Older and Wiser

I have been having some technical problems with my blog during the last three weeks, so I’m a little bit behind on posts. A lot has been happening lately, so I will try to catch up with a few posts this week.

First off, my birthday passed in the middle of last month, and given that the embassy was closed in observation of Columbus Day, my husband and I took the opportunity to visit some new-to-us places around Tashkent.

We first started the day with an omelette brunch at Cafe Ecorn, a gem that I only recently discovered on the recommendation of my colleague from the Swiss Embassy.

Afterwards we made our way to Independence Square (or Mustaqillik Maydoni in Uzbek). It was a beautiful fall day and all around us the leaves were starting to change.

We started at a small rose garden and a monument to Шароф Рашидов (Sharaf Rashidov), a journalist and former Soviet politician who lived from 1917 to 1983.

Across the street is a large waterfall and a giant metal display with storks on top, which I’ve been curious to see up close since I arrived here this past May.

Independence Square, location of the former Lenin statue which was dismantled after the fall of the Soviet Union and replaced with this “happy mother” and large golden globe, prominently displaying Uzbekistan. To the west of this monument is the Ministry of Finance, Cabinet of Ministers, and the Senate, and that is probably why a security guard stopped me from strolling over there.

My husband by the river channel Ankhor

Glory and Memory Alley – a memorial to those who lost their lives during WWII. Below is the mother mourner in front of an eternal flame. Every year on Victory Day (May 9), residents of Tashkent pay their respects to the dead.

Names of those who lost their lives during WWII are inscribed in these metal memory books flanking both sides of the monument and marked by carved wooden columns. The number of names is, of course, visually staggering.

Palace of Duke Romanov, built in 1889 for the Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich by architects V.S. Heinzelmann and A.L. Benua. The work was completed in 1891.