The day dawned clear and crisp - or so Neil tells me. I wouldn't know, I slept through it. I fell asleep last night around nine and napped for almost two hours and woke up, if not peppy, at least unable to go back to sleep until around three. So poor Neil got up by himself and headed off to the bank. So much for our breakfast together.
I managed to get up and out by 10:30 and headed up past Republic Square to Abovyan Street which is a wide tree lined street. The sidewalks are quite wide with trees down the middle and along much of the way with gardens along the road. Most of the stores are upscale and the streets are crowded with cars and the sidewalks packed with people. One needs to watch where you are walking as around the trees there are dropoffs from the sidewalk to the dirt of several inches. I say "one" but I mean me. Everyone else seems to be able to navigate perfectly well and most of them are engaged in animated conversations. I literally am not sure that I could walk and talk at the same time.
After a bit I stop off at the Artbridge Bookstore for breakfast. Books are sold in the front room and food is served in the back two. I order French Toast and a French Press and linger over it for a long time. So long that I am the only one left in the back room. The waitperson had been coming in quite frequently to take away dishes, press, etc. The custom seems to be that the second you finish with a dish, utensil, whatever it is whisked away. It is not to rush you into leaving as the check is never brought until you ask for it. In any event, I believe I have lingered so long that she has forgotten about me. So I gather my stuff and go off in search of the check. Indeed from the look and blush on her face, I'm pretty sure she did forget. By Armenian standards my breakfast was on the expensive side at just over $7.50.
At the major intersections, there are underground pedestrian crossings that span the entire intersection and house small shopping malls. One of these had me drooling as one side consisted entirely of second hand bookstores. If only I read Armenian or Russian!
After a while Abovyan Street's shops gave way to Yerevan University. Here I took a detour to see the university's original observatory which was built in the 1930s. Nestled in the center of a small park, it looked a little forlorn as if it realized it had been superceeded by something newer and shinier. Nearby were a group of students playing ping pong. Ping pong tables in parks appear to be quite common and quite well used. I wonder what happens in the rain - are they covered at night and in the rain? do they have a water proof coating?
At this point I headed back to the hotel to await Neil's return.
Neil's first day went well. This first week he is training people who work outside of Yerevan and class lasts all day long. He was very happy to report that the class was "engaged" right from the beginning. Amazing as it may sound, Neil does not like to do all the talking and is happiest when classes are a discussion and not a lecture.
Even though he was tired, he was pumped up and so we decided to eat out. Had a nice meal at a Lebanese place though I think it was Lebanese in name only. Nonetheless the meal was quite good and in keeping with Neil's approach of always mentioning costs, it came to $18- including tip for 2 meals, wine, beer, and Armenian coffee.
As a final comment, I clocked over eight miles today. Maybe all that food won't translate into pounds.
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