Impossible is possible

Long time nothing written...It's not because i didn't have anything interesting to write but just the blogging passion faded in me somehow. And now seems it is back again and i decided to write until it is not gone!
So this post is going to be about a very adventurous and wonderful day in my life which happened to happen in Noravank!
Two days ago we with Mary accidentally decided to take part in a trip to Noravank of which she heard from Anna. As usual, the accidental decisions come up to be very right ones :)! I didn't have a clear idea about who we will be going with or what we will be doing, just wanted to see Noravank wonderful church and the rocky road leading to it once again as i have been there only once about 5 years ago. The interesting thing is that i didn't have appropriate boots for that but fortunately, due to Mary i happened to discover a wonderful shop where i found very nice branded boots (at last of my size!)that were so great, just like created for me only!
So everything was ready for the great day!
I was at the meeting place, Opera, just in time and met some guys who were waiting for the organizer, Mkhitar, Vahe and others. We waited for about half an hour for everyone to come (including musicians from The Beautified Project and Dogma) and went to occupy places in the marshrutka. 4 of us-me, Anna, Mary and Lili took the back seats to be togehter but this appeared to be not the best possible choice as we were springing with the car all the way! But it was fun! :) During the road we spoke a looooot making people turn back all the time wondering who is making this unbelievable noise. But we were very happy and couldn't stop laughing and talking. Mary even expressed a crazy idea so much liked by Mkhitar about organizing the next trip somewhere in Latin America and she didn't see any obstacles in finding the necessary 10 000 USD, as she was very inspired with this idea and was giving mad options of how this money could be fundraised!We spoke so much that didn't even notice how we reached Noravank! We went out, took pictures from the magnificent view of the "white queen" and its surrounding pink rocks, freezing. We even drank from the holy water inside one chapel which had a murky look and went back to the car. We were afterwards to have a lunch with eggs, etc. During the way Mkhitar and Vahe already managed to terrify us with legends about how awful it is in the cave that we were going to go into (Magil's cave); full of bats, water and human bones...So we were happy with any possible delay of that scary prospective!
We had a very nice lunch with eggs, cakes, and everything that hospitable Armenian mind can invent! Vardan from Dogma remained unbeaten in the egg fight, we successfully emptied the "table" and got ready for the cave! Mary put her glasses on, I wore my cap, everyone else made other "prior-bat-fight" preparations and we went to the Magil's cave. The funniest thing was that it was closed by a key:)))))) So Mkhitar needed to find the "Key Master" beforehand. We were explained that the cave was closed to prevent the bats from flying out of the cave which was an additional reminder for poor Mary's ears about her "beloved" bats existence in the cave! While going up to the cave we saw a small snake on the way ("we", excluding me, of course, with my "eaglish" eyes:))). Finally we were in front of the cave which had an iron door and represented actually a very narrow hole unconsciously making me think of the poor Vinnie the Pooh when he wasn't able to go out of the narrow hole of the hare's house because he ate too much:)!
Anyway, in contrast to Pooh we managed to squeeze in the hole. Before that a very official ceremony of giving numbers to everybody was held to always keep the order while "crawling" in the cave. I decided to be the second as i didn't have a lamp and the best for me would be to follow Mkhitar who had a strong lamp on his head:) Mary and Lili were after me. We squeezed in and started to crawl up in the beginning. Some complaints and laughs could be heard all along the way because of the dust, the narrow "roads" and darkness. On the way we managed to see a big group of bats sleeping on the ceiling, very small and cute ones. There were also bones, hopefully of a small animal, like dog and there wasn't water fortunately! During the way we passed quite large "apartments" which were a very nice scenery. We somehow reached a large place from where the way was steeply going down and it was hard to overcome it without a rope. I looked at it and as there were only 60 meters left and as Mkhitar said nothing extraordinary waited us there i decided not to risk my life at this part of it and said i don't want to continue. So did Mary and Lilie and we waited for others to reach us and decide. The decision was rational: save our energy for rock climbing and go back.

So we all went back with the same order, took nice photos on some rock outside and went down to the car.
When we returned we discovered some 3 cars parked nearby and people exploring the food we left near the river. Some of us went to "save our food from unexpected invaders" and the most important ceremony of the day started; preparations for rock climbing. When i first saw the "peak" which we were to climb i though it will be very easy to do as it seemed to be quite low and reachable. Anna was warning us that it is not so easy as it may seem. She had already once tried to climb it up but because of the weather didn't reach the top.
The ceremony started form Mkhitar's "costumization". "Costumization" included wearing special boots for climbing, some ropes all over legs and loooooads of ropes. This ceremony took about 10 minutes after which he started to climb putting chains on some already created appliances on the rock and reached the top to tie the rope firmly near a construction on the peak and came down. This was done to create two leverages with the rope so that the climbing people could be fixed on whichever position they were on the rock with the help of Mkhitar and Vahe pulling the rope down. So the grand opening was done and the challenging question "who's the first" awakened everybody from sweet dreams :))) The brave ones were Grigor and Andre who were to climb togehter form different parts of the rock. Grigor's part was difficult in terms of being very "smooth" and steep and not having much places to hang from. Andre's place was easier but there were its difficulties too such as too limited space. So the climbing started. Grigor was quite stubborn and though he felt some times but continued to search for ways and with an angry face he somehow tamed the rock and climbed it up with very inconvenient boots representing a raw material from which a good climber could be made. Andre was slower as he probably thought too much of possbile best ways. I have already decided to myself that i wanted to climb from Andre's side as it seemed more achievable to me taking into consideration that i didn't have perfect boots for climbing. So as soon as Andre came down I, attentivele listening to what Vahe and Mkhitar were saying on climbing technics, like the corrdination skills are the most important and trying to draw a transparenbt path on the rock before crawling up it i wore the climbing "costume" and psichologically prepared myself for the big deal. I wasn't the first girl to go up as Ani managed to professionally like a spider climb up the half of the rock from the difficult part and encouraged the rest of the girls with her example (though the boots she was wearing helped her a lot:) So the big challenge started. I was trembling though not from fear but from the feeling of the unexpected. The first seconds passed quite easily and feeling that the rope is keeping me and i don't have "chances" to fall down i calmed down and started to think. I climbed up some part quite quickly and then came to a point where i saw no place to put my finger or foot on.
So???i thought, that was it? there is no way to go up! they cheated me! it's not possible! there are practically no ways to go further! Or am I so weak and useless? This last thought made the biggest impact on me probably as then i got very angry and thought: if others could why shouldn't i? I concentrated again though continuing to tremble and squeezed my feets and hands wherever i could to help me go up.Suddenly i understood that i need to see the big picture and turned my face around to see whether there were other good places i didn't see as i was too concentrated on a limited space surrounding me. Meanwhile, i was trying to implement the guidelines given by Mkhitar. It was hard to keep my feet straight because of non professional boots they were slipping all the time and i had the feeling of falling a couple of times. Again i had the feeling of impossibility to continue but each time i waited a bit and after several unsuccessful steps finally found the way each time wondering on how can impossible become possible in a few seconds! I was dying on each attempt feeling my arms are too week and fighting with the gravity and my own weight, and rock and everything in the world just to reach that desirable peak. There were several meters left when after some 2 minutes research i found that there were reallllly no options to continue and i looked down to ask guys for guidelines. Mkhitar, Mary and Lilie were periodically encouraging me and this time i asked them whether i should go to the right. Mkhitar said i can do that now. But there were no ways i could go there i thought and again asked to myself and to Mkhitar also this time whether i should go down. He said if I wanted I could. But the problem was that i didn't!!!!
And the tortures continued. Mkhitar said i can fully rely on the rope and even hanging on it move to the right until i find a place to put my foot on. I did that way and finally managed to find some holes around. There was so little left and i was sooooo tired...I don't know how but i somehow managed to reach that **** top, touch it and said the magic words! "bring me down!"...
Another challenge was overcome, another psychological burden vanished! The going down process was very pleasant and it was reallllllly soooo great to touch the Mother earth with my feet again!
When people asked me how i was i said "awful"! :))))))) But i was sooo great (not taking into account the feeling as if a train passed over me)!!!!!!!!! I was feeling like now ireally can do anything i wish because just now the things that seemed imposible to me just 15 minutes ago were a history! These kind of happenings make us feel nothing is impossbile!
When i asked Mkhitar how it was he said it was quite god ofr the first time and said the time was about 15 minutes. I was shocked as i thought i spent a whole lifetime on those stones while seeking for solutions! But it turned out to be that just Einstein relativity theory started to work while i was there: ))) And i thought it could be goood for old people who want to prolong their remaining time to make such efforts as then they can double their time, if of course they manage to climb!!:)))
Right after me Mary decided to go up from my part while Lilie decided to take the more difficult part. Mary was very decisive as if saying "I came, won and left!" So she did..how? With an S-climbing technique:))))))) She went up so fast by using her "S" that after 2 minutes she had passed already the 70 % of the way. Of course there were some victims on the way-her jeans were torn and hands too but she was ingeniously fast! Just near the top she had some difficulties but overcame them quite fast and brilliantly came down. As Andre said she came up as a smart girl (though he didn't know then how "smart" she was actually))))))))) and came down as a rocker with her torn jeans and uncombed hair! Lilie's job was tougher as her shoes were not convenient for climbing especially form that difficult part and after some trials she came down deciding to go up form the easier part. Everybody went up afterwards and each time we cheered for them singing something like "you are the champion my friend!" Lilie went up from the second part and almost reached the top but she was tired as it was about 5 p.m. already and decided to come down. We had our dinner from the remaining cheese and bread and lied on the floor listening to music while waiting for others to come down. It was such a harmonic moment of solace; beautiful nature, best friends and favorite music! Everything was so perfect!
We had several great photos and finally everybody was up and down the rocks and we were ready to move to our next destination which was Areni wine factory!!! We were looking forward to wine tasting which would become the perfect end of our full day!
We drove a little and reached the place. Going down we appeared in a room smelling with wine and were getting drunk already form the scent around! The floors were all in wine and there were biiig tuns all around. We first tasted sweet red and white,
then semi-sweet red and white (but the white ones were actually pink!) wines moving from one room to another and back again!
Everybody gained happy and red faces asking for more buying more and more wine! I had a little head spinning but it was gone soon as we went out on fresh air and suddenly i found a huge gathering of different wine bottles put on each other in a very poetic way! Bottles of wine with red, blue, green tapes,Areni, Vernashen...We had a bunch of "drunk" photos with this incredible background. When everybody drank and bought what they wanted we were ready to leave.
In the mini bus i was recalling all the events of this full and incredible day and especially the rock climbing finding a particular psychological charm in that process. Suddenly i realized that each of us represented him/herself in the way he/she climbed and overcame this challenge! Mary as always faced the problems (even toughest ones) with easiness and readiness to overcome them as quickly as possible and return as nothing happened! Lilie was fighting and not giving up which was proved by her second trial.
I was thinking and analyzing too much as usually!!! This was a very funny but true observation which made me go deeper with my thoughts while Mary had a nice chat with Anna. Mary even managed to let everybody know about "her" Smart Systems expressing her PR skills very successfully so that everybody turned back and started to listen to what was this Smart Systems actually like! She was probably continuing this great session while we already reached near our place and i went out thanking everybody for the wooonderful day!
I came home with a feeling of majesty flying in the skies motivated to continue overcoming the further challenges in this hard life!

Trip to Bratislava

I couldn't imagine that there are two capital cities so close to each other in the world! Vienna and Bratislava are just 57 kms away from each other. Besides, I had two bottles of wine and brandy to give to Peter.

I bought the ticket the same day and managed in time surprisingly. This was the first time I was going to travel somewhere alone though Peter was to meet me at the station. So I sat in the train together with some British people trying to catch pieces of their truly British conversation. I put my music on and started to gaze at the view from the window. There were some intermediary stations in between ending with “dorf” necessarily and I was trying to guess where was the first Slovak station but later on I was going to be disappointed by finding out that there were actually no Slovak station at all and the first Slovak station was BratislavaJ))))))))))))))). I was shocked how can a capital city be built in such a close distance from the border. Armenia for example couldn’t afford to have such a luxury…

The way was very short during which I was admiring the wonderful windmills moving so graciously and wisely. I again understood that anything genius is so easy and simple.

I came to the station in time and had to wait just for 10 minutes when Peter came with Stanka( I didin’t remember her name ,actually I thought it was Maria, so in the beginning I couldn’t call her by her name as I was ashamed to ask for it again). We went to the car which was taken from Stanka’s mom and then drove to the Stary most which was so old that when we were walking it was moving and Stanka said it will be broken down soon. On the way we were discussing the buildings on our way and Peter asked whether I had any list of the places I would like to see. First impression from the city was that it is more industrial, smaller and less attractive than Vienna. In general, I was all the time comparing it with Vienna. We crossed the most and reached some park. Peter gave me some guide with the map of the city old part “Stary grad” which was quite useful as it had the main monuments marked and numbered on it. First we went to the “Little Blue Church”, it looked like a toy house, blue with nice paintings and like form a fairy tale. We entered it and I walked a bit inside. As I didn’t have a digital photo I asked Peter to take the photos from the views. The church was quite new , built in 1909. On the way we spoke about their lifestyle and religion, etc. Then we went to the Slovak pub through a street that Peter said was most touristic and I compared it with Abovyan street but according to Peter Abovyan is much better. We entered the Slovak pub and went to the 2^nd floor. I was shocked with the big size of it. It was actually more like a restaurant having lots of rooms which were all different from each other and all wooden. It was a little bit like our Caucasus. We took a seat and then Peter met a friend of his from LC Kosice, an AIESECer with a ACDC T-shirt and long hair. The funniest thing was that he was with his guests too,a couple from Australia whom he actually met when he was a trainee in Australia:))))))))So the same story as mine:) We decided to order different things so that we can taste more staff. I ordered pirogi, Peter-haluski and Stanka took some sweet staff.All the food was traditional .I liked my “pirogi” very much. It was like “pelmeni” but inside instead of meat it had potatoes, then covered with sour cream, brindza, specific Slovak cheese "brindza" and fried bacon over it. It was veeery tasty especially after the tasteless Austrian food. Then I tried haluski and also some sweet rolls with blueberry jam inside and cacao over it. I most liked the pirogi. The Australian couple wife was very funny. They were travelling all round Europe and she was telling about it to us. Then suddenly a heavy rain started of which we learnt as it was pouring inside the pubJ. Peter told it is the summer part and they just covered it with some canvas but it wasn’t enough and the water was filing inside. I remembered the Armenian anecdote about the guy from Lori asking whether it's raining inside or outside. We finished our food and went out. It was very windy and cold and I suggested Peter and Stanka to go tot ake something warm from home as they didn’t have anything with them. But Stanka said she is fine and we continued our way. Fortunately very soon the weather became better. We first went to presidential palace. It was a nice but quite a small and non impressive building compared to its importance. Peter told me that my staying at his friend, aiesecer’s home, Petra, is confirmed. I was very happy with that. Then we went to the main part of the old town and appeared on a typical touristic road with expensive souvenir shops (with very creative staff btw) and lots of tourists. It was a small street with nice old buildings around. We walked through it taking photos and then appeared in the place called “Main square” . It was a centre of embassies and open air souvenir sellers. There was a fountain with a funny statue that had its funny story. It said that this statue used to spin but only a girl born in Bratislava who was 16 and was virgin could see that (and of course there was no such a girl in BratislavaJ)))))))))))) and there was another statue over a bench just in front of that statue who was kneeling on the bench as if he was following the statue to see if it is really spinning or not. I bought some souvenirs from the shops and then we went to the Bratislava museum. It was a very old museum with employees old too. First we entered the very old room with the fist records of life in Bratislava. It had the map of Bratislava in different epochs. We found out that some part of Danube had either vanished or disappeared somehow but the guide wan’t able to explain exactly what happened. There were some kitchen utensils and a skeleton of those times. It turned out to be that Celts used to live there in the 4^th century b.c. Bratislava was initially built in 9th century and has changed its names after that about 14 times depending on who was ruling the area then. After we went to the newer rooms. All of them contained some things describing those times. But the museum was very old and actually I was very lucky to manage to see it as it was going to close down for reconstruction for 3 years in 3 days. The most impressive things there were the tools for people torturing and the prisons. There was a huge list describing what kind of punishment is meant to be for different crimes. For example for telling a lie to ur husband u could be dumped into the water. It was a very cruel part of the museum and we rushed away from it to the top, up the Michael’s tower. It was very old too and near the stairs it was written that u can climb up at ur own riskJ So we climbed up quite lots of stairs, actually 88 as the last 5 stairs were closed so initially they mean to be 94. And then there opened a great view over the city. First time I saw some really nice buildings from above. There were even some small gothic style churches like those in Vienna.

After taking a few photos we went down. Then we continued our way along the old street and came to one palace, Primatial Palace. Stanka said they had lots of British who usually come to Bratislava as it is cheap and spoil everything surrounding them. Just then I saw some british people. As it was already quite late in the veneing we decided to buy some food and go home to eat something. We went to Slovakian Billa which was quite similar to Austrian one. Then we walked to the car by the way back. On the way we were discussing the district they were living in and Stanka said they have a nice lake around where they usually go to swim after work or on weekends. But in general Petrzalka wasn’t a very good district in terms of it used to be quite a dangerous place where it is not safe to go down by stairs as u may meet some narcoleptic people on your way. But as she said it is no longer such a place. We finally reached the building which was a typical living district with standard buildings. We went up to the twelfth floor which was the last one and entered the flat. I found out that they lived together with two other guys, one of them Jaros, was speaking Russian and we started to speak in Russian a bit. It was quite nice though he could hardly speak and made lots of mistakes. The flat had about three rooms and a balcony. We went to the kitchen and started to prepare some sandwiches. I helped Stanka to make very nice and creative sandwiches which had mustard and butter. I even took a photo of them as they were really nice. Then we started to eat them and I liked it very much. After it we had a long talk about the difference lifestyles of our youth. I translated the Kiss bottle content and we laughed at it a lot. Then Peter called Petra and we decided to go there asit was 9 o’clock and she lived on the other end of the city. So we packed and went out. The way was quite long and we first were quite lost. Then we appeared in a green zone with a block of living houses and at last found the right building. We went up and Petra welcomed us into her nice flat. We first took a seat in the dining room and they started to talk about changes in their lives particularly about that Petra had broke up with her boyfriend. Stanka used all the possible and words to describe that guy and we continued the conversation. I found out that she had Vietnamese father and Slovak mother and the result was quite a nice cute girl who as in AIESEC for 4 years and currently worked in Tatra bank or actually in Raiffessen bank in the HR department.We agreed on that I will join Petra and @ Bratislava trainees to go to the Red Bull Air Race which was quite a prominent event in Bratislava and everybody was getting ready to go there tomorrow. As we were all very tired Peter and Stanka left and I took a bath. I went to sleep in the dining room and slept for the longest time during my stay out of Yerevan. It was soooo great! I woke up at 11 o’clock and we had breakfast with Petra. We had a nice conversation about our lives and careers. Then we went out to the bus station. We first took a bus and then a very old tram to reach the Novy most where we were supposed to meet the trainees. On the way Petra told about the Turkish trainee who everybody seemed to be very proud of as he first came there as a trainee and then went to work at IBM. So he called himself a turecki muj to make people see that he knows Slovak. We went out at the station near the most and after a while met two guys, the Turkish guy of course and a guy from Norway. As I was presented to the Turkish guy he said he is from my rival country and the greeting style was quite fighting. As Petra started to talk to this Turkish guy actively I had no choice to talk to the guy form Norway. He was nice but seemed to be too spoilt for being able to like Bratislava. After a while two Slovak girl came who were form the Slovak LC. We waited for other two guys who were actually strange French guys: Maxim and a funny guy with a strange name that nobody could pronounce - Judicaelle.He had a very artistic hat and I said he looked like a painter in it. I think he liked that idea as he looked at me with a smile. Then we walked to Danube where there were lots of people already near the river bank. We found a good place or at least we thought it was good and saton the river bank gates. The view was good form there but the sun was very hot and Maxim asked if anybody had sun cream. First I thought he was too much in panic and there was actually no need in such concerns but later on I was going to find out some red stains all over my face and hands to understand he was right. We stayed there until it started during which I had a talk with the Slovak girls and the French guys. The show was actually a competition of 4 airplanes who were supposed to fly through some facilities in the shortest possible time period. Before the actual show the organizers were speaking something in Slovak not considering the fact that most of the people who were actually tourists. But there were really lots of people all over the river bank and up on the nearby Novy most. At last the show began and the airplanes flew in one by one doing some acrobatic movements in the air. It was very exciting in the beginning but then it was already ordinary. Then there was a big break during which we managed to fry our heads even more and I found out that Stanka has lost her bag. Then the second round was which was more interesting as all of them were flying together and doing great things in the air. At last it was finished and we went away in the huge crowd of people. Petra said Peter was somewhere around and I was searching for him. We then at last found them and went there. They were very anxious about the bag and decided to go to Petra’s house to check if it was there. I was feeling myself guilty for that as it happened because they took me to Petra’s house. We walked to the so called “beach” which was actually an area with sand near the river where people were playing and lying in the sun. It was a good idea actually. We lied there a bit and as Stanka was very anxious I suggested that I will go to the castle myself while they will go to Petra’s house to check the bag. We agreed to meet at 5:30 near the castle and I started my way. I said goodbye and thanks to Petra and other guys and walked back to the Novy most. I appeared on a very nice street with lots of people and interesting statues and monuments all along it. Then I went to the direction of two nice churches and appeared on the castle street. I saw some stairs and decided to go up. I found out that travelling alone can be really great as u urself decide where to go and when. I walked up the stairs and appeared at the back of the castle I walked a bit but understood that it was actually a wrong way but I was lazy to go back and started to climb over the steep hill somehow J)))))))))Then I found a closed place and anyways went down again. I appeared again on the castle street and soon reached the Parliament and the castle entrance itslef. The castle was in the reconstruction process so I couldn’t go inside. But the surroundings were also interesting and I was admiring several levels of fortress gates and walls. There was a great view over the city and I got to understand that Bratislava is actually a nice city just spoilt with too much industrial buildings. I was very hungry and wanted to find some shop to eat something but there wasn’t anything nearby. I went out at 5:30 as agreed and met Peter and Stanka. I was very happy to find out that Stanka found her bag. We decided to take some photos form the castle. Then we called the station and found out that there was a train in an hour and in 2 hours. As I was very hungry Stanka suggested to go to their home as she had prepared some dishes. We drove there and went to the lovely kitchen where Stanka started to take out all the food she had actually. She put a soup in the beginning which was actually a very funny one as it was just the water of the soup separate and other ingredients such as pasta, carrot vegetables separate. Then she unfroze some potatoes and also put corn and rice together with “pechenka” which was actually our tjvjik ans I was very happy to have such a tasty meal at last! I was very full and happy and we rushed to the station. I bought the ticket said goodbye and thanks to guys and took a seat in the train. Then I saw them near the window saying goodbye to me, They were so nice standing there on the other side and smiling at me. I waved at them and the train moved.

Shonbrunn is the royal residence of the Austrian Kaisers. We went there on Friday after work, at 2 o’clock. Petra was guiding us through. We didn’t know anything about it in the beginning so were pouring questions on her head all the time. We found out that the name Shonbrunn means a beautiful axbjur smth like that. It was built in the 17^th century and is a huge complex consisting of the royal park, the zoo, greenhouse, etc. We entered it and took some photos near the entrance. Then bought the long ticket for 3,5 hours which was disappointing for some of usJ Then we started our tour into the golden past of Austria. We took audio guides which were very convenient as they were explaining each room in details. I was the only one to take the English guide and it was very good in terms of creating the atmosphere of kingdom. We were passing through the rooms that each represented the lifestyle and things that were used in those times There were their bedrooms, galleries, guest rooms, card rooms, etc. I found out that Maria Theresia had lots of children and that only Marie Christine was allowed to get married the man she loved. That Kaiser Josef used to receive 100 people each day and he remembered the cases of each of them.

The most interesting rooms were the “blue room” that had all the walls decorated with blue ornaments and 100s of small portraits drawn right on the walls. Then Maria Theresia had 2 Chinese rooms very expressive ones with Chinese paintings and furniture all over the room. There was also a very interesting room called Rich room that had lots of mirrors on the walls that were creating the illusion of unlimited space , this illusion was very common for those times. The biggest room in the palace was the Gallery room that had 40 metres length and 10 meters width that was used for big events and celebrations. I admired the beauty of Elisabeth or Sisi how people used to call her. She was a very interesting woman but had a difficult life. She got married when she was 15 and was not ready for the emress life. But afterwards she became a self confident and mystical empress. She was not interfering in politics much, except when she was promoting the rights of Hungary, of which she was extremely fond of. Sisi knew English, French, Hungarian and Greek and wrote poems. She was fond of travelling. Elisabeth had three children of who she was mostly connected to Marie Valerie the youngest, as it was the only kid grown up by her. She was unbelievably beautiful, was 172 cm and 46 kg. Maria Theresia’s life was very prominent and hard, her usband loved her crazilz. She was assacinated by an anarchist in Zurich , a very stupid death, but she actually wanted to die and i even suspected that this was an organized suicide.

After this very interesting tour into the glorious past of Austrian kaisership we went to the Privy Garden that had wonderful plants (even citruses), flowers and very nice tunnel like ways all decorated with green. Then we went to the apfelstrudel show where they were showing how to cook it. The room was crowded already as we were late, besides the cooker was talking in English like in German and all we gained form there was a piece of apfelstrudel that was like a manana for us as we were veeeery hungry. Then we went to the most beautiful park I saw in my life. It was huge and different destinations one leading to Roman ruins, the other to labyrinths, another one to the Gloriette, a high wonderfully decorated building to have a view over the city. We went to this Gloriette and tried to go upper but I made a very funny mistake. People were buying new tickets to go up, but ours were valid for all of the places so we just needed to put it inside the box to be let in. But after I went in I immediately went out from the exit place, thinking that the way to the top was after it. And after we found out that we are already out of the place our tickets didn’t work. We were very disappointed. Then I decided to ask the ticket seller about what should we do. He seemed to have faced these kind of situations quite a lot of times so calmly told us to go to the entrance and he will open it himself. We were so happy!

We went up took some pictures of the incredible view and went down. Then I sat a little bit on a bench listening to music waiting for others to come back and trying to recall all I had seen during that day. That was our first trip to Shonbrunn but not the last.

After a week some of us (me, Alla, Luiza, Tigran, Karen) went to the zoo of the Shonbrunn. My biggest desire of course was to see the pandas and guys were having fun on me that I am going to marry them and live in Shonbrunn. Not badJ

First we entered Shonbrunn we were welcomed by a short rain and also we mixed the way and walked much more than were supposed to. At last we reached the zoo and bought the tickets. All the zoo was constructed in a very good way, had a easy to understand structure. We first say the big yak with lots of hair. I was particularly shocked with his big head and body and small back feet wondering how could they carry such a weight. Then we went to some birds, penguins, entered into the tropic climate place that was very hot and humid besides I had a very big thing in my mouth that was supposed to be sweet but instead had a smell of garlic and I couldn’t finish it!

We went to see the map of the park then to find out where the pandas were. At last we managed to find the right direction and followed it. Before the pandas we had a look at the tiger, who was extremely popular and the lions whom we could see through holes only. We hurriedly reached the place where pandas were drawn but…there was nobody outside. I was already getting in a panic but Tigran found the way to the inner room where the wonderful toys were having their rest. And then I saw them…a soft, kind and lazy creature lying on the floor with eyes open. I was crying from happiness and couldn’t believe I saw it, this cutie humble and such a pretty panda. There was another a more active one, who was occupied with the second and last activity of pandas, besides sleeping; he was eating. He was seating with his back to us and furiously tearing the leaves of the bamboo by his mouth. There was a kid panda who we unfortunately didn’t manage to examine properly as it was sleeping on some high branch. I was though so satisfied and happy that couldn’t help just standing and looking at their lazy movements for hours. But we needed to move and leave those cutie cutie puppets.

After it we also had a look at giraffes, and sheep. The guys were tired and sat while me and Alla went to see the monkeys as well. There was a very funny orangutan who was very bust cleaning his room to find out little corn lying on the floor and take it to his big mouth by his looong fingers. He looked like a human with his movements and self confidence. Then we joined others who were already out and took and Ubahn to home.

These were two days in Shonbrunn, unforgettable trips to the glorious past of the big Empire.

Prater park

Today we had decided to go to the carousel park, near our station, Pratestern. I was at home with the boys and had to put something on the table as they were hungry. All I could find was some tomatos, jam, butter, cheese and Coca. We had our BIG dinner and then Grigor’s ”axper”, the guy from Iraq came. I made just coffee for which he was verrry thankful. He thought I am the housewife which was quite a big compliment for me as I never do anything at home usually.
We hardly managed to go out and meet Petra but the girls said they will be late after shopping so we decided to go and then meet them at Prater park. We went out at Pratestern and appeared in a big amusement park. There were very appealing rollers and we first took one like American roller coasters which was quite nice but hurting for me as the seats were very rigid. Then we went to the carousel that was called Space Shot. I was quite afraid of its look and first thought I wouldn’t take it. But then i didn’t know what was expecting me…The dose was to increase step by step!

This one looked like the lift I took when I was a kid and my nose started to bleed. But I decided to overcome my this childish fear and sit in it. So we sat…There was a veeery funny man with long hair, a very self confident one, who seemed to have been dreaming to become a spaceman but now has to get satisfied with just pushing the button of the Space Shot. So he tied us tight to those seats and we started to rise very slowly. And then it just sprang up so fast that I thought I left my head on the ground. The funniest thing is that I had the feeling that it flew up with a round pace. And then it rapidly went down and again I felt that my head will explode now! I also had the feeling that my stomach flew away from me. This process repeated for 4 times and each time when we were going down we were looking at the long haired man with his feet over the button standing very importantly and waving his head very meaningfully showing that the game was not over yet. And at the end I already stopped fearing and just got lots of pleasure from this flight.

We went out half alive but very happy and then we met the rest of the guys who were very hungry and decided to have smth to eat.
So then I went to my final destination –the long big frightening killing machine! We saw it at the beginning and thought it was too frightening and impossible to take. But Tigran wanted it badly so we came back again. This time I felt that I need to do that to step one more big step forward. When I already sat in it I felt I am regretting but it was too late….Soon the killing machine went up slowly and the n furiously went down and the horrors began. It was flying back and forth and my head was also flying with it, we were turning and turning and all I could see was just white clouds in the sky. After a while we got hung in the sky on a height of 40 meters I guess for other people to sit on the other side. And then round two began with going behind now even worse and more terrifying . I was yelling so loudly !!!!!!
And at last we were on the ground. I had the feeling I really did something big in my life . I had some stomach and throat ache in the beginning but it passed after a while.

Then Tigran and Luiza decided to take the “ragatka” one which seemed to be the more frightening variant of the “killing machine” and everybody was looking at it and nobody dared to sit in it. The chair even looked like an electronic chair so that when Tigran went to have a look at it everybody around started to clap for his bravery. First he didn’t want to sit but after this clapping he just had to do that. Besides, that the creator of this roagatka said he won’t let Luiza to fly alone. There was a video camera around the seats so that when the person was sittng all the people around could watch his face’s expression on a big TV set.

So the guys were pulled up and stayed there for a while and during all this time we were following their faces, its color change to white and back ))))). But when they cane down they said it wasn’t so much frightening .
After this our trip was over and we wnet back. The boys went to “have a walk”. We took a very nice 2 floor train with a nice conductor which appeared to have not a very nice destination. So we had to take one stop back.
That was my day full of adrenaline and first-time-fun.

Trip to Salzburg

We decided to go to Salzburg for the first weekends and bought the tickets from the station the day before. We were to depart at 8” 22 in the morning. We got up early and I didn’t even manage to eat smth. We rushed to the Westbanhof station and ran to the ticket window. We needed to buy one more ticket for Stepan as he didn’t clearly say if he wanted a ticket or not so we hadn’t bought one for him the day before. When we at last managed to approach the ticket window we were told that it’s too late to bu a ticket and if we can we should try to just find seats in the train. So it was already 8:20 and we ran to the train which was already going to move and hardly managed to spring on it. Then we somehow managed to cheat the conductor that we have ticket for 10 people but actually there were 11 of us. On the way I was having a music tastes crush in the same cabinet with the boys who didn’t like rock . I managed to sleep a little bit and we finally reached the station. We went out and I don’t know why the guys rushed into a big store. As I didn’t have anything to buy and was quite hungry I went to eat at a restaurant with the boys. The day actually started for me with intensive getting in touch with the boys only. When we were finished we noticed that the girls are still digging in the markets so we spent another 20 minutes wandering and waiting. When everybody was out of the shop FINALLY we asked the way of the fortress and the Mozart museum and went. The street we were walking made me feel we are ina resort city very much like our Tsakhkadzor. We reached a big open place and suddenly a river appeared in front of us with a splendid view around. We crossed the bridge having photos a thousand times.

Then 4 of us stayed to walk a little bit in a nice park nearby, I sat a “ kacheli”. We were behind all the rest and started to rush. When we found them we reached a place very much like our Vernisage. There were tents all over the river bank with people form all around the world selling a piece of their culture. We couldn’t resist to buy some musical staff form a Peruvian who gave us thread bracelets as a present after he knew we are from Armenia. All the way we were seeing new great things from Africa, latin America and Austria which were though quite expensive. Then we also entered a souvenir shop and I bought a parcel with Mozart on it for a present. We decided to go to the Mozart house first. So we appeared in a narrow crowded street which led to Mozart’s house museum. It was full of people both outside and inside. I didn’t know why but there were lots of Russian tourists there. The museum had three floors that were telling about Mozart’s creations, represented his life and family, the life in Salzburg. I remembered a funny fact; during those times people didn’t have bath very often as they still believed water was something devilish. But Mozart’s family was an exception ffrom the rules as they were having bath everyday. I saw his violin and piano as well as some furniture form his home. Then we went to a room which was very much like a sauna as there was all wood there and it was very hot. But actually it was for listening to Mozart’s music so we did. It was nice to hear it. After we went out we were very tired but decided to rest a while and go to the fortress. On the way there was a nice hurch that we entered with a stage in front of it. Then we appeared in a very nice festival that was organized by an Austrian beer producer. During that lots of very expensive things were being sold by funny prices. It was a jarmarka of luxurious things with low prices. We couldn’t resist to buy some things form thre. I bought a very nice bag just for 10 euros! Then we were half dead bu decided to continue. Some boys except Karen had been up already and we saw them coming back. They wished us patience!

We were awfully tired but all the surroundings were so picturesque that we were eager to go further. There was a big queue for the museum besides the weather seemed to be spoiling so we decided to go down. Then we continued our wanderings in shops, I bought some staff for myself and at last we all gathered in some eating place. We still had 3 hours left but it was raining heavily and we couldn’t go anywhere else. So we went back by the same way. It was raining heavily and we were having fun on ourselves walking like homeless under the rain , two under one umbrella, with dirty ankles and slippers.

At last we reached the station but as we still had lots of time left some of us went to internet. Then we found the rest who were having fun in one cafe watching funny ads on TV.

Me and Luiza started to play “normal” dart and it was very funny. After a while it was already time to move so we went to the station. There we found a football team of kids from 9-12 years who had just won some cup of junior championship and were soooo happy. They were talking and talking and talking. It was the first sign of energetic and warm, really hot blooded people in Vienna and it was very nice to observe them. They were so self confident and grown up and just like actors or humourists could do whatever u wish. Only Marianna could understand them and they were prettily chatting together. One of them the most cunning one asked Marianna if she will give him a euro in case he dances and he started to dance so sexily shaking all his body …We had such fun with those kids and even met them in the train. We sat in a wrong place and the conductor made us go back. Leaving our card playing we started to wander all over the train which was a very funny process as the train was moving and we were walking like drunk hardly managing not to fall on people sitting and gazing at us with wide opened eyes.

At last we found our places which were also pretty good and wanted to continue our card game when a man of about 50 with a very kind and sunny face came and took his seat near Suren. He was a very nice man from Salzburg with a funny sense of humour and tremendously loud laugh because of which we were heard all over the train. He started to speak with us about Armenia as he had been there and after that we spoke of lots of things. He was showing his tongue while laughing and also beating the table with his hands …that was such a funny scene. He told us about his first marihuana experience. He was in Netherlands and after a heavy rain being very tired entered a café and along with tea took cookies which had a very nice name for him : space cookies. He said he was feeling very nicely after them and felt they were something more than just biscuits when he was paying for them and realized they cost too high for average cookies. Then he gave his mobile number to Ani and we agreed to call him the next day in case we go to the museum. When we were going out of the train a woman who had previously asked us to be more quiet looked at me with a very tired and desperate look and after I said my excuses she said we were awful:))).

We reached Westbanhof very late at about 12:30 and found out that we can’t go to Traisengasse already. Besides it was raining so heavily and we were stuck in some station form which we decided to take a taxi. But we had to wait at the station for the rain to stop. We were like BOMJ, standing there with strange people in torn dresses from every nation.

At last the rain was over and we got out to catch taxis. We found one and then the second one. The first one appeared to have a crazy woman as driver. Our driver was not a woman but was not less crazy. He was going to hit us and then just said: “Oh sorry”. He didn’t know the exact place we were going and was hoping to drive after the crazy woman but suddenly he lost her and then he started to curse!

It was our last adventure as we finally reached home surprisingly safely and went to bed.

This was a very great day full of funny adventures when we got to know that Mozart lived in a very tiny and hot house...

Duran Duran concert…

I was told that there was going to be a concert of Duran Duran in Vienna. I was shocked and I felt I want to go there. The tickets seemed to be quite normal for this kind of a concert , 36 euros, besides when I looked up I couldn’t find another more appealing concert during our stay in Vienna, though afterwards I found out that there will be a concert of Lenny Kravitz too.

So the day came and I went out. I was alone as other guys didn’t find Duran Duran worth spending this much. Didi was with his friends, who were quite familiar with Duran music. The place called Gasometer was initially a place where there used to be a gaz station, but now students stay there. It was a big round red building. We entered and as it was early decided to take some drinks. It was only me to drink a beer. We were surrounded by people mostly 30 and more. I was one of the youngest. There weren’t much people but those who were, were real fans of Duran Duran. THEY WERE THE FIRST BRITISH BIG BAND I WAS GOING TO SEE! So we drank and talked a little bit about music and concerts that Didi and his friends had gone to. After a while I started to hear music coming from inside and we went there. First I felt the drums all over my stomach and feet because of the loud music and saw a big splash of light around. Then I saw them standing on the stage in pink and black

colors. I couldn’t believe I was really there. The hall had standing places and places to sit in behind. The concert started form some song I didn’t know but which I liked. And there were mostly new songs in the beginning, from which I especially liked Falling down. I felt very sorry for not downloading all the famous songs to be knowing them and singing with others. But though they were first time to be heard by me I liked most of them .I thought they are a really great band and maybe could have reached more? Or maybe now they worth more than they get. They had really skilled musicians and everything was of a very high quality. There were people in front who came to Vienna from Czech Republic, Croatia for their concert. Then the first part was over. After a break they came back with electronic staff and started to play electronic dance music which I didn’t like much. And then the third part started with coming back to normal style. They started to play really famous and old songs which were all very great but then… I heard these very dear sounds for me of the “Ordinary world”! At last something I know and love so much! It was such a moment when I was singing this song and there was so much harmony in me and satisfaction!

Then they played some cool songs like Rio, Reach up for the sunrise and finished the concert with a great rocky song! The concert lasted 3 hours.

So this was my first ever big concert which was so great...!