Yerevan, Armenia sights

Phin and I were able to walk around Yerevan and see quite a few things. Here are some of them.

Manhole covers reading "telefon" in Russian:

One of the LDS (Mormon) churches in Yerevan, Armenia. We attended here on Sunday. In Kiev we were able to at least sing the hymns since we can read Cyrillic tolerably well. We couldn't sing at all because we couldn't read any Armenian. That was sad. The people were friendly, though! And Armenia got its first stake just a few months ago.

We met this man, Mikhail Artemovich Unun'yants, in a park. He was eager to have us sign his manifesto and petition which said, among other things, in English and Russian:

We the undersigned ask you, please establish (un)committee of «Peoples Diplomacy M.A.U.» under the leadership of Mr. Mikhail Artemovich Unan'yants, date of birth - August 2, 1957, place of birth - Taganrog town, Russia Federation, citizenship - Russia.

We second all his ideas, plans, projects.

We share all his opinions.

We trust in him.

I think it's unlikely I share all of anyone's opinions. But he was a nice man and we talked for a while.

We found a little amusement park and roller coaster nestled away in a valley:

One of the groovier walls I've seen lately:

Statue of Mesrop Mashtots, creator of the Armenian alphabet and thought to be a contributor to the Georgian alphabet as well. This is at the Matenadaran, an ancient manuscript repository at the end of Mashtots Avenue:

True love, or at least cute love, in graffiti:

Now, the Cascade, a huge outdoor art exhibit with an indoor component under huge stairs. It's massive, very popular, and fun both for the art and the views of the city.

The cascade ends up atop a hill near the park where there is a monument and another little art park with a tiny house:

Across the street is another park, a little dilapidated, with many war memorials including this one about the Soviet war in Afghanistan from 1979-1989, and mother Armenia looks out over the city backed up by a missile, army truck, and military plane:

Back in downtown, this is the Blue Mosque, built by Iran:

The most fake Soviet Communist ice cream bar I could find, which cost about $0.50 and was tasty:

A park, cafe, and pond:

Typical street traffic scene, with newer signs that have the non-Armenian version in Latin text instead of Russian:

Nearby we visited Saint Gregory The Illuminator Cathedral. It's the largest Armenian church in the world, and one of the most impressive new churches I've seen:

And, time again for some refreshment: