Week 3, Friday - last day here

Our last day here is a dreary one, overcast with a light drizzle. We take our time getting ready and don't head out for breakfast until 10:30. Fortunately today is warmer so the rain is not too unpleasant.

Without much discussion we head to Artbridge. Neil is the one having French Toast today while I go with fried eggs and bacon (How much trouble will I have going back to my semi-vegetarian status?) and we both have French press coffee.

Artbridge has become one of my favorite places to eat and I'm not sure why. The food is good but not spectacular, the prices are reasonable but not great, and the location isn't entirely convenient. I think it is the people who frequent it. For whatever reason there seems to be smiling and nodding among patrons who are perfect strangers to one another. Of course that begs the question, why is this so? In any event, it serves to create an atmosphere that is welcoming.

As we head back to the hotel we find ourselves walking very slowly. We are anxious to be heading home tomorrow but, at the same time, are sad to be leaving. We are very conscious that this could very well be the last time we will be strolling Abovyan Street, crossing Republic Square, or walking by the park near our hotel. I think we are both trying to memorize everything we see lest we forget something. Our time here has been magical.

Back at the hotel, after Neil leaves, I start packing. Our plane leaves at 6:15 in the morning and the hotel has reserved a car for us at 4am. Tonight we will be going out for farewell drinks with our friends, so I want to make sure to get most of our packing done before then.

By the time Neil returns I have much of the packing done and it seems there will even be room left over. Amazing!

You can just see the beer dispenser on the back wall.

Shortly after 6pm we go downstairs and exchange most of our drams for dollars and at 6:15 we are picked up for dinner. The restaurant/bar has the neatest gizmo at each table to dispense beer. There is a spigot coming out of the wall and a lever with which you can choose which beer you want. The server has a sort of key which sets the counter to zero and starts things up. After that we can pour ourselves a beer whenever we want and the counter keeps track of how much is consumed. Almost makes me want to drink beer.

Dinner is lovely – good food and good friends. Many toasts are made to friendship and return visits. It is hard for me to say goodbye, so I can imagine how much harder it is for Neil. I do hope we will return some day.

Week 3, Thursday - sometimes meals are difficult

Today dawned, if not sunny, at least without a feel of rain and it was much warmer. Leaving the hotel it felt wonderful to be outside. Our destination was the National Gallery of Armenia but first a breakfast spot needed to be found.

We first stopped at Marco Polo, only to discover that its kitchen was not yet open. Evidently only coffee and tea were being served. So we kept going up Abovyan Street to the tried and true Artbridge. I had French Toast and Neil had pancakes and a French Press. After all the years of my telling him how good French Press coffee is, he finally became convinced on this trip.

We finished breakfast and got to the gallery just at 11:00 which was its opening time. The gallery is located at Republic Square and occupies the top five floors of the building with the State History Museum taking the bottom two floors.

After obtaining our tickets we were ushered to a tiny elevator and taken to the top floor. Evidently the gallery is to be done top to bottom. Unfortunately we only had time to do the top three floors before Neil needed to leave for the bank. But those three floors were filled with many wonders, mostly of the European school – Jordeans III, di Lorenzo, Boudin, Tintoretto, van Goyen – to name the ones I remember. However it was the fifth floor where the Armenian painters were housed that I enjoyed the most. I had no prior knowledge of these artists and it was a joy to discover them. I particularly enjoyed Aivasovsky's seascapes and another fellow whose name escapes me (perhaps because both his first and last names were very long and very unpronounceable, at least to this Westerner). His paintings were in a wide array of styles. This is something that always amazes me, an artist who can switch styles at will.  Unfortunate that our time here was so short.

Back at the hotel and Neil heads off to the bank. There has been an exciting change at the hotel, since yesterday there has been wifi throughout the complex. Prior to this there was wifi in the lobby and ethernet in the rooms. That meant I had to go to the lobby to update my podcasts and newspapers on my Droid and when both of us were in the room only one could be online at a time. Too bad we didn't have this for the whole visit, still I'll be happy for whatever I get.

For our final 'duo' dinner we decided to go back to the Lebanese restaurant we had been to a couple of times. Once there we put in our order, got our drinks, and sat for a very long time with nothing further coming. Finally we decided to leave and Neil went to take care of our bill. Evidently our order had been lost and our meal would be coming shortly. Neil declined and we left. At least we got our drinks free.

We ended up having that tasty Diavalo pizza back at the hotel. Not what we were planning but enjoyable nonetheless.

Week 3, Wednesday - I can go home!

Today we went over to the OVIR offices to collect my visa extension. We were in and out in a few minutes with my passport in hand, all freshly stamped with my visa extension. Much as I have enjoyed my time here I am glad not to be trapped. I don't know if it's an American thing or not, maybe just a Nancy thing, but I felt very vulnerable without my passport.

I also was sporting a new found appetite, so we headed over to Jazzve for breakfast. It was still morning but we both opted for lunch. I was even able to taste my food, albeit only a little bit.

We ambled back to the hotel where I ended up spending the rest of the day. The weather was quite miserable outside so I figured I'd play it safe and spend another day taking it easy.

When Neil arrived back at the hotel, we headed downstairs to have dinner. You have to love a country where lamb is priced as cheaply as chicken. My three chops were delicious. Guess my 'taster' is back in complete working order

One interesting thing I have noticed is that when Neil speaks to people he assumes they speak English while I assume they don't. I'm not sure which is the better way to go. I think perhaps I am understood more readily speaking in my one or two word sentences or pointing to things on the menu. On the other hand, Neil gets the smiles from people. They really seem to enjoy him as he talks away making goofy faces all the while.

I am so very grateful that most signs and menus are written in three languages – Armenian, Russian, and English. Otherwise I would have rapidly gotten lost, then starved to death in front of a restaurant because I couldn't order.

I loved this place.  It wasn't open yet when
 I took the picture

The sidewalk food vendors make things particular easy. The items are spread out on trays with prices listed on each tray. I could just point to what I wanted and hold up the appropriate number of fingers. Then I would even know how much money to fork over.

Does make me wonder how difficult it would be for a tourist in Columbus if he did not speak English well.  Guess it's a good thing we don't get all that many visitors from abroad.

Week 3, Monday & Tuesday - not much to report

With this post you will be getting a two for one because I've done nothing the past couple days. A cold has laid me low. Wouldn't you know? I haven't had a cold in . . . actually I can't remember my last cold, it has been that long. On the bright side I had two weeks of beautiful weather and got a lot more accomplished in my first two weeks than I would have figured. I'm also grateful that the cold didn't hit me until Monday. It would have been awful to miss out on Sunday's trip.

I can't remember if I mentioned this before but I put up some pictures from our second week here at https://picasaweb.google.com/101319898539355886588/ArmeniaWeek2

I have also separately put up some photos of the sculptures and statues around town - https://picasaweb.google.com/101319898539355886588/YerevanSculptures 

Yerevan seems to have a love affair with both statues and sculptures. They are all over the place. Refreshingly, many, and perhaps most, of the statues are of artists, poets, authors, and musicians – much nicer than politicians and military figures.

Hoping to have more to report tomorrow.

Week 3, Sunday - outside of Yerevan

Our day started out with a trip to the Armenian Genocide Museum with Karen and Frants. Arevik would join us later. Her young daughter would be with us for the day and Arevik felt that it would be too much for one so young. After having been there I completely agree. It was almost too much for this old lady.

For those of you who may not know the Armenian Genocide refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was implemented through wholesale massacres and deportations, with the deportations consisting of forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees. The total number of resulting Armenian deaths is generally held to have been between 1 million and 1.5 million

It is one thing to know of these atrocities but is another thing entirely to see pictures of it and to read accounts of it. I was both shaken and moved. One thing I found quite chilling was this quote of Adolph Hitler to his generals: ‘Thus for the time being I have sent to the East only my ‘Death’s Head Units’ with the orders to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of Polish race or language. Only in such a way will we win the vital space that we need. Who still talks nowadays about the Armenians?’

On the grounds of the memorial there are trees planted by distinguished visitors to the museum. Robert Dole and Howard Dean are among the tree planters.

The cathedral at Ejmiatsin

As we finished our tour Arevik and her daughter joined us and we headed off to Ejmiatsin.  Ejmiatsin became the spiritual center for Armenia's Christians shortly after the country's conversion in the early 4^th century. The grounds are quite extensive and include the cathedral, a museum in which we had a guided tour, and several other churches. The new gateway to the cathedral precinct commemorates the visit of Pope John Paul II in 2001.  It was altogether a most impressive complex.

Then we were off to Khor Virap Monastery which is within site of the Turkish border. Khor Virap is famous for being the site of Saint Gregory the Illuminator's thirteen year imprisonment by King Trdat III. Although there was a monastery here by the 5^th century, the present buildings are much more modern having been built in the latter part of the 1600s. It is possible to go down a narrow opening via a 27 step ladder to view Saint Gregory's prison. Since it took a while to navigate the ladder and it was used to go both up and down, the congestion and our schedule precluded a visit. Being that I'm somewhat claustrophobic, that was probably all to the good.

From there we climbed a serpentine route through the mountains to reach Geghard Monastery. As we were driving there with the road twisting and turning and climbing, Arevik recounted a story of taking some friends from the Republic of Georgia here. She said that when she was telling them how the monastery had been overrun by enemy forces several times, the friend exclaimed “How could that be true? How could enemy forces possibly get up here?” That explains the location perfectly.

Geghard is unique in the it is partially an ordinary surface structure and partly cut into the cliff. In total surrounding the main site are more than twenty other rock hewn chapels and buildings. Truly it is an amazing site. 

While we are there Frants buys a cake for us to share from a woman selling them at the base of the monastery. It is more the consistency of a bread but has a layer of something sweet, sugar or honey, running through the middle. It is decorated on the top and lettered “Geghard”.

A short distance away is our final stop, Garni Temple. Garni is the only Graeco-Roman style building in Armenia and was built sometime between the 1^st century and 175 AD. The temple itself was destroyed by an earthquake in 1679 but was rebuilt in the early 1970s. It looks a bit like a mini Parthenon.

We arrived just at sunset and the reddish pink glow behind the mountains was glorious!

Karen had made reservations at a restaurant on the outskirts of Yerevan. Once again we had a room to ourselves and once again the food and drink seemed endless and tasted wonderful. Neil was determined to pick up the tab for the meal. Up to this point and including our meal the first week, we have paid for nothing. I really did not think Neil would win this battle. Perhaps getting down on his knees helped for he did win. I don't think Karen was pleased.

We were finally dropped off at the hotel fully sated and very happy. Greeting us at the door was our bellhop from our first day who has taken us under his wing. We had been given the remaining cake from Geghard Monastery and I was holding it in my arms. Upon seeing it he said “I see you were at Geghard. I hope you didn't pay too much for the cake. Those women will charge a fortune if you don't bargain with them.” We assured him that a knowledgeable friend purchased it and our only contribution was to eat it.