I think if you ask a Yerevantsi if he likes Yerevan, he’ll say “I love MY Yerevan”… True Yerevantsi remembers and even loves his city differently…
I like walking in the city, especially in the evening. Old and new streets, always familiar faces, pleasant smiles, slight nodding “hellos”, romantic couples, friendly crowds, cafes, sad and happy looks… instantaneously, life begins to brew and relax after a hard day… And yet your lovely city reminds you of its problems… And there are so many problems in the city that it gets to you and the problems become yours… If you are a real Yerevantsi, you will care too.
It will be no news, if I say that the city underground passages are in a bad shape and can’t compete with such in developed countries. And then you just don’t want to use them… For example, in front of S. Sargis church I always break the rule and cross the street on top to avoid the underground. Bad lights, if any, bad smell, wet walls and suspicious faces inspire fear and repulsion.
In general, our undergrounds are filled with mystical scenes and horrors. I prefer to risk my life on the ground rather than under it. I was even prepared to explain to the police why I’m acting like that, if necessary. But nobody asked, nobody stopped, as even they know that the “violator” has little other option.
But I find more impressive the underground passage near “Yeritasardakan” (Moskovyan-Abovyan-Isahakyan) which becomes deadlocked at night, as it’s LOCKED with a LOCK… Yes, it’s locked. The book traders underneath are perhaps afraid that someone may steal their books there placed lattice there. I don’t know if law enforcers are aware of this violations, but the situation encourages people to break rules and be liable to Administrative code punishment under article 131 in the amount of 3000 AMD. I don’t even want to blame the book traders, as perhaps their only source of income is the book trade. The book traders even spend nights guarding the books. Even in Paris along Seine river up to the Notre Dam there are book traders who comfortably lock the books for the night. Paris impresses visitors also with its “bookinists” and even if you don’t buy books, you enjoy just paging them. By the way, bookinists appeared in Paris since the 16th century. The bookinist activity was legalized in Paris in 1822 and in 1857 there were 68 book stores in Paris. In 1892, there were 156 stores and today already 250. And all the barrels are well-placed and fit the area. It’s nice to be comparable…
Issues that need resolution… It is not about formula, but about will to solve.
And we continue to use underground passages every day and we continue to love OUR Yerevan…