third day, we went to see the famous Montmartre. There were a lot of street musicians in Montmartre, including a ventriloquist, whose puppet not only talked, but played guitar and sang! We also thought about having our portraits painted by one of the many street artists, but the prices were extremely steep, and we decided to hold on to that until better times.
But the funniest thing happened when we were trying to board the funicular railway to the top of the hill.

"Can I see your hand?" "Give me your hand please!" These were three black guys, and they were weaving thread bracelets on our hands before we knew it. All the time it took to make one, the guys were talking non-stop, too: "Oh, you look really pretty today. Where you from? You have a boyfriend? Hakuna-matata, it's all right! I'm from Jamaica! Hakuna-Matata--its mean don't worry be happy! This is a charmed bracelet, it will bring you good luck. It's a friendship bracelet, so we are friends now. Hakuna-matata!"

Yeah! It cost me 10 euros, and only because I wouldn't give more. They asked for 10 each! We laughed about it afterwards, of course. Vicky is still wearing hers, I guess it did bring her luck. Hakuna-matata!

On the fourth day it was La Cite we decided to visit, to finally see the Notre Dame. Let me say right away that it was magnificent, far beyond any descriptions I could come up with. Just look at the pictures, or better yet go see the real thing.

The majestic cathedral is surrounded by narrow streets (which makes it rather difficult to take pictures of it) and innumerable souvenir shops and restaurants. Into one of these we walked hoping to get some crepes, French style, before we start appreciating the views and the interior of the Noble Dame.

The fifth and last day in Paris was spent visiting museums. The Museum of Cinema, which we visited

Paris

2008-10-16T14:20:00.001-07:00

Little can be said about Paris that hasn't already been said, so I am not going to comment on pictures. I will just mention where they were taken. There is a lot of them. Enjoy!

Day 1. The Eiffel Tower.

Day 2. Gare du Nord (Northern Railway Station).

The Opera.

Modeling in the streets.

La Madeleine

Gardens of the Tuileries

Place de la Concorde

Champs-Elysees.

Arch of Triumph.

Trocadero.

Day 3. The Montmartre.

More Paris

2008-10-16T12:05:00.000-07:00

More Montmartre.

Metro.

Day 4. Notre-Dame.

Ile de la Cite.

Eiffel Tower.

Champs-Elysees.

Museum of Decorative Art.

Rue de Rivoli.

Les Halles.

Day 5. Palais Omnisport de Bercy (Sport complex).

The Louvre.

On hotels and such

2008-10-16T10:50:00.000-07:00

Within the last month we stayed at three different hotels, all three roughly within the same price range. Not a lot, but still allows for some comparison.

The best of the three was by far the Prague hotel, called Residence Bene. A narrow house squeezed between two others on a busy street, it still offered very comfortable and clean rooms inside, an extremely courteous and friendly staff and very good breakfasts. Our room was paired with another (vacant) one (apparently, we got half of a suite or something) and had a kitchenette with a fridge and a microwave, so we could get our supper from a supermarket, rather than eating out twice a day. The breakfast room was sunny and cheerful, very nicely decorated, and the choice of food was excellent - so much so, that we would stuff ourselves silly every morning just wanting to try everything they had. To the delight of the kids, the room also had a large-screen TV and in-room Wi-Fi. And, the hotel was walking distance from the Old Town Square, which is pretty much the tourist center of the city. So while there were no luxuries, it was a very sensible and nice hotel.

In Paris, we stayed at a place called Hôtel de Londres et d'Anvers. It was not too far from North Railway Station and metro, but quite far from the city center, as we discovered the very first night. Also a narrow house on a busy street, it was somehow much narrower inside, with a tiny elevator, only large enough for two people without suitcases. The hallways were also very narrow, so my suitcase was touching the walls as I rolled it to my room. The door opened onto a bed, or should I say the little hall into which the door opened was turned into an extra bedroom. The walls were thin, so every morning I was awakened by the neighbors opening and closing their doors. The main bedroom had a tiny TV mounted on a console, like the ones you would see in a hospital. The hotel staff was condescending at best, the maids looked like they hated their jobs, and the scullery maid always looked upset and threw those cups and dishes around with so much force, we couldn't hear each other over the noise. The breakfast room, situated pretty much in the lobby, was gloomy, with the tables placed so close together it was difficult to take a seat without pushing someone behind you. And the breakfast choices weren't great, either. No meat, to be sure. In order to use Wi-Fi, we had to go downstairs to the same breakfast room, because the signal did not reach the third floor.
To top it all, I soon discovered that my bed is densely populated with some vicious bloodsuckers, and long after we left Paris I was still scratching those bites to blood. I am sure they were fleas, because no mosquito could do so much damage!

Our first few nights at the States we also stayed at a hotel, Glen Capri on Colorado. Nothing exotic here, a standard American motel (except the prices were double what we used to pay a few years back), but the hotel staff made our stay less than enjoyable. Not only did they have a silly policy of charging for the stay in advance (despite the fact that they had my credit card info on file), but they enforced the policy with the least possible courtesy. No hint about it was posted on the website where I made the reservation, so when I told the guy at the counter I might not be prepared to pay, he made a face the clearly read "then I am sorry, but you can't stay". You would expect something like "I would like to advise you that it is our policy to charge in advance, I hope this doesn't cause any inconvenience" from the hotel staff. Instead, the entire length of our stay the owner (who apparently lives on the premises with his large family) would pop up like a Jack-in-the-box, stare at us through the windows, knock on the door several times a day, disable our key card so we couldn't enter unless we showed up at the office first, and greet us with his signature phrase "You have to pay!" How annoying!

But wait, there is more!

2008-10-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

There are so many more things about Prague that I didn't include in the previous blog, simply because it would run too long. There is much more of course that I didn't get a chance to see and learn during the short visit. But there are two things I would like to share here. One is the Prague Zoo, and the other - the Chocolate Museum.

Prague Zoo surprised me not only by its size (it's very large), but also how well kept and clean it was, how beautiful the grounds were and how progressive it was in general. This is rare for post-socialist countries climbing out of economic difficulties, but for Prague it's even more praiseworthy, because not too long ago, in 2002 , the city and the Zoo were damaged by a flood. There were photos of the flooded Zoo, of the extend of the damage done, reports of heroic rescues of animals by the zookeepers and of the losses... Since then, the Zoo was rebuilt and expanded, and is now among the top 10 best zoos in the world. Some call it the best zoo in Europe.

The Zoo starts with a Walk of Fame - only instead of movie starts there are the footprints of the zoo stars and primadonnas - monkeys, tigers, zebras...

I did take a lot of videos at the Zoo, which I can't post here. I will only show some of the animals I haven't seen in any other zoo, or those we particularly liked. Like this bat-eared dog, which was, I think, Roxy's favorite.

These two birds of prey were among my favorites. I like how they looked me, as if considering whether or not I am worth catching. The snow owl was actually hissing at me, trying to scare me at first.

These monkeys are looking for fleas in each other's fur (and not finding any, by the way) at the Indonesian Jungle pavilion, one of the most unique exhibits at the Zoo. There was a binturong at the exhibit, too - something I haven't seen anywhere else - but he was hiding in the tree.

Part of the Indonesian pavilion is a dark tunnel , where nocturnal animals can be seen roaming around, and the bats fly around free.

Pelicans...

I liked the giraffe habitat, because we didn't have to look up - the observation desk was at the level of their heads, so we could actually look them in the eye :)

Polar bears rarely feel and look good in captivity. This one was so shining white, healthy looking and energetic, it was a pleasure to behold!

The Chocolate museum is located in downtown Prague, next door to a Belgian chocolate store. Very good chocolate, I assure you! Too bad you weren't there. The museum not only tells the story of the chocolate, from the discovery of cocoa beans and their effect upon humans, to chocolate's triumphal entry into Europe. It has a detailed description of the chocolate making process, tools, different kinds of beans, the areas where they grow, the way they are harvested. It also has some ancient Aztec recipes that contain cocoa, a collection of chocolate boxes and wrappers from different countries, some pretty old (yes, they had some American ones, too, and Russian as well). My personal favorite was the part about how chocolate affects health - something I have argued about with so many people.

All this was so interesting, we spent hours in the little museum, reading and absorbing every piece of information related to the product we all love so much.

Here is a cocoa tree with the fruit - it's not real, but it looks very cool.

An Aztec recipe...

..harvesting tools and map of cocoa-growing regions...

Information on how much cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sugar and other ingredients is contained in different kinds of chocolate (dark, plain, milk, white).

Does chocolate cause high cholesterol?

NO, it doesn't. Neither it causes cavities or pimples, affects the heart, or makes one gain weight (if used in moderation, of course).

That's Vicky and Roxy absorbing the rock candy-making process shown on TV at the Belgian chocolate store.

Enchanting Prague

2008-10-12T07:32:00.001-07:00

Of all the cities we visited on our trip through Europe, Prague was definitely the most... well, enchanting. There is no other word for it. There are layers of history in that city, where almost every building is connected with some story, funny or tragic, medieval or modern. There are stories of kings and queens, knights and beautiful ladies, saints and sinners, rich merchants and poor villagers. Germans and Austrians ruled in this city, Jews lived and created here, Russians were trying to build communism in Czech lands... There are buildings that are Gothic and buildings that are Baroque, Classicism and Rococo, Art Nouveau, Cubism... There is old and new coexisting at every corner, and as you walk on the ancient cobblestone patterns of the streets, you half expect a minstrel or a knight on horseback to show up from behind a corner.

Come, take a walk with me in Prague!

Let's start with views from a tower on Staroměstské náměstí, or Old Town Square. These are rather large files, you should be able to view them full-size by clicking on them.

The beautiful buildings, each fit for a fairy tale...

Old and new side by side...

Up on the hill, dominating the view of the city is Pražský hrad, or Prague Castle, where kings, and later presidents, lived and reigned.

The guards at the castle gates look like statues, with only eyes moving.

Views from the castle. The rainy weather seems to be typical for this time of year, so we just ignored it.

St. Vitus Cathedral inside the Castle. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it:

Saint Vitus's Cathedral (Czech: Katedrála svatého Víta) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Prague, and the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. The full name of the cathedral is St. Vitus, St. Wenceslas and St. Adalbert Cathedral. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings, this cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country.

The magnificent interiors of the cathedral. I loved the stained glass windows...

...and the kneeling knight.

One of these medieval towers housed a very interesting toy museum. Besides some really interesting antiques toys, they had a Barbie collection on display, with some insights into the history of creation and development of the famous doll.

I think Vicky is getting tired. Let's take a break and get some Czech food to eat. More Prague photos in the next post!

Enchanting Prague - part 2

2008-10-12T01:10:00.000-07:00

The New Town, or Nové Město in Czech, is the relatively new part of the city - the youngest of the five independent cities that comprise today's Prague. I say relatively, because it was founded in 14th century. Still pretty ancient by some standards!

This sign was posted inside a tram we took to the castle. The English translation is on the right.

What's funny, is that the word "pozor", which means "attention", or "alert", in Czech, means "shame" in Russian, so the sign gets a whole new meaning...

Roxy and Vicky making some new friends...

Karlův Most -or Charles Bridge- over the Vltava river is so named in honor of king Charles the 4th, who ordered it to be built. It was at the time the only bridge connecting the Old Town to the castle and the outlying lands, and therefore was guarded by monasteries on each side. The Knights of the Cross with the Red Star diligently collected the toll from those who were able to pay for passage. The poor folk had to swim across the river to get to the Old Town.

There are 30 statues decorating the bridge, mostly of saints, some of them by famous masters. Most originals have been replaced by replicas and moved to a museum - but some were just too large and complex and had to be left on the bridge. Here is one of them, depicting missionaries freeing Christian slaves from Turk captivity.

Passing under the bridge tower and toward the Castle.

These romantic-looking boats under the bridge are for river cruises. The place had a medieval feel to it, which was enhanced by the sailors in impeccably white robes singing and dancing down there at the landing.
Oh, and prior to the cruise we were handed a cup of hot drink and a gingerbread or ice cream each. Roxy says the ice cream was good. I can say that the gingerbread was delicious, too.

Views of Prague from the river. I did wish at this point the weather was a little brighter, because the view was breathtaking - but I guess the gloominess might have its appeal, too.

An old mill.

Back to firm land, let's walk through the Old Town some more.

One of the most popular attractions in Prague - this medieval astronomical clock, mounted on the Old Town city hall tower. It is simply amazing to learn how much information was built into this contraption. There is the astronomical dial, which shows the positions of the Sun and the Moon in the sky plus some other interesting information: there is a Zodiac ring, there is modern Central European time in Roman numerals and old Czech time (or Italian hours), where the 24th hour indicated the time of sunset, which varies during the year. There is also a calendar (the lower dial), indicating not only the day of the year, but also the names associated with that day (saints mostly). The funny thing is, if you don't name your child after one of the saints on the clock, you have to pay for their name. Therefore, as in many countries, the Czech celebrate not only their birthday, but also their name day (the day of the saint they were named after), thus having two celebrations a year.

There are four figures around the clock dial, which (quote from Wikipedia) represent four things that were despised at the time of the clock's making. From left to right in the photographs, the first is Vanity, represented by a figure admiring himself in a mirror. Next, a Jew holding a bag of gold represents greed or usury. Across the clock stands Death, a skeleton that strikes the time upon the hour. Finally, the infidel Turk wears the Turban. There is also a presentation of statues of the Apostles at the doorways above the clock, with all twelve presented at noon.

All that was so complicated and hard to read, that eventually another, simple clock was mounted on the other side of the same tower for normal people to be able to tell the time.

Too bad none of those clocks can predict weather! There, it's raining again!

A lot of buildings in the Old Town have the original business owner's advertisement painted on the facade. All of those paintings are works of art, and some are done by famous artists. We learned from our guide that owners of historic buildings are required to pay for their upkeeping. This is good news and accounts for the fresh look and good repair of most downtown buildings. The bad news is that the steep expenses forced a lot of older businesses out of their original places, and the best locations are taken over by big hotel and retail chains. The original owner can often be seen on a small street right behind the corner from where their 17th century advertisement still adorns the building facade.

Speaking of retail, shops in Prague were absolutely irresistible, and coming from someone not so keen on shopping like myself it means they really were. The Czech are famous for their exquisite glass, and there are so many little glass shops downtown, one doesn't know which way to turn! The sell just about everything made of glass. There is glass jewelery, glass souvenirs, little glass figurines (each a work of art0, glass and crystal dishes and cups... you name it!

Witches, jesters, clowns and soldiers in a small toy store.

One of the main points of interest in Prague is the Jewish quarter, included in every tour. Here is Wikipedia again:

Josefov (also Jewish quarter) is the former Jewish Ghetto of the town. Jews are believed to have settled in Prague as early as the 10th century. The first pogrom was in 1096 and eventually they were concentrated within a walled Ghetto.
This ghetto was most prosperous towards the end of the 16th century when the Jewish Mayor, Mordecai Maisel, became the Minister of Finance and a very wealthy man. His money helped develop the ghetto.

Most of the quarter was demolished between 1893 and 1913 as part of an initiative to model the city on Paris. What was left were only six synagogues, the old cemetery, and the Old Jewish Town Hall (now all part of the Jewish Museum.)

With only six synagogues, the old cemetery, and the Old Jewish Town Hall the Nazi German occupation could have been expected to complete the demolition of the old ghetto. However the area was preserved in order to provide a site for a planned "exotic museum of an extinct race". This meant that the Nazis gathered Jewish artifacts from all over central Europe for display in Josefov.

Here are some of the sights from Jewish quarter.

Maisel synagogue

The Jewish Ceremonial Hall

The interior of Pinkas synagogue, which is now a memorial to Holocaust martyrs. The walls of the synagogue are covered with nearly 80 000 names of Czech and Moravian Jews, killed by the Nazis.

Synagogue interior.

The Old Jewish Cemetery, which dates back to 15th century, is said to be the oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe. It is a tiny piece of land adjacent to one of the synagogues and contains an amazing 12 000 burials. Because the city refused to provide the Jewish community with a new burial ground, the Jews had to bury their dead on top the old tombs. There are 12 layers of burials in the cemetery now!

Statue of the great writer Franz Kafka, who was born to a middle-class Jewish family in Prague. In one of his stories, called Description of a Struggle, Kafka wrote about a young fellow helped at night by a very tall and large man, whose face he could not remember later. This inspired the sculptor to create a statue of Kafka himself astride a headless man.

One more point of interest in the Jewish quarter is this clock atop the Old Jewish Town Hall, with Hebrew letters instead of numbers on the dial. Naturally, the hands move backward, or counterclockwise (oxymoron, really). As with the astronomical clock, another clock was mounted on the same tower later for the benefit of us simple folk.

Only one of the three days we spent in Prague was sunny, and how did a little bit of sun change everything! The city looked so cheerful and colorful, and it was nice and warm. Let's part with Prague while in a sunny mood! I do hope to be back one day!

Traveling through Germany

2008-10-09T23:41:00.000-07:00

From Holland, we took a train straight to Prague. If you are good at geography, you know without consulting the map, that Netherlands and Czech Republic are separated by the entire width of Germany. So, to get from Leiden to Prague, we had to ride in trains across Netherlands, Germany and some of Czech for 11 hours! Naturally, we were getting bored, and naturally, I was taking pictures - that's what I always do to entertain myself :) Here, take a look.

More Leiden and around

2008-10-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

After walking in Leiden and visiting the wonderful Natural History museum of Leiden University, we headed for nearby lakes, where, as rumor had it, were a lot of wild birds. We did see some birds, mostly herons and ducks, but I couldn't take very good pictures of them. But I did take some of the lakes, which looked awesome! Here are the pics, judge for yourselves.

The evening light was nice and golden, so we had a little photosession right there by the lake - the kind when everyone makes silly faces, and I take pictures. :)

Leiden

2008-10-05T05:41:00.000-07:00

Leiden is a quaint little city, as far as the historic center goes. It is also a university town with lots of students. It is also a very Dutch town, with bicycles, canals and no-curtain windows. Our cousins took us on a walking tour through Leiden on our last day in Holland.

Here are some downtown views.

Roxy and I in the University Bothanical garden. Wikipedia states that Leiden University was founded in 1575 by Prince Wiliam of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt. It was the first university in Netherlands, and one of the first in Europe.

Downtown Leiden has the weirdest signs! How do you like this combination of Chinese food, German beer and Russian Communism?

This here is the Burcht, or the citadel. It is built around 12th century on a man-made mound, and it takes ascending a few steps to get there. It sounds funny, but in a land as flat as Netherland even a bump in the road passes for a mountain, There is even a story about the inhabitants of the land getting rid of invaders by taking refuge in the citadel and flooding the rest of the land around it.

That's the inside of the citadel...

...and these are the views of Leiden from the citadel.

Even the gate of the little fortress affords a nice view.

My cousins with the kids. They were very good and knowledgable guides, and it is due to their efforts we saw and learned so much about Holland in just 3 days!

Another "view" from the Citadel. I already mentioned the peculiar Dutch habit of leaving the curtains open. Usually one can see an extremely tidy living room, decorated with great care to tell as much as possible about the values and virtues of the owner. Sometimes, however, they carry the habit a bit too far...

The residential part of the city - canals, boats, parks, little houses... nice and quiet!

Guess what?

2008-10-05T05:39:00.001-07:00

We are back in LA!!!

A lot of pictures from Amsterdam!

2008-10-03T01:39:00.000-07:00

We spent only one day in Amsterdam - but we walked a lot and saw a lot, and we took a canal boat ride and visited a museum, and yeah... so I have a lot of pictures of the crazy city. Here you go - enjoy! The cultural capital of the Kingdom.

Let's start with the royal palace, shall we? This is how it looked in the 17th century (a painting from the Louvre)...

...and this is how it looks now. As you can see, it didn't change much. The beautiful gothic church on the right was as impressive inside, as it is outside.

There were all kind of performers on the square, each doing what they can to attract the tourists and extract their money...

City views from land...

...and from water. The city is literally built on water, some buildings are just standing in it. The canals are used as streets, and there as many boats parked along the banks, as cars parked on the streets.

The famous narrow houses with gables facing the street. I already mentioned before that some of them are leaning sideways because of the shifting soil so much, that they look drunk.

Th gables with the furniture hooks.

This full-size replica of a medieval schooner is docked in the port. It was built by the unemployed, and is now used as a shelter.

This bridge looks a lot like one in Saint Petersburg. Our guide said it was influenced by the style of the famous Russian city.

Dutch are famous for their tulipmania. In 17th century, they say, tulip trade and prices reached astronomical proportions and then subsided, becoming merely a passion. We didn't catch the famous fields of tulips, but here is a market of bulbs - most impressive!

Cheese is another "typical" Dutch thing. Judging by the amount of cows and sheep we saw while passing through the countryside, there should be plenty of milk to make cheese. And yes, there are a lot of diffferent cheeses available even in a regular supermarket, leave alone in specialized cheese stores like the one below. My cousin recommended the famous "Old Amsterdam" variety, and boy, was it delicious!

The royal museum in Amsterdam houses some very interesting collections, Rembrandt masterpieces among them. Not too far from the museum at the Rembrandt square there is a statue of the famous artist and one of his most beloved works - The Night Watch - in 3D.

Some random curious shots, like this "cry of the soul" on the wall...

Marijuana is legal in Amsterdam, which makes it a Mecca for the fun-seeking youth from nearby more conservative countries, like UK. Sometimes things could get a little out of hand, so boundaries are established where necessary - like in this cafe we visited for a cup of tea.

In Amsterdam, there are bicycles everywhere. There are more bikes than people in Netherlands (according to a book I bought). Everybody rides bicycles, regardless of age, sex, religious beliefs of body shape :)

Dutch seem to love their cats. There were fat, shiny, content cats everywhere we looked, even in shop windows!

And yes, the clogs! They don't wear them anymore, at least not daily - but they are in every souvenir shop, and sometimes - in front of them, too.

Amsterdam at night is even more beautiful, with lights reflecting in canal waters, and steeples outlined in sunset skies.

The taste of Paris

2008-09-30T02:41:00.000-07:00

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.

Hmmm (Musings of Roxy)...

2008-09-29T02:58:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-29T02:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-29T02:08:00.000-07:00

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!

and now...

2008-09-24T22:48:00.000-07:00

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

Still in Europe

2008-09-23T15:04:00.000-07:00

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.

hallo, hoe gaat het?

2008-09-20T23:36:00.000-07:00

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!

a thought

2008-09-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

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

The signs

2008-09-17T21:42:00.000-07:00

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...

More Heidelberg impressions

2008-09-15T13:27:00.001-07:00

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).

Our first walk in Europe

2008-09-14T14:16:00.001-07:00

Heidelberg is a very pretty city. Wanna see?

some pics

2008-09-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-09-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

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.

What's new

2008-09-06T10:01:00.000-07:00

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.....

2008-09-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

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*

What's that on your nose?

2008-07-15T05:04:00.000-07:00

This magnificent creature is a rhinoceros beetle – one of the largest and most fascinating beetles in Armenia. When I was a kid, first collecting bugs, then photographing them, I really wanted to find one, but never did. So, this here monster represents my childhood dream come true!

Some interesting facts about rhino beetles, gleaned from books and Internet: they are mostly useful creatures, their larva feeds on rotting wood, recycling it back into the ecosystem, only males have the horn and use it for territorial/food fights with other males. Females are larger, but with no horn.

What I find fascinating about these beetles, is that they are considered among the strongest creatures in the world. A rhino beetle is said to be able to carry 850 times its own weight!

The close relatives of this guy are the huge African rhinos, some of them as big as the palm of your hand! This European cousin is only about 5-6 cm (2-2.5 in) long. But he does have an imposing appearance, doesn’t he?

How do you say "Christ" in Armenian?

2008-07-14T06:18:00.000-07:00

I now sit in the same room with 4 lawyers (the so called Legal office). The work is done simultaneously in several languages, so at any given moment someone might be writing a contract in English, someone else - constructing an offer in Russian, and a third – translating something from English or French into Armenian. Naturally, everybody needs help now and then, and phrases like "How do you spell 'territorial'? What's 'continuity' in Armenian?" fly around all the time.

Today, my coworker is translating a Habitat for Humanity contract.

-How do you say: "to build houses where people can experience God's love" in Armenian, asks she. A minute later: -And "to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ".

-Dont they know we are the first Christian country? - chimes in another coworker. We were the first to "promote the Gospel".

-Yet we none of us have these expressions ready in Armenian, I say. Isn't it sad?
-Well, we are not religious people! returns the first coworker.

The conversation then quickly switches to sects (which in Armenia means any demomination except the Armenian Apostolic Church) and how everybody hates them.

The head of Legal service walks into the room a few minutes later and is asked about the translation.
-Oh, for God's sake! Tell them to throw those parts out! - he suggests. - The state bodies might think they are registering a religious organization and there will be difficulties unlooked for!

How do you witness to people like these?

More good news

2008-06-18T05:03:00.000-07:00

Another Roxy update: she graduated 10th grade today with straight A's and a presidential award (not to mention the perfect attendance award, for which she had to work really hard). Nice job, Roxy! Keep it up!

More familiar faces

2008-06-13T05:32:00.000-07:00

Vicky at work...

...and by my house.

Did you know Roxy's name is actually Araks?

My half-German nephew Gregor and I.

A family moment

2008-06-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

AN ODE TO OUR LONG-EARED FRIENDS

2008-06-11T04:49:00.000-07:00

Even a brief look at Armenian folklore will reveal the following fact: a donkey was by far the most popular animal with our ancestors, featured in more folk tales, sayings, proverbs, idioms and jokes than any other character (okay, maybe dogs are mentioned quite as frequently). This is easily accounted for, if you remember that Armenia is a mountainous country where, before the heavy machinery even existed to dig roads and tunnels, most traveling and cargo transportation was done via narrow mountain paths. A donkey was indispensable for this sort of thing, better even than a horse, especially because not everyone could afford a horse. So there you have it – please welcome the hero of Armenian national folklore!

Though it is a thankless task to translate idioms and proverbs, I will site some donkey-related ones, still widely used:

You will often hear a stupid and obstinate person being called a donkey, donkey head or, if the stupidity is particularly irritating – a donkey foal. (These expressions are particularly popular with drivers and politicians these days.) Similarly, to speak like a donkey means to say something stupid. And if someone is especially obstinate and insists on getting his own way no matter what, he will certainly be described as spurring his donkey on.

Someone who is sluggish or tuned out will be dubbed slumbering in a donkey ear. For instance, if you are the last one to hear that your boss is marrying his secretary after 7 years of relationship, you were definitely taking a nap in one of those furry ears.

The condition of mountain roads and the rocking gait of an average donkey must have been the reason why a person who is feeling tired and beaten will describe himself as having just dismounted from a donkey. Somewhere along those lines goes the following saying: mounting a donkey is shame, getting off is twice the shame. I think it means: if you took something upon you - do it, no matter how unpleasant the task is.

Don’t die, donkey – spring will come, grass will grow describes empty promises. Others might be donkeys, we are just a donkey saddle is to say - life/progress is passing us by. Looking for a dead donkey to take the shoes off usually describes an opportunist, or someone taking advantage of others. Pull the donkey out of the mud means to survive a challenge (if you didn’t study for the test and got an A just using your wit, this would be a very appropriate thing to say)

Ate the donkey, turned away from the tail – my mom would say when I run out to play leaving the last sentence of my homework unfinished (didn’t happen too often). And if I didn’t appreciate something yummy she made, her comment was: what does donkey know about almonds? Loaded donkey runs faster – she would sigh taking yet another task upon herself.

A donkey, even if it makes 40 trips to Jerusalem, will still be a donkey – doesn’t need much explanation, I think.

All this aside, however, donkeys are rather smart animals, if somewhat obstinate and loud. They are tough, hard working and cheap, and to this day are still popular throughout the countryside. What with the rising gas prices, I am thinking about getting one myself!

To conclude, a fable by a 13th century Armenia writerVardan Aygekci.

Messengers came to a donkey: “Rejoice and be glad and prepare gifts, you had a grandson.”
“Woe to me, friends”, - the donkey answered. “Even with hundred grandsons, my load will remain just as heavy.”

HOORAY!!! ROXY IS 16!

2008-06-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ROXY!!!!!

The Armenian Time

2008-06-05T01:36:00.000-07:00

Being positioned between Europe and Asia ever since the beginning of times, Armenia always had to choose which part of the world to identify with. Recently, it is fashionable (and is in many cases justified) to view Armenia as a European country. There can be endless arguments for and against it. There is no arguing with this, however: as far as the perception of time is concerned, Armenia and Armenians should be classified with their Southern neighbors.

Roman Smirnov, a theatrical director from Saint Petersburg, spent some time in Armenia collecting materials for a film he was working on. Some of his reflections on the time spent here can be found in an article he wrote, called “Ban-man” (loosely translated as “Things and such”). Here is an excerpt in my translation.

“Armenian time is a complicated thing and cannot be measured by logic. This is how it works: you make an appointment for three o'clock, but the person comes at five, not today but tomorrow, not alone, but with friends and on a totally different business. At first I thought I will go crazy, then decided to look carefully into how the locals deal with the problem and started following their system.

The system is simple. You should arrange things in general. As in, when accidentally bumping into someone somewhere, discuss business (“do things”, as the locals would call it), make plans, further perspectives, shake hands and forget about it until the next accidental meeting. This is normal. “Problem chka” (no problem). “

I must admit this is very true. Just because someone told you they will call you back doesn’t necessarily mean they will. They tell you they will come, but they don’t, or come on another day. With the exception of the most modern and progressive offices, no business keeps the business hours they announce. And most concerts usually start 15-20 minutes late, waiting until the tardy fans get in and find their seats.

After spending 2 years in Armenia, Roxy too is getting the idea and is making a dictionary of Armenian time for her own personal use. “I am almost there means I have another 20-30 minutes to go. I will call you tonight means I might call you tomorrow, or might not call you at all. Come around two means I don’t expect you earlier than four.”

You see, it's simple to learn, and the good thing is, you can be as slow and relaxed as you wish most of the time. Just remember, if you are invited to an Armenian house for dinner, never arrive on time, or else the host will get an impression you were starving for days.

SOS

2008-05-23T04:13:00.000-07:00

If you look at the map of Armenia, you will notice in addition to Sevan Lake in the middle and several smaller water reservoirs in various areas, a group of strange, geometrically shaped lakes in the southern corner of the country. These are artificial fisheries of Armash, bordering with the "no man’s land" between Armenia and Turkey, and there we went last Sunday with a small group and the President of the Center of Bird Lovers of Armenia as a guide.

What makes the fisheries special is the amount and diversity of water birds there. After some other lakes in Armenia were drained or the habitat around them destroyed as a result of human activity, the birds started making their nests at the fisheries, which are surrounded by reeds and are rich with food. Beside the ducks, herons and egrets, terns and cormorants of all shapes and sizes, that are fairly common (even though some of those are threatened too,) there are some spectacular birds that live here – spoonbill, glossy ibis and black stork, for example. Pelicans and flamingos, that are not native to Armenia, stop over at the lakes during their migration.

Seeing as the lakes are practically the last resort for these birds in Armenia, you would think this a wonderful opportunity to dedicate at least part of the vast territory of the fisheries to a bird sanctuary, close it to hunting and fishing and open to kids, families and birdwatchers. Not so fast! The government does not seem in the least bit interested in stepping in, and the owner of the land, it seems, couldn't care less about endangered species (let me put it this way - he is yet to prove that he does). All that matters is that these birds eat fish. He grows fish for profit, and they eat it! So, without further ado, he sets to destroy them every which way he can. Besides regularly burning the reeds with nests, eggs and babies, he also allows an Italian-Armenian joint venture tour company to bring over groups of hunters to shoot the birds and has his own people shooting them as well, as they proudly boasted to us while we were walking around the lake. “They eat fish” said the young man with a gun showing us a shot black crowned night heron, a squacco heron and a duck.

The zoologists approached the owner of the fisheries more than once, asking him to stop allowing hunters to the lakes, but the answer still stands as negative. By the most optimistic predictions, it won't take long until the birds stop returning to these ponds, and will move to our southern neighbors for permanent residence. If they don't disappear altogether.

Sad.

Where do stork babies come from?

2008-05-20T06:29:00.001-07:00

The photo is clickable-enlargeable. Did you notice how many sparrows make their nests on the outskirts of a stork nest?

Fit to drive?

2008-05-19T04:39:00.000-07:00

Did you know that to get a driver license in Armenia, you need an approval from... a gynecologist? AND an otolaryngologist. AND a surgeon.

Basically, in order for police to issue a driver license, you need to bring a certificate from your regional outpatient clinic, stating that you are healthy and sound enough to drive a motor vehicle.

In order to get that certificate, one needs to actually GO to the psycho-neurological and narcological clinics first and get certificates from them stating that the person in question has never been admitted to the clinics (or, in short, that I am not a psycho or a drug addict). A computer database connecting all these institutions is a thing of the future in Armenia. In my case, seeing as my passport does not have a permanent address stamp (instead it states that I am a permanent resident of USA) – I had to go get yet another paper from what you might call condominium that I actually live at the address I give as mine.

Are you getting tired reading this yet? Well, it took me a few mornings to get all the paperwork together, and it was raining most of the time. When I finally collected all the required papers and returned to the outpatient hospital, the condescending “vice-chief medical officer” sent me down a row of offices for a “total checkup”. Fortunately, most doctors realize how absurd the outdated procedure is, and simply sign the paper without attempting to run any procedures on you. (If I had a serious health issue, I wouldn't wait till getting a driver license to report it to a doctor, would I?) Bureaucracy at its best, where either you waste time or you bribe someone and get your certificate issued without further ado. The only procedure I underwent willingly was determining my blood type – it was so long since it was done, and it’s always good to know.

In the end, after spending several hours and about $33 for all the papers, I got what I needed – a paper with my name and picture, stating I am not in any way prevented from driving a car. It even says I have a 20/20 vision, when in fact I am very nearsighted – but I preferred to not let them know I am wearing contact lenses. I could have been a blind deaf pregnant psycho drug addict with persecution mania and still get that paper, though - if I was willing to pay the right amount to the right person…

Rain

2008-05-19T03:57:00.000-07:00

It’s raining cats and dogs.
The cars driving through puddles raise fountains of muddy splashes.
The real, not idiomatic cats and dogs are hiding.
One of national traits of Armenian guys is a disdain for hats and umbrellas. It’s funny to see them running and shivering from cold water trickling down their necks.
The thunder is so loud, it triggers car alarms.
And it just keeps raining.

2008-05-15T04:52:00.000-07:00

It looks like the closer this world is to its end, the faster it goes down. And even though we know we live in a fallen world, tragedies like those in Burma and China still wring our hearts. It all looks too familiar, and here in Armenia the echo of 1988 earthquake can still be heard, even 20 years later.

We are praying for all who were touched by those disasters.

An attempt at speleology, or I thought I was going South!

2008-05-14T23:41:00.000-07:00

Speleology ( for those who don’t know) is the study of caves. It always fascinated me, yet I have never been to any cave larger than an outhouse. So, when a tour to one of the most fascinating caves in Armenia was announced last week, I rushed to join it, despite the fact that I was just getting over a bad cold, and Roxy had a lot of homework.

Mozrov cave is located in the mountains of South-Eastern Armenia and, as I found on Armeniapedia (http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Mozrov_Cave ) is about 300 m in depth. It was reported to have amazing stalactite formations and to be hard to get in.

Hard it certainly was, because the entrance is from above, and the way down is perilous, with large boulders and smaller stones moving unexpectedly just as you step on them and running from under your feet. It’s a steep descent through the first room of the cave, which you enter through a hole in a tin cover of the cave opening.

It was sort of disappointing for me that (mainly due to lack of organization in the group) after all the trouble of hiking up the mountain I didn’t make it all the way down the cave. Roxy and I were only able to see the first few rooms, which were amazing nonetheless. I guess I will have to go back there on my own, especially because there are other caves in the neighborhood also worth peeking into.

What made the hike even more challenging was the rain, cold and relentless, pouring down just as we were climbing up the slope to the mouth of the cave. Naturally, Roxy’s shoe broke on the same hike and made her footsore… Yes, altogether this was probably one of the most challenging hikes we have been to.

BUT – the scenery was beautiful, the cave was absolutely stunning, even the little that we saw, and once we took a hot shower that night and changed into dry clothes, the life instantly became bearable again. Our next destination and the lodging place for the night was the city of Jermuk, a resort high up the mountains with the famous mineral springs (also the source of the bottled mineral water sold in most Glendale stores). Even though we were going south from the capital, we were also going higher and higher and the weather was just getting colder. In Jermuk it actually snowed by the time we got there, so we had a chance to enjoy quite a Christmas-y view out of the hotel windows.

The next morning we had to buy a pair of cheap and cheesy shoes for Roxy, since the sole of her boot came off almost completely and refused to be mended. Thus, we missed a short hike to the nearby waterfall, and some more rain (wasn’t sorry to miss that one!). Our last stop on the way back was a cozy little 10th century monastery of Gndevank nestled in the gorge of Arpa river. Like so many other historic monuments of Armenia, it struck me by its absolute conformity with its surroundings. It looks like a part of the mountains that shelter it, as if it grew out of them – not only the color (obviously, it was built of the same rock the mountains consist of) but the shape, the form and the essence of it.

Now that you read all that, here are the pictures:

Views from the mountain climb toward Mozrov cave. A classic Armenian countryside: river, fields, village, mountains...

Eroded cliffs of Vayots Dzor.

Rain...

Inside the cave.

One of the most elegant whites - I think it's called Blackvein in English.

City of Jermuk. Merry Christmas on May 9th!

Only yesterday is was warm and sunny...

Eurasian Jay looks quite different from the sky-colored Blue and Shrub jays in California. Still, they are first cousins.

Gndevank, 10th century.

What's going on

2008-05-14T23:34:00.000-07:00

Not much, really. Vicky is back and has camped in my living room, completely eliminating any possibility of us having guests over. Roxy is finishing a school year, and is doing quite well. Me, I am just chilling at my new job - all I do all day is translating, no stress, no people yelling... love it.

And the city is just as crazy as ever. There are hunger strikes in different places with a demand to free those arrested during the presidential election aftermath. There is construction everywhere. And traffic, of course!

Whose idea is it?

2008-05-13T03:13:00.000-07:00

Just two examples of how well-known brands can be used - in a slightly changed manner - to promote a totally unrelated business in a third world country. The top picture is of a faily large furniture store, and the bottom - of a bar/cafe sort of thing. Let me know if they remind you of anything...

An illustration on how I feel right now

2008-05-06T01:33:00.000-07:00

more on trash

2008-04-22T02:38:00.000-07:00

It seems like I'm not the only one who is bothered by the problem, and thank you all for posting and responding and recommending the post to others.

As for the solutions, I am no sociologist, but I think this problem should be tackled from two different points. First, from the top, by eliminating (okay, at least reducing) corruption and bringing in a government that is able to solve problems and enforce laws. Let's face it, people in general won't be conscientious unless they know they will have to face consequences for breaking the law. Second, from the bottom, by educating people. It is obvious that, even though nobody likes living in a dump, few people realize the full impact of human garbage upon environment.

Any ideas?

follow-up

2008-04-21T02:43:00.000-07:00

There is a comment on the previous post about trash by an anonymous from AidArmenia, that I generally agree with. However, dear AidArmenia, I can't agree with this statement: "Armenians clamour for the return of Mount Ararat - but if they cannot look after what they already have, why should they have anything more?The sides of Mount Ararat would become a dumping ground in next to no time, if it were handed back to Armenia". There are two things I can say about this: first, from what I heard, Turkey is not much cleaner than Armenia, so it is yet to be determined, on which side of the border the mountain will be better off; and second: let's not mix a generation or a passing thing like present government with the country and its people in general. The first might not deserve things that the second is entitled to.

This being said, I agree with you on everything else. Can we do something about this problem together?

A scientific approach to garbage

2008-04-15T00:59:00.000-07:00

I wonder how the inhabitants of the Wild West disposed of their trash. I mean, the States and California in particular weren't always so clean, were they? (I heard there are cleaner places in the world and I heartily believe it is possible, but trust me, compared to today's Armenia, even Downtown LA looks spotless.)

Okay, I can understand and identify several problems that make the country look so messy. Problem number one – irregular pick up and old garbage containers without lids/covers. The trash gets a chance to be spilled, blown out by the wind or be dragged around by stray cats and dogs before an ancient truck comes and dumps the containers into its bowels.

Problem number two – not enough trash bins. You can walk miles with your apple core or water bottle and not see a single trash receptacle anywhere to put it in! The only exception is the center (and a few and far in between well-developed zones) of the capital where the municipality actually took pains to place brand new trash bins. Some of them were plastic, which was also a problem: whether by an accident (un-extinguished cigarette butts) or by purpose, many of them were burned along with the contents.

Problem number three - the recycling in Armenia is either non-existent (plastic, some metals) or is not properly set up. Armenians are very good at reducing and especially reusing things – everything from cars to shoes gets a second, third and forth life, gets repaired and refitted endlessly, moving from the capital to the most distant suburbs and rural areas, where it continues serving long after the first owner has dumped it. But recycling is a problem. The plastic bottles and bags, tin cans, juice and milk cartons, papers, tires and what-nots produced by the human society are littering the most beautiful landscapes, hiding under the trees and shrubs on hiking trails, swimming in the rivers and streams, get blown up the trees and down the holes, and stay there for a very, very, very long time. The only alternative is burning them, which is only partly effective (metal doesn't burn) and has side effects (it stinks and pollutes the air). There seems to be no recycling for old automobiles, either, so they are just dumped somewhere out of the way (like, in a middle of some pretty landscape) or just left to slowly decompose right where their last parking spot happened to be. I am sure if someone bothered to collect and recycle all those, he would be rich in no time!

Problem number four - and the most serious one – is ignorance. Most people just don’t have enough information. They don’t know that the acrid smoke caused by burning plastic is bad for one’s health. They never learned what non-biodegradable means. They don’t even appreciate the beauty of nature enough to keep it clean. Last week Roxy and I were visiting Ohanavan, a site of a beautiful XIII century church by a deep, lush green river gorge surrounded by mountains. There, I got into conversation with a local woman a little older that me. She was very concerned about the fact that the locals dump trash on or around the church premises (probably because she had a little business selling fruit and sweets to the tourists, and trash made the place less appealing for them). “I keep telling everyone – go a little farther and dump your trash into the gorge, at least it will be out of the view” – complained she. Unfortunately for her and other villagers, they don’t realize that out of sight doesn’t always mean out of mind, that the plastic water bottles and bags, beer cans and bottle caps will outlive her and her children, poison the river and the soil, and that it is easier to clean the church premises than the steep cliffs down the gorge.

There seem to be a campaign for a clean city going on right now. Every once in a while there are also “community work Saturdays”, so called subbotniks, when school kids and a few adults get together and with scarcely any enthusiasm clean several sites. This is good, but not enough!

So how did they transitioned from Wild West into clean California?

Obscure yet beautiful

2008-04-10T02:09:00.000-07:00

Another couple of pics from the locations we visited last week with Roxy.

This impressive ruin belongs to a large 6th century church (cathedral, actually), ruined, like many other monuments in Armenia, by the horrific 1679 earthquake. It was originally located in the village of Avan, which is now one of the districts of Yerevan, and the church is hidden in the thick of a residential district. Beside being the oldest church in Yerevan, it is also unique because it was a Catholic church, not an Orthodox one. (http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Avan_Church).

The next one is located in the village of Ptghni (literally - Fruitful) very close to the capital. Ruined by the same earthquake, it still retains a sad sort of beauty. It is about as old as the previous one, built around 6th or 7th century.

Another view of the same church. I am so glad I wasn't there when that piece fell! (Doesn't it remind you of the siege of Minas Tirith?)

So what? - one may say. What did you post it here for? Well, I guess one thing I always enjoy about Armenia is the layers of history right under your feet. There is a lot to learn from it, and it's just cool!