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Recently our already rich collection of magnets has enriched with many items from different countries. E.g., they are

from Prague;

from Naples;

from Rome;

from Venice;

from Biarritz (west coast of France);

from Paris DisneyLand Resort;

from … it’s clear;

from Munich, Bavaria (Germany).

Also I got some souvenirs from some European countries such as a wall clock from Czech Republic which represents their Zolotoy Orloj.  

My Mum has been to Italy this month. She has visited Rome, Naples, Siena, Pisa, Firenze, Montecatini Terme, Rimini, Venice, San Marino. She’s very much pleased. Here are some presents.

This mask is from Venice. It is believed that when there was plague in Venice people wore this kind of masks with long noses, which were filled with different herbs, so as to protect themselves from diseases.

These wonderful leather bag and purse are from Firenze (Florence). Aren’t they lovely?

And here are some pictures from Italy, made by mum.

Salut!

Today when people celebrate Halloween getting dressed in mysterious clothes and becoming different heroes, I … went to Paradjanov museum in Yerevan. Sergey Paradjanov was a Soviet Armenian film director and artist who represented the culture of four Soviet countries in his films. He became famous after his four films (not the only, but the best): Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors ( I. Ukraine; the film features a detailed portrayal of Ukrainian Hutsul culture, showing the harsh Carpathian environment and brutal family rivalries,the beauty of Hutsul traditions, music, costumes, and dialect), The Color of Pomegranates (II. Armenia; it tells about the King of Song – ashug (folk singer) Sayat Nova. The film shows the poet’s life, love, entering a monastery and death), The Legend of Suram Fortress (III. Georgia; A fortress collapses until a fortune teller remembers prediction that the son of her ex-lover must be bricked up alive if they want the fortress to survive), Ashik Kerib (who wants to marrythe girl he loves, but her father doesn’t agree as the young man is poor.She promises to wait for him for a thousand days and nights until he comes back with a lot of money to persuade her father to agree. He overcomes lots of difficulties, but he fails to return on the 1000th day and returns on the 1001st  day. In spite of that he is able to marrythe girl). 

Paradjanov is also known for his collages, abstract drawings, making dolls. Here are some examples of his art:

Sunflower (like the one by Van Gogh);

steam engine made from different useless things;

an elephant (a travelling bag on the wall);

the life of Mona Lisa (the picture in the second cell is the reflection of one on the opposite wall).

For more, visit this web-site.

This is the view over Yerevan from the museum: 

the large building where Ararat brandy is produced;

football pitch Hrazdan football pitch.

And today I boughtFranz Kafka’s book of stories. Looking forward to reading it and admiring.

I would like to add that the weather in Yerevan is cold, wet, rainy, but (again strange) I like it very much. It seems to me that I’m somewhere in London. Ooooooohhhhh.

Bye!!!

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Uhhh, I haven’t written any post for a month. It’s awful. I don’t know why, but September was quite a busy month.

After writing the only post I attended five master-classes on advertisement organised in our University by the Armenian Advertising Council. We got acquainted with Anvar Youldashev – one of the most important people in advertisement in CIS countries, the President of the Russian Association of Advertisement – Filipov, Christo Kaftanjiev – the Bulgarian advertisement guru, Vyacheslav Chernyshevskiy – member of the Russian Academy of Advertisement. 

September the 27th is International Tourism Day and an official meeting was organized at Armenia Marriott Hotel where RA PM was going to award people who have done a lot for Armenian tourism. 

The two men are PM and Minister of Economic Development and Trade and the woman at the microphone is one of the best guides in our country.

I didn’t watch any TV but I saw a very good film in one of two cinemas in Yerevan, it was called Broken Embraces with Penelope Cruz, the director and the writer was Pedro Almodóvar. 

For a month Yerevan has been a musical center as there has been Music Festival. I was lucky to visit Opera where an Italian tenor and Armenian-German opera-singer performed. I heard arias from Verdi’s and Puccini’s operas. I liked them though I didn’t want to go as I was going to have tests all the week. It was in The Philharmonic Hall. 

Today Yerevan will become 2791-year-old and everywhere in the city you can see flags, posters, coat-of-arms and lights. This is  Golden Tulip Hotel decorated and this is Northern Avenue or Hyusisayin Poghota.

If you want to learn a bit more about Yerevan click here.

So that’s all. I hope there’ll be more interesting things about which I’ll write here.

Bye!

Hello! September has already come ut it’s still very hot in Yerevan and there are lots of people  outdoors. Since I bought my new mobile, I started taking panoramic photos of sights of  city. As you can guess, it’s the Republic Square at night. It’s considered to be the downtown and different ministries and the Government are situated here. As for me, it’ the most beautiful place here and it’s been famous  for 2-3 years for its Singing Fountains. To tell the truth they were amazing in the first year. They were new and the shows were of much higher quality. Today they’re still attractive and a lot of tourists admire them. Also the fountains were constructed by the French and their construction cost loads of money. Today I was there at 9 PM- the time when the show begins- and took some photos (not by mobile, but my camera). Here are they

on the background you can see the Natinal Gallery of Armenia (if you ever visit Armenia, you should go there)

Today is the 28th of August. I can’t believe it. The summer passed so quickly. People wait for it for 9 months and voils-it’s over. But I don’t complain about it because autumn and winter are my favorite seasons. Though this summer wasn’t very-very hot and it’s quite  strange for Armenia.

Now I want to resume the results of this summer. It was amazing. In fact, I didn’t expect it to be so wonderful. Maybe I haven’t gone anywhere for a very long time, maybe I was never interested in Paris, but… A month has already passed but in my thoughts I’m still there.

Yesterday I saw a film called “Head in the Clouds”. It was a beautiful film. I admired Charlize Theron and Penelope Cruz. I suggest that everyone see it.

And today I was in the center and took a 180-degree panoramic photo of the Republic Square. Voila 

Two days of this week I spent reading one of the most notable books I have ever read. It is called “The French Lieutenatant’s Woman”. The author of this  wonderful book is John Fowles-an English writer. As for me, he’s become one of the greatest representatives of 20th century literuture. Abour two years ago I read his “The Collector”. It tells a about a butterfly-collector who abducted a girl. He kept her in his house, in a small room, away from the town and people, where there were no windows. I think it’s not my cup of tea describing such masterpieces but I advise everyone to read “The Collector” because thefeelings are presented greatly.

About the book which is the main topic in my article I would like to say that when I was reading it I was very excited. It is interesting, but … ebook has about 350 pages and the story was over on page 250. I thought I was going to read some thoughts. But then it turned out that  the story  had other ending (even endings). It seems to me that author gives us a chance to make our own choice. 

The book tells us about the life of a young nobleman who is going to marry a young, rich, pretty girl. But shу doesn’t understand him and only laughs at his hobby. Then he meets an enigmatic girl, Sarah, who is considered to be The French Lieutenant’s Woman. As time goes by he falls in love with her but it’s impossible for them to be together. If you want to know why, you should read  this book. When I finished reading it I had a shock. I didn’t expect such a dénouement. Also the author criticises Victorian era.

The place described in book: Cobb ( pictures from Wikipedia)

As you know July the 14th is a national holiday in France. It is a day when the storming of the Bastille took place. Now there is Place de la Bastille. It is a square in Paris, where the Bastille prison stood until the storming of the revolutionaries. Now there is a monument here-the July Column. Here is it

Near this monument you can see Bastille Opera which is the largest opera house in the world. But after Opera Garnier or Grand Opera I didn’t like it. It is made of glass

Voila, Grand Opera. Enjoy!!! 

OK. And now about the day of the fete. We as usual started early in the morning. The weather was very good. Sunny, warm and a lot of people outdoors. We started in boulevards Saint Germain, Saint Michel, then Ile de la Cite, Ile StLouis, then again Boul Mich, Place de la Sorbonne, Boulevard Saint Jacques and only after that we went along River Seine to Pont Alma- it’s bridge where one can see eternal flame over a tunnel where Princess Diana was killed in a car accident. 

Finally we came to Pont de l’Alma and sat just on the bridge(the orange line is our way)I guess there were 5000 or even more people there. It was uforgettable. You could hear any language, from French to Russian, Armenian(we), Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, English, Portuguese and so on. At 22.30 the firework show started. It lasted about 40 minutes. Here are the photos. In the center is the Eiffel Tower. There were moments when it seemed that it was going to fall down, and the sparkles made believe that it was crumbling to dust. 

When the show was over all the crowd (!!!)went to Metro but it was closed and the police sent everyone to Arc de Triomphe because it was the nearest open Metro station. When we got home it was 1 a.m. But it was really great!!!

The first impression wasn’t good enough. We drove through StDenis, the poorest and the most dangerous place in Paris. I wanted back to Prague. The next morning we went out and as soon as I went out of the metro and saw Boulevard Saint Michel… my eyes didn’t know which side to watch and camera went crazy. I hadn’t bought my guide yet so we didn’t know where to go. We just went along Boul’Mich and suddenly, when I turned my head to  the right I cried… there was Notre Dame de Paris…  I couldn’t believe my eyes. After so many photos and books I saw it in real. But we took some photos by Saint michel fountain, bought a guide and started our loooong hiking tour.

Then we saw all Cité: Conciergerie, Sainte Chapelle,

Palais de Justice, Pont Neuf, Marche aux Fleurs. In spite of world crisis there were thousands of tourists there. 

An hour later I saw Sorbonne. I guess it is the most beautiful university in the world. i dream of learning there. On that day the students got their diplomas and they were walking in Place de la Sorbonne. 

The next day we were again in Quartier Latin. We saw Jardin and Palais du Luxembourg built for Marie de Medicis. 

The itinerary of the second day also included: Saint Sulpice, Pantheon,Saint Germain des Pres, Boul Mich, Boulevard Saint Germain, Tour Eiffel and Bateau Mouche. The last one is a ship for  tourists over Seine with audioguides. I made a dream when we were passing under Pont(bridge) Marie. Now when I remember it I want to go there again and again. 

Hello!!! Finally, I can write about my journey which was really incredible. On the way to Paris we organized a short walking tour in Prague. We saw the center of this beautiful town. I loved their Staromestka square greatly. It’s difficult to believe that people live in these houses. 

Also we admired Zolotoy Orloj. Its show was quite interesting and though it was early in the morning (9 am) there were lots of tourists who came to see the performance. Here is the famous clock

Then we walked to the Charles bridge and went to Pražský Hrad. The view over the city from there was impressive. Then we saw the St Vitus’s Cathedral in Gothic style.  But we had no time and we couldn’t stand a long queue to enter it. Everything was very well and we enjoyed it. I thought that I didn’t want to go to Paris but I didn’t know that I would fall in love with that city, the city where I would like to live. 

Hello from half sunny half rainy Dax!!! It’s a small town in Acquitania (France), near Bordeaux. There are lots of tourists here now as the ocean is near here and Parisians come here for weekends by TGV 

to be continued

At night I’m leaving for Paris. My journey will last 17 days. I can’t believe it even now, when we have only 8 hours to get ready and leave!!! Incredible. I have always dreamt of visiting the United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Mauritius, but have never thought of Paris. Now I am confused. i realised that I was quite wrong thinking that Paris is “just Paris”, that it is only a megapolis with SOME architecture. I have watched so many photos and read so much about it that I already know where we MUST go. Besides, on the way to Paris we’re visiting Prague. So we’ll see its center as well. Also we’ll visit Dax, Lourdes and ocean!!! That’s be unforgettable. 

As far as I can guess we are going on holiday to HAVE A REST but when we are back I think we’ll need another holiday by the sea… I have already become impudent… 

So bye everyone!!! If I have any opportunity I’ll post here and publish my photos!!!   

Today I started reading Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”.

I like it and enjoy, but yesterday I read a really very interesting book called “Burned Alive” by Suad. It was a shocking experience I’ll never forget. The book is very interesting, if you like reading you should read it.

Later today my Mum invited me to Ani Plaza Hotel, where there was going to be a conference organized by Austrian Airlines. It was quite nice. I learned something about air ticket sales and so on. Then there was a wonderful stand-up meal. 

Now I’m going to New York using Google Earth. Bye!!!