I get lots of comments on how you all are enjoying these articles and waiting for the next one to come out. And I realize that it's been over two days since I've written. I have been having some great adventures over the last few days that ended late at night and I just didn't want to face a stuffy, smoke-filled internet club. I'm sure you understand.
Wednesday I took a day in Yerevan to go to museums and practice my duduk. In the morning I hiked up the Cascad (an enourmous flight of stairs that I've been running a few times a week). At the top is a large park with a lake. Yerevan is actually filled with parks. They are everywhere and go for blocks and blocks. This one contains the statue of Mother Armenia (Mayr Hayastan). She stands about 70 feet tall and has a huge sword in her hand and grimly faces Turkey and Mt. Ararat. Underneath her is a war museum that is full of pictures, guns, diaramas etc. Outside are tanks, a MIG jet and other weapons of destruction. Not my favorite museum but a nice walk there and great view of Ararat.
Next I went to the Sergei Parajanov museum. He was a famous film maker, artist, screenwriter and so on, who ended up in a soviet gulag. He made some seminal movies that I want to check out when I get back. He made some of the most amazing three-dimensional collages, paintings, photograpsh, folk art and hats (yes, hats for women in his movies). I thoroughly enjoyed this.
In the evening, my friend Michael whom I went to Khor Virap with, and I went to see the Armenian National Opera production of Arshak II by Tigran Chukhadzyan. The opera was amazing. The singing superb, the sets gorgeous, the costumes rich and the acting very good. I only dozed once and only for a few seconds - no snoring here! The opera was considerably more expensive than the ballet. The ballet was $7 and the opera was $13. I'll go broke at this rate.
So that was my exciting Wednesday. More to come.
Hajoratsyun.
Bob
