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Yerevan, Republic of Armenia

July 16th, 2013 . Posted in Armenian | Comments Off on Yerevan, Republic of Armenia

Monday, July 15, 2013

I met my cousin, Francoise, at Charles de Gaulle in Paris and we flew to Yerevan. The flight to The Republic of Armenia was another five hours in the air.  We arrived at 9:55 PM local time at Zvartnots International Airport.  As an American, I had to purchase a Visa to enter Armenia, so first we stood in line to exchange my dollars to Drams.  European Union citizens did not need visas.  There are about 420 Drams to one US Dollar, so I received about 20,500 Drams.  Afterwards, I waited on another line to purchase the Visa. The third line which was to pass through Customs, was the shortest and quickest.  Finally we passed through the doors to the waiting room.  Our distant cousins, Anahit and Gagik were waiting for us to take us to the Europe Hotel to begin our two-week stay in Armenia.  It was very kind and generous of Anahit and Gagik to meet us!

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

After a European breakfast at the hotel, Francoise and I went out to explore the neighborhood.  The Europe Hotel is located very close to the city center of Yerevan called Republic Square.  The ‘square’ is actually a large traffic oval surrounded by government offices, the central post office, a Marriott Hotel, the Museums of Armenian History, National Gallery of Art, and the famous “Singing Fountain”.

 Pink Buildings Around Republic Square

Government Building

Pedestrian Mall

We crossed Republic Square and walked along Nalbandyan Street to the Hyur Tourist Service office.  They were a reputable company which offered tours from Yerevan to historical sights outside the city.  We arranged two separate day-tours for this week to explore the small country of Armenia.

The Singing Fountain

The agent at Hyur Service recommended a nearby restaurant for lunch, the Tumanyan Pandok.  The weather was very warm and the restaurant was located below street level so it was much cooler downstairs.  We had stuffed grape leaves (dolma), eggplant & pepper salad (in the photo below), and Uzbek Pilaf.  Everything was delicious!

Georgian Salad for Lunch

We walked back to the Europe Hotel.  The temperature was very hot (41 degrees Celsius) and the air conditioning at the hotel was great!   The hotel was centrally located on a small quiet side street.  Our room was clean and comfortable and the entire staff was friendly and helpful.

Exterior of the Europe Hotel

 Anahit called to invite us out to see the city in the evening.  She and Karen drove us to The Cascade which was a sight to behold.  It was a multi-level modern art museum built into the side of a hill with interior and exterior stairs to the top.  There was also an escalator inside with art objects along the moving stairs.  The sculpture garden at street level was filled with modern art objects created by world-famous artists.

The Cascade

Francoise, Karen, Anahit

View of the Sculpture Garden From the Top

Top of the Cascade

As night fell, Anahit and Karen drove us to a really nice restaurant called Poplavok Jazz Cafe to have dinner and hear live music.  The temperature was much cooler near the fountain and the jazz was very good.  We sat and had a very enjoyable time.

Poplavok Jazz Cafe

Cool Evening & Cool Jazz

American Jazz Band at the Poplavok

Armenian Pizza

After a good supper of pizza, salad, fries, and veggies, we left and Karen drove us to Republic Square to join the people at the “Singing Fountain.”  The water sprays up to the beats of classical music. The crowd, a lively blend of multi-generational families and young people, cheered as the music played.

The Singing Fountain at Night

The Crowd Around the Fountain

Singing & Dancing Water

It was a very active and interesting first day in Yerevan.

 

Taam Tov – Tastes Good!

July 11th, 2013 . Posted in New York City | Comments Off on Taam Tov – Tastes Good!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Jeff and I took the train to Manhattan to have lunch with CeeGee, my younger son. We walked from Grand Central Terminal west to the International Center of Photography on 43rd Street & Sixth Avenue to see the current exhibit which was The ICP Triennial. Every three years, the museum showcases contemporary photographers from around the world. The exhibit attempted to broaden the definition of photography and to expand the possibilities of the medium beyond any traditional conception of photography.  It was interesting and somewhat inspiring.

Good Taste – Taam Tov

Afterward, we walked north to The Diamond District – 47th Street between 5th & 6th Avenues – to the only Kosher Uzbek restaurant in New York City, Taam Tov. We climbed the steep linoleum-covered stairs up to the third floor to find several men waiting for take-out orders. One of the men held the door to the dining room for us and we entered. CeeGee and I had read on-line that the restaurant replaced a Chinese restaurant and the management had not changed the Asian décor. We were just a little disappointed to find a renovated space with newly painted walls decorated with Mediterranean murals.

Green Tea

We arrived after the traditional business lunch hour, so there were plenty of tables for us. The food at Taam Tov, which literally means ‘taste good’ in Hebrew, represents the flavors of Bukhara, a provence in Uzbekistan.  Bukhara is located on the ancient Silk Road and has been inhabited for 5000 years.  The roots of Jewish people settling in Bukhara reach back more than 2500 years. The community was separated from other Jewish people but managed to survive in spite of innumerable odds.  As a result, the people created a unique culture of rich literature, beautiful music, tasty food, and other traditions.

Casual Interior

We began our lunch with a delicious cold baba ganoosh and a round loaf of tasty lepeshka bread. Bullwinkle had the pelmene soup which had small meat dumplings in a rich spiced broth. We shared salmon kebabs and vegetarian pilaf, both of which were delicious. CeeGee took home two home-baked pastries to eat later. We enjoyed everything and hope to return soon to try other items on the menu.

Bright Lights and Stardom

After a hearty lunch, we walked to Broadway to visit the lobby of the landmark Embassy Theater.  The theater opened in 1925 and the lobby has been restored and is used as the Times Square Visitors Center. On display is the New Year’s Eve illuminated ball which descends a pole on the roof of the old NY Times Building at midnight to mark the new year.  There are also other small exhibits about the history of Times Square.

The Naked Cowboy

Back out among the crowds of tourists on Broadway, we walked south to 42nd Street. That small part of Broadway has become a pedestrian mall with chairs and places for tourists to sit and ponder why they thought going to NYC in the heat & humidity of summer was a good idea.

Tourist Bus

We were able to escape the tourist crowd and find air conditioning on the Broadway subway line downtown to 34th Street. Bullwinkle had to pay homage to his favorite temple of consumerism: B & H Photo. Tired, hot, and exhausted, we found coolness and comfort at a coffee shop called Gregory’s Coffee. Refreshed, we returned to Grand Central for the train ride home to green suburbia. It had been a full and very good tasty day!

Monkey Busyness

July 8th, 2013 . Posted in New York City | Comments Off on Monkey Busyness

Monday, July 8, 2013

Last night, Jeff and I drove to Manhattan to see a performance of Monkey: Journey to the West at Lincoln Center. It was a modern operatic retelling of a 16th century Chinese novel with acrobatics, animation, and martial arts. The singers sang in Mandarin to the accompaniment of a full orchestra.

Doors of the Theater at Lincoln Center

It was an epic tale of the arrogant Monkey King’s quest to find immortality. The Monkey had to accompany and protect the Buddhist monk, Tripitaka, on a journey to India to receive holy scriptures. The other characters on this pilgrimage were Pigsy (who suffered from lustfulness), Sandy (melancholy), and The Dragon Prince (carelessness) who had been turned into a white horse. Along the way, the characters battled many great perils and supernatural obstacles.

David H. Koch Theater

Monkey: Journey to the West utilized elements of traditional Chinese Opera, for example stylized movements and choreographed sword fights.  However, the colorful costumes and music were modern.  The singers had excellent voices especially the woman who played the trouser-role of Tripitaka. The acrobatics and contortionists, which reminded me of a simplified version of Cirque de Soleil, were entertaining. The animation was primitive by today’s computer graphics standards but added another mystical layer of visual complexity. In summation, I would say the performance was ‘interesting’. I wondered if Monkey: Journey to the West was a view into future entertainment for the current techno-savvy multi-tasking short-attention span youth of today.

Viewing Each Other

Nitty gritty: We had a reasonably priced light supper of soup & salad and sandwich at Indie located in the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center on 65th Street.

Fountain at Lincoln Center

Note: All photos were taken with my iPhone.

 

Another Camel Walk

June 26th, 2013 . Posted in Eastern United States, New York City, United States | Comments Off on Another Camel Walk

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Today’s adventure was another ‘Camel Walk’. Bullwinkle found a reference to an Armenian bakery in Brooklyn which baked fresh goodies every day. Several people on the internet highly recommended the ‘lavash’. They said it was the freshest on the east coast of the US. So, I had to go and try it!

The Armenian Brooklyn Bread House

The Brooklyn Bread House was located in the Sheepshead Bay area of Brooklyn, which is in the eastern corner of New York City along the Atlantic Ocean. It was also, according to Google Maps, 63.6 miles or one hour and 37 minutes from our house. Putting it plainly, it’s a hike for us!

  Plov is the National Dish of Uzbekistan

As retirees who like to explore less familiar neighborhoods, we set out this morning for the adventure. The Brooklyn Bread House is a small storefront just east of Brighton Beach and Coney Island. Although the stripes on the awning outside is the Armenian flag, all the signs in the window were in Russian. The patrons and clerks also spoke Russian. This was the result of Soviet Russian rule of Armenia for 71 years.

Chuchvara stuffed with Potatoes & Sour Cream

The shelves inside the bakery were full of groceries from the Republic of Armenia. There was a counter along the back wall for baked goods. I purchased two large pieces of ‘lavash’ and a box of ‘kata’. Lavash is the soft thin flatbread which is popular among Armenians. I remember my grandfather had it with just about everything at every meal. Armenian ‘kata’ is a tasty sweet bread. This one had cheese inside. It was very good and not too sweet. By the way, the young woman behind the counter was from Kazakistan, another former Russian satellite.

Exterior of Nargis Cafe

For lunch, Bullwinkle suggested an Uzbek restaurant in the neighborhood. I was excited because I never ate food from Uzbekistan and the country was on my ‘must visit’ list. We easily found Nargis Cafe on Coney Island Avenue and went inside the bright purple restaurant. What a treat! It was spacious, clean, and well decorated. The many young servers were personable and friendly. The food was delicious. I took some photos of our choices and we enjoyed everything.

Steamed Khonim

After a tasty lunch, we drove around Coney Island and Brighton Beach. Both areas had experienced severe damage during Hurricane Sandy last winter and it was reassuring to see these communities are rebounding.

Before leaving Brooklyn, we stopped at Gulluoglu Baklava & Cafe on Brighton Beach Avenue to pick up a few fresh sweet morsels of baklava to take home. Bulluoglu boasts the best baklava on several continents. We’ll see….

Turkish Baklava from Gulluoglu Cafe

As you probably guessed by now, Brighton Beach and Coney Island are neighborhoods which abound in ethnic diversity. Russian and, to a lesser extent, English are the common languages of communication here. Many signs are written in Cyrillic and not translated into English. It is truly an international smorgasbord of humanity. And what fun it was to be a small part of it today!

View of Manhattan from the Whitestone Bridge

 

Walk a Mile For a Camel?

June 4th, 2013 . Posted in Eastern United States | Comments Off on Walk a Mile For a Camel?

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Today, the question was: would we drive an hour and a half for good pizza? The idea reminded me of a cigarette advertisement from my youth, I’d Walk a Mile for a Camel.  Of course, we would drive 80 miles for a good ‘tomato pie’.  My husband, I like to call him Bullwinkle, read that Frank Pepe’s made one of the best pizzas in the country and was located in New Haven, Connecticut. We had already sampled and enjoyed their pizza at the satellite shops owned by the same family, which were located in Yonkers, NY and Danbury, CT.

The Original Frank Pepe’s

We wanted to take a journey to the Holy Grail of pizza, the Original Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria Napoletana, est. 1925, which was located 79.8 miles from our house. Fortified with maps and a GPS, as well as strong coffee, we set out on our pilgrimage to the Mecca of ‘Italian tomato pies’ in New Haven. I have to admit it was an uneventful drive, although we took a scenic route, and we reached our destination just in time for lunch.

The Holy Grail of Pizza

The pizzeria was located in a pleasant neighborhood of renovated New England brick structures from the late 1800s. We passed several other pizzerias on the same street as Frank Pepe’s and we made note to return some day to sample the competition. But today, we were undaunted in our pursuit of The Best. We parked and entered the shop reverently.

Interior of the Original Pizzeria

“Sit anywhere,” someone shouted from the back where the famous coal-fired oven was located, so we humbly grabbed the first empty booth. The waitress greeted us and took our soft drink order of locally manufactured soda. As purists, we ordered the ‘Original Tomato Pie with Mozzarella’ with no other adornments or flavors to mask the subtle taste of Frank Pepe’s tomato sauce and special cheese.

Foxon Park Soft Drinks Since 1922

I’m not sure if I would categorize the experience as a Nirvana moment, but the pizza was good. It had tasty tomato sauce and gooey cheese artfully placed on a very well done flavorful crust.  Sorry, no photos!

New Haven, Ct. – Overlooking Yale University

New Haven, Connecticut is also the home of Yale University and, of particular interest to us, their famous Art Gallery. We wanted to visit the museum after our tomato pies and it was a short drive to the center of the city.  Once inside, (free admission, by the way) I asked for a map and we turned toward what looked like a medieval church.

Filtered Light on Ancient Statue

At the door, a friendly guard greeted us, “Welcome to the gallery.  Have you been here since the renovation?”  When we told him this was our first visit, he smiled broadly and said, “Well, you’re in for a real treat!  Welcome.”

Indo-Pacific Art

The Gallery was a wonderful museum with a vast and impressive collection of art through the ages and from around the world.  Each room held a surprise in time and place.

Sol le Witt Again

We began the journey with ancient European art and worked our way through time and ended in modern art.  The collection is stunning because curators have obtained excellent representative pieces of art from around the world.

Exterior Detail

We were surprised by the breath and depth of the collection at the gallery.  It was inspiring.  I thought how fortunate the students at Yale University were to have such a world-class museum on their campus.  We added the Art Gallery to our list of favorite museums and planned to return soon.  Yes, I’d drive 80 miles for another visit to the Yale University Art Gallery, I’m not so sure about the pizza.

Times Square Billboard 1940s

 Note: I found this photo of the Camel billboard on Broadway just north of 42nd Street.  As a child, I remember staring at it and wondering how the sign was able to puff out perfect rings of smoke.  It grabbed my attention and probably lodged in the minds of smokers for years.  Of course, this was long before Times Square became the tourist mecca it is today.

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