Here is a great shot of the very heart of Yerevan, where the new blvd is being built (Opera in the background). You can see what a massive construction site it is. The whole city feels like this with the sidewalks of every single major street in the center torn out, many of the streets themselves being dug up to put in pipes and wire, countless stores and museums under renovation, and even a slew of high-rise apartment buildings shooting up. If you want an idea of the scale of things, look at my streetmap of central Yerevan and imagine trying to get from any point A to point B when Marshall Baghramyan, Sayat Nova, Tumanyan, Pushkin, Amiryan, Nabandyan, Abovyan, Teryan and Mashdots are all torn up and not one side of one block that has been torn out has yet to be completed. I must say I am looking forward to what will feel like a brand new city when they are done, but if they don't finish by winter what seems at this point to be an impossible amount of work they have created, we are going to have a heck of a time getting around then, and spring will be even more of a nightmare in the mud. And yet they continue to tear out what little sidewalks are left, even if they are in pretty good shape. Anyway, with the insanity being the best way to describe how they are going about their tasks, I am just trying to enjoy the fantastic weather that has been continuing. Day after day of perfect tempratures. You can feel that the heat has lost its edge though and it gets dark at 9 now instead of 10:30 like it does in July... the march to winter has begun, and I hope it is as mild as this summer! I have decided not to take any chances however, and have invested in the last capital investment that my flat needed... a central heating/cooling unit. I found out they were 25% off yesterday and decided to stop procrastinating. I popped into Aray and got this massive unit that gets attached to the outside of the building, while a nice, quiet panel gets put inside to blow the air. They will have to bring in a crane to install this on the 5th floor, and I am sure it will be a big ordeal and headache, but I know in the end I will be so comfortable all year round that all the expense and annoyances will be worth it.

Oh, and one final thing, although Ararat has been partially obstructed by haze much of the time, it still peeks out at me every morning... my desk at home has fantastic view of our ler :-P